Environment Policy

The Waste Hierarchy

1. Eliminate - Avoid producing waste in the first place
2. Reduce - Minimise the amount of waste you do produce
3. Re-Use - Use items as many times as possible
4. Recycle - Recycle what you can only after you have re-used it.
5. Dispose - Dispose of what’s left in a responsible way

Managing Waste

1. Where cost effective, every effort should be made to recycle waste, such as cardboard, glass, paper and plastics.
2. Mobile phone, and toner and cartridge recycling can generate some income. 
3. Include efficiency and sustainability into your purchasing of office electronics, so that you use less energy, when you use them, and less waste when you dispose of them. 
4. Hazardous items, such as oils, chemicals, fluorescent tubes, batteries etc, and electrical items must be disposed of properly and not simply dumped in the bin.
5. Encourage the use of effective environmentally friendly cleaning products and other products such as e-cloths.

Materials and Resources

1. Don’t buy fruit/vegetables pre-packed – it’s more expensive and creates plastic waste.
2. When you do buy loose fruit/vegetables, leave them loose and don’t use plastic bags.
3. Buy UK, ideally local, where possible instead of overseas produced food (and other materials) and try to buy in-season foods – it’s cheaper, healthier, reduces air miles and supports local businesses. 
4. If you do need to use disposable plates/cutlery at an event, buy cardboard, not plastic.
5. Where practicable buy products manufactured from recycled waste. 
6. Unused or single copied paper should be recycled as scrap paper, if it does not contain sensitive or confidential information.
7. Double sided printing and back-to-back photocopying should be undertaken where practicable.
8. Don’t automatically print e-mails and documents. Retaining them of the hard drive reduces toner and paper usage.
9. Make use of e-mail in preference to hard copy mail. For example, for distribution of minutes of meetings. This not only avoids wasting resources but is cheaper and quicker.
10. Encourage the use of water in jugs at meetings rather than plastic water bottles. Make your own 'posh water' by adding slices of orange, lemon, cucumber, strawberry, whatever.
11. If you need a water bottle for car/train journeys, etc make it a re-usable one.
12. Where water dispensers are provided, consider installing those that draw and cool mains water, rather than bottled supplies.
13. Where possible encourage the use of fair-trade tea and coffee, and other products.
14. If it is practicable rechargeable batteries should be used, this is both economical and is far better for the environment.

Energy Use

1. Consider purchasing renewable energy. It is probably not as costly as you think and, even if it costs a bit more, price isn’t everything.  
2. Ensure that staff are aware of the benefits of energy efficient systems including benefits to themselves in their own homes
3. Energy efficient lighting should be used to replace any tungsten bulbs.
4. People should be encouraged to turn off lights, televisions, monitors and other equipment when not in use. Televisions and similar equipment are one of the main causes of domestic fires, so should always be switched off when not in use.
5. Where practicable, heating should be turned down or off in unoccupied rooms or areas, with heating reduced to ‘frost protection’ levels when unoccupied, e.g. Christmas.
6. Ensure that doors and windows are not left open after cease work to save on heating costs and improve security. 
7. Doors and windows should be draught proofed where practicable, loft spaces checked to ensure insulation is adequate, and pipes and hot water tanks should be properly lagged.

Water Use

1. Turn off or repair dripping taps, which can waste up to 10,000 litres of water a year.
2. Cut down on the amount of water in toilet cisterns by placing a water-filled bottle in there or a bag filled with stones.
3. In hot weather turning the tap on to gain access to colder water can be wasteful; therefore, a jug of the water run should be filled and placed in the fridge.

Emissions and Transport

1. Encourage drivers to not hard accelerate and brake, which wastes petrol. Cruising saves fuel and you get to your destination less stressed. 
2. Ensure that staff, where practicable, make use of the public transport system
3. Encourage shared transport use by staff where it is practicable
4. Source goods and services locally, where this is cost effective
5. Coordinate meeting timings and locations to minimise travel.
6. Review the work of meetings to reduce committee sizes and frequency of meetings, and consider alternatives, such as teleconferencing. This also improves business efficiency.

Last Updated: 16-Oct-2024