Click the titles below to download our latest press releases:
Carbon Footprinting
- November 2008
Free* Carbon footprint training for businesses...
My Week, Clare Watters, Business Envestors Manger
- November 2008
Winning more tenders breakfast seminar - October 2008
Free seminar to help businesses to win more tenders…
Environmental Legislation breakfast seminar
- October 2008
Free seminar helps businesses keep up with environmental legislation…
Environmental Policy Breakfast Seminar - October 2008
Free seminar helps businesses to write their own Environmental Policy…
Business Envestors Launch August 15th
- August 2008
Launch of new improved service to help local businesses go green and save money…
Green Agenda vs. Credit Crunch
- June 2008
The recent May Day conferences held in Peterborough, and across the UK, saw business leaders once again urged to address their environmental responsibility.
Achieving ISO14001 for your organisation
- June 2008
Networking event for businesses who wish to reduce costs and increase profits through successful environmental management…
Welcome to our first newsletter of 2009. I hope you have settled back after Christmas and New Year and are looking forward into 2009. New Year Resolutions may already have been thrown out the window but here are a few simple suggestions that don’t take too much effort to stick to.
TOP TEN TIPS TO REDUCE YOUR ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT
1. Reduce car journeys - whenever there is an alternative use public transport, cycle or walk.
2. Grow your own vegetables, only buy the food you need and think about how you can use up left over food.
3. Instead of flying, take holidays in the UK or use the train to get to Europe.
4. If you need a car, get a small fuel efficient one.
5. Instead of spending money on brand new things, buy second hand, or borrow.
6. Try to make your home more energy efficient through insulation and double glazing.
7. Turn thermostat down.
8. Reduce the amount of meat you eat.
9. Eat as much locally produced organic food as possible.
10. Recycle everything you can.
If you have any other topics you would like us to include or have comments and feedback, please contact Clare Watters on (01733) 897 780 clare.watters@pect.net
Member Updates
New Members
Two more local businesses have taken up the challenge to go green…
This news comes as Peterborough officially launches its ambition to become the UK’s Environment Capital.
Design Partners and Serpentine Green Shopping Centre are the latest businesses in Peterborough to commit to reducing their carbon footprint. The two companies have enlisted the help of Business Envestors.
Design Partners has committed to make ongoing environmental improvements particularly aiming to reduce energy and water costs. The company, which is based in the Eco Innovation Centre, will receive onsite support as well as training from the environmental consultants at Business Envestors.
Claire Piercy is a Director from Design Partners, she explains, “We know that being environmentally responsible makes good business sense, reducing our costs and increasing profits. With the help of Business Envestors we have put an action plan into place to start making improvements.
“Many of our clients are environmentally friendly businesses and we fully support Peterborough’s ambition to become the UK’s Environment Capital. We want to do our bit to help make this ambition a reality.”
Serpentine Green in Hampton is already encouraging shoppers to ditch plastic bags and bring their own reusable bags instead. Now the Shopping Centre has commissioned an environmental management audit of their premises to tackle their biggest carbon culprits.
Denis Baldry is Centre Manager of Serpentine Green, he explains, “The first step to reducing our environmental impact is to fully understand the things which have the biggest impact. This audit will highlight the areas most in need of attention and will allow us to develop an environmental management system to make us even more planet friendly.”
In November Peterborough formally launched its ambition to become the UK’s Environment Capital to make the city a better place to work, rest and play. But what does this mean for local companies?
Hugh Cripps, Chief Executive of Peterborough Environment City Trust explains, “The environment Capital ambition is all about making Peterborough a cleaner, greener, healthier and wealthier place.We hope you enjoy this edition of the Business Envestor newsletter, it is filled with our usual features of Member updates, Q&A with our environmental consultant, upcoming events, latest legislation and eco jargon buster.
Green Marketing Conference
A National Conference held in Peterborough on 12th of March 2009 for any organisation wanting to achieve success without unnecessary exploitation of the planet
With the green agenda gathering pace, organisations are assessing their impact on the environment. They are also looking for opportunities to establish green credentials that can forge relationships, build brands and increase bottom line results.
Responding to this challenge demands a deep understanding of the issues and potential pitfalls, as well as the opportunities. In this time of credit crunch and recession in particular, many are wondering whether the environment will maintain its position as a top priority for the business community.
To further the debate on the subject - and provide ideas and inspiration to anyone attending - this national one-day conference organised by the Chartered Institute of Marketing looks at how organisations can go beyond basic 'eco-friendly' claims and instead integrate sustainability policies with wider corporate social responsibility programmes.
Come and join the debate as to whether marketing really holds the key to sustainable business, talk directly to people who have made green marketing work for them and listen to inspirational speakers such as
- Jonathon Porritt, Programme Director for Forum for the Future
- John Grant, author of 'The Green Marketing Manifesto'
- Ed Gillespie, Creative Director and Co-founder, Futerra Sustainability Communications
- John Luff, Sustainable Marketing
There will also be Case Studies from both large and small organisations that have already embraced sustainability with great results.
