Our latest annual Zero to Landfill certificate has arrived and we are pleased to announce we have reduced our non-recyclable waste. This comes during the #Do1Thing campaign which was launched earlier this year by the Reach PLC network of websites and newspapers to encourage people to tackle climate change. The campaign urges people and businesses to do one thing to make a difference.
Our non-recyclable waste has reduced from 3.2 tonnes from 3.57 tonnes, according to our recycling partner, Printwaste. In 2019 we took away individual desk bins and introduced different recycling bins for our cardboard, plastic and food-waste.
Our corporate social responsibility policy has for many years stated that our paper is shredded and recycled and in recent years our non-recycled waste was taken away by Printwaste and converted to energy. The way Printwaste crunch our recycling numbers helps us to understand how our efforts are making a difference and supporting the environment. Our non-recyclable waste in 2019, when converted to energy, is enough to invite the whole of Cheltenham for a cuppa as well as a third of our neighbours in Gloucester! That’s a whopping 161,000 cups of tea or coffee.
Finding further ways to reduce waste is something we continue to strive to do. As well as introducing the recycling bins, we also have a bin for crisp packets which are sent to a local recycling hub to raise money for charity, our Randall & Payne branded pens are 90% recycled and 90% recyclable, and everything we print on is recycled paper stock. Other changes we have made include using refillable water bottles in our meeting rooms and using crockery in our café area for teas and coffees. We use an autofill hot water boiler rather than a kettle. Lights with sensors have been installed in our hall ways which turn off when not in use, our office equipment is turned off rather than being left on stand-by each evening, and we now use re-chargeable batteries. Officeworx take our used printer cartridges to be recycled.
We use Office Landscapes to supply and maintain our plants around the office – not only do they improve the air quality and therefore productivity, there are studies to show they reduce stress too! For the last couple of years we have ‘rented’ our Christmas tree from Cotswold Fir which are available from Primrose Vale on the Shurdington Road.
What’s next? We have several ideas on our #Do1Thing list, but our next change involves speaking to Cotteswold Dairy about changing our milk supply from plastic to glass bottles.
We would encourage every business to think about the changes they can make. If we all make small changes they start to add up and we can make a significant difference to our environment, with the added benefit of boosting employee engagement along the way.
