Environmental Policy

In line with our core values, we seek to minimise and continuously reduce to a minimum negative environmental impact and to promote sustainability.

Environmental Policy Overview:

  • Reduce our use of energy, including fossil and renewable sources.
  • Reduce our use of water and make more use of grey water and rainwater.
  • Alter our pattern of transport use to reduce our contribution of greenhouse gas emissions.
  • Separate our waste streams to re-use, recycle and compost materials whenever possible.
  • Purchase products and use suppliers that meet our environmental and ethical criteria.
  • Maintain a healthy working environment for staff and avoid products and finishes that are harmful to health.

Energy:

We will continuously seek ways to reduce our use of fossil fuels with the objective of ultimately eliminating their use altogether.  The office uses electricity for space heating, hot water and for powering computers and lighting, which we endeavour to keep to a minimum.  We also aim to reduce our CO² emissions by adopting the following strategies:

  • During the winter maintain a maximum office temperature of 21ºC.
  • Ensure that all windows are closed when the heating is on.
  • Not heat the office after 18.00 or at weekends unless we are working overtime.
  • Give a preference to buying computers, TFT monitors and other electrical equipment with the best energy performance.
  • Ensure that all computer equipment is put to ‘sleep’ mode when not in use and turned off at night.

Water:

We will continuously seek ways to reduce our use of water.

Transport:

We will seek ways to reduce staff travel by encouraging part-time home working and actively promoting walking, cycling, and rail/bus alternatives.  We will endeavour to work on projects that are within a 50-mile radius of the office and travel to meetings etc by public transport when possible.  Existing petrol-fuelled office vehicles will be replaced by hybrid cars with an average fuel consumption of at least 50 mpg and use biofuels when they become readily available.

Waste:

We continuously seek ways to reduce our waste, especially our use of paper and plastic products.  Where practicable we will print on both sides of a sheet of paper, use wastepaper for rough printing, and put the remaining wastepaper out for recycling when no longer required.  We will carefully separate card, glass, cans, tins and plastic bottles for recycling: our office benefits from a kerb-side recycling service provided by the local authority.  End-of-life computers, mobile phones and other electrical equipment is given to local charities for re-use.

Single-Use Plastics:

We recognise that single-use plastic is a major source of landfill and marine pollution causing significant environmental damage and harm to wildlife.  This includes lightweight plastic bags, disposable utensils, coffee cups, drinks bottles, straws, and food and beverage containers.  We are committed to stopping the use of single-use plastics and, where this is not practical, to identify and use less harmful alternatives.  We will achieve this by:

  • Reviewing what we purchase and sourcing alternative products, where possible.
  • Stopping the purchase and removing stock of specified items.
  • Reusing products, where possible.
  • Working with suppliers and contractors to reduce packaging.
  • Preventing the use of plastic water bottles.
  • Switching to low plastic/zero plastic cleaning products.
  • Operating a stationery recycling scheme.
  • Working with staff to ensure single-use plastics are eliminated across our office.

Ethical Purchasing:

We are committed to promoting good environmental and ethical practice through our purchasing policies, including our use of:

  • 100% post-consumer recycled paper for stationery, envelopes and printing.
  • Organic food, locally grown and sourced where possible.
  • Non-toxic cleaning products.
  • Electronic banking through Cashplus Bank.

We make every effort to avoid products that contain toxic substances and continue to source the most environmentally friendly products when available.  We aim to purchase mainly from small local companies where possible and to ensure that our suppliers and service providers have good ethical standards.