The environment and sustainability are important to us at Randall & Payne. It’s also a category at the GloucestershireLive Business Awards to highlight those making a difference to the environment, locally, nationally or globally, either through its products and services or its way of working.
In May 2022, we were proud to achieve the ISO 14001 Environmental Management System, supported by ISO Quality Services Ltd. This made official our many years of taking steps to reduce our carbon footprint and our impact on the environment. We are keen to further reduce our environmental impact and a year on I am pleased we have recently achieved recertification.
Being an office-based business there is less that we can do, and the original audit highlighted that we are already doing much of what was required.
Tracking monthly usage
We started tracking our monthly energy and water usage to target a reduction over time. We have since replaced the lights in our attic storage space with sensor lights and we have costed up replacing the strip lights in the main office space with energy efficient lighting – we have discovered this would pay back in just two years.
EV charging points
The three EV charging points we have installed in the last six months are used by a couple of the senior team and have increased our electricity consumption, although on the flipside, a couple more petrol or diesel vehicles are now off the road, and since we now have the infrastructure in place more electric vehicles are likely to follow!
Zero to Landfill
Each year Printwaste issue our Zero to Landfill Certificate, showing our waste reducing over time especially since we moved to electronic working papers and files a few years ago. We continue to go above and beyond in this area, by recycling ‘non-recyclable’ waste, such as crisp packets, using a local group who collect and send packages to Terracycle to raise money for charity.
Environmental Policy
A year ago, after the original audit we put in place an Environmental Policy for the firm which will continue to develop over time as we make improvements, with the recent annual recertification and the follow up meetings scheduled with ISO QSL every six months to monitor what we are doing.
Next steps…
Our next steps besides the lighting include looking to replace the old windows throughout the building to prevent drafts and become more energy efficient as a result, a new energy efficient heating system and solar panels further ahead.
As a firm we are rightly proud of our achievement and will continue to do our bit for the environment and community. We are keen to work with like-minded partners and suppliers and have found this to be the mindset of many of our clients. I expect this to be a popular category this year with many businesses putting the environment at the heart of their business strategy and joining us on a similar journey. We are keen to share their accomplishments and inspire others to join us too.
So why not showcase the difference your business is making in this area by entering this category and sharing it with Gloucestershire?
The awards are FREE TO ENTER, so for your chance to be a winner, simply fill out the online form. Entries close on July 14 and winners will be announced at the silver anniversary awards ceremony at Cheltenham Racecourse, on Thursday, October 12. https://glosbusinessawards.co.uk/
