Keen to be Green
Posted by Gareth Edwards, 11 December 2009 08:51:58
As you may already know, we're always looking at innovative ideas to improve our green credentials. But the number and diversity of the sustainability initiatives going on throughout the company never ceases to amaze me. Here are a few that I've noticed in the last week...
Christmas Lights - this year we've changed the lights on the Christmas tree outside our head office to LED's which will take the power usage down from 3,000W to 200W and the cost of the electricity from around £80 to nearer £5.
Rainwater harvesting - this scheme at our head office has already saved 87,000 litres of water over the past few months. That's the same as about 450 baths, 1,300 cycles of a normal washing machine or nearly 15,000 flushes of a toilet, which is exactly what we harvest the water for!
Uniform recycling - we've put in place a scheme for old uniforms or clothes which are no longer being used by our staff. Uniforms and other company clothes are sent to our warehouses, who then send these items to a charity. They are then either re-sold, or recycled to make other clothes.
No Flying - in an ongoing attempt to reduce our travel and associated carbon emissions, December is another 'no fly' month at Atlantic. Any member of staff who feels that they need to fly on business, must seek approval from one of our 4 executive directors before submitting their request.
So that's just a few of the things I've noticed in the last week or so. We've also just carried out our sustainability survey amongst staff. I'll discuss some of the results here shortly.