ENVIRONMENT
We all know that the environment is a major topic in today’s business place and today’s society. Since the beginning of the industrial revolution we have been using up natural resources, and churning out so many gases and so many waste by-products, some say it is already too late to make a difference on the future of the planet….but not us.
We are many things at FSquared, but negative and without hope, we are not. There is a huge amount of study going on in the world of environmental impacts today and we are reading all the science and doing our best to understand it. We have forged strong links with the University of Manchester, who help us with the hard science of climate change, and through the F2 Foundation we hope to be able to assist as well as learn from those in academia whose desire it is to improve the future for everyone.
Of course we do not rest on our laurels and wait for the magic answer but day by day we do all we can to assist:
Our first steps towards being a Greener company began in our first office on Fairfield Street. We employed a social enterprise called Emerge to come and pick up our waste paper and take it for recycling. Five years on and our relationship with Emerge is still going strong as we now recycle all our unwanted paper, plastic bottles, glass, aluminium cans, printer cartridges and PCs. In 2008 we want to sponsor a local school via Emerge so they too can recycle without having to spend their own resources on the collection fees.
At the beginning of 2006, FSquared was awarded ISO14001. Along the same lines of ISO 9001, this is a nationally recognised accreditation but applies solely to environmental issues in the workplace. From CO2 emissions to wastewater and excess chemical usage 14001 has given us a framework to help us keep track of and continuously improve upon our effect on the environment.
Just this year, we have changed our contracted cleaning company to a company that uses only biological based cleaning products. These cleaning products are not an off-the-shelf “Eco brand” but are thoroughly researched to have the most minimal effect on the environment but at the same time, actually do the job they are supposed to do: clean.
To supply our Snack Support we have a weekly delivery of shopping from a supermarket. This unfortunately creates a fairly large usage of plastic bags so we will be seeing if the supermarket will supply our food bag-less though we do at present recycle all carrier bags by giving them back to the supermarket who then have their own recycling policy. We also use the Green Van where possible – sharing drop off times with others in our area.
Although we fully agree that to off-set does not mean to be let-off, we are realistic in our views that in business we must still travel to see our clients in order to give them the best service and to gain the deepest understanding. We must use computers, lights and in winter we must heat our office; we therefore off-set what emissions we do create so that we are Climate Neutral. In 2008 we will be looking at finding a 100% renewable energy company to supply our electricity.
As we believe in reducing not just offsetting, we have a travel policy that states: wherever possible we will travel by public transport instead of car and rail instead of plane; we also have a Turn It Off policy for the lights and equipment that is not needed in the office.
At the end of 2007 we looked into the validity of Video Conferencing equipment to see if we could reduce our travel miles even further: travelling to see a community is essential – travelling to see 1 person for a meeting might not be.
We found out that the cost for having our own Video Conferencing equipment was in no way feasible for a company of our size; and in an era where other companies with this equipment are still in the minority, we may have to end up travelling anyway.
We have however found a Video Conferencing suite in the centre of Manchester so we can - and do - hire this whenever our clients are happy to meet with us over the Visual Ethernet.
As far as purchases go, we spent a long time researching what was the best type of paper to use for our new business cards, as the wonderful world of 100% recycled paper is not in fact all you would expect. Did you know for example that paper can only be recycled 3 or 4 times before its fibres break down and become unusable. 50% recycled and 50% virgin fibre paper is therefore most sustainable it would seem – just so long as it’s Process Chlorine Free of course!!