For more information and how to book please contact Nyree Ambarchian (01733) 567 159 or e-mail nyree.ambarchian@pect.net
Volunteers needed for the Green Schools Volunteer Exchange
If you are thinking of what to do for your summer Team Building or Away Days why not take part in the Green Schools Volunteer Exchange and escape all the expense!
The aim of The Green Business volunteer exchange is to make life easy for local businesses who want to support worthwhile projects as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
Through the free website businesses can find out about worthwhile projects at local schools that their staff can volunteer to help with. Projects are environmentally friendly and include activities like planting vegetables for allotments and creating or maintaining wildlife gardens. One school is even looking for volunteers to build them a chicken coop!
The scheme is looking for volunteers from businesses to participate in these projects. The volunteers might be from businesses that are looking to fulfil their Corporate Social Responsibility by volunteering in the community; it may be as a Green Day or as a team building or an away day. They can offer as much or as little time as they like and they can choose which area of the city to go to and which projects to work on.
On the 9th of June, Five volunteers from the Peterborough Environment City Trust (PECT) took part in the Green Schools Volunteer Exchange by spending a day at Gunthorpe Primary School. Here they dug a new pond, cleared leaves from the old one, trimmed the hedges, cleared the nettles and other weeds from the paths and the raised beds and dug over an area ready for planting. The original plan had been to work from 9am to 4pm with a break for lunch but it was so hot on the day that they finished at 2pm; however they still managed to achieve a lot and have fun along the way. Rachel Huxley the Operations Manager for PECT expressed that “ it was a great day, hard work but we achieved much more than I thought would have been possible in the day and really improved the wildlife area for the school. Great to get out of the office and do something practical. And the sun was shining!”
Other businesses who have already signed up to the Volunteer Exchange website include consulting engineers Royal Haskoning who are based in Bretton.
Marketing Officer Laura Brewis explains, “Giving something back to the local community is really important to Royal Haskoning and we set aside a number of days each year for staff to volunteer during work-time for local projects.
“In the past staff have taken part in a variety of things like painting and decorating for Sue Ryder Care. In the future we are keen to use the new volunteer exchange which makes it easy for us to get involved with worthwhile projects.”
If you are interested in taking part then please visit
http://www.greenerschools.co.uk/ve_index.asp
You can either look at the REQUESTS page and choose a project from there or post an OFFER on the offers page. PECT are not responsible for any Risk Assessments and CRB checks that is up to the school and the company, though usually if the work is in the grounds then the schools should be ok about not having CRB checks so long as they know.
Legislation Update
Carbon Reduction Commitment
Who will this legislation apply to?
Put simply, any company which uses in excess of 6,000 MWh of energy per annum. This will include some 5000 companies/organisations across the UK economy within eligible organisations.
What is it?
The CRC will be a UK wide mandatory auction based ‘cap & trade’ scheme – companies will have to buy at auction “allowances” which allow them to emit CO2. The CRC will cover both direct (e.g. from on-site fuel consumption) and indirect emissions (e.g. from purchased electricity).
What will eligible organisations have to do?
Each year, participants will need to:
- forecast emissions for the compliance year
- purchase allowances from the Government auction based on the organisation’s emissions forecasts and abatement strategy
- monitor, assess and manage emissions from “fixed” sources throughout the emissions year in order to meet the level of allowances received
- if necessary/desirable, buy or sell allowances on the secondary market or through the ‘buy only’ safety valve in order to meet likely year end obligations to surrender allowances
- report emissions and surrender sufficient allowances to cover actual emissions
If you think you will be affected by the Carbon Reduction Commitment and would like to know more, contact Clare Watters on 01733-897780 or e-mail clare.watters@pect.net to receive a briefing note with more information.
Questions and Answers
Our consultants are always happy to answer your environmental management questions; here are a few questions that have been asked over the past 3 months, and the answers given by Clare Watters, Business Envestors’ Manager.
I’d like to see if there are any companies interested in taking away some of my recyclates, do you have a list of people that I could get in touch with?
Yes, we have a comprehensive list of recycling companies in Cambridge, if you would like a copy please e-mail us and we will send it across. Alternatively, the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) have a lot of information on who will collect your recyclates.
We have a lot of visitors that bring dogs onto our site, so we have set up a fenced area for the dogs. As it is not public property, the Council will not give us a dog poo bin, so currently we dispose of the dog poo in the general waste, is this the right thing to do?
I spoke to the Trade Waste Officer at Peterborough City Council to check this, and she said that as you are only producing small quantities, this is fine. Peterborough City Council also pick up waste from catteries and kennels and this is all disposed of as general waste. She said it would be better practice to put some other materials in with the dog faeces (e.g. newspaper).
For further information on this or any other of the answers above please contact Clare Watters on clare.watters@pect.net or call 01733 897780. She will also be happy to answer any other questions that you may have.
ECO Jargon buster
| "Sustainability" | Sustainability is about integrating ecological, social and economic needs, so that all are considered equally. The most widely accepted definition is “development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." (Bruntland Report, 1987.) |
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"Climate Change" |
The average annual increase in global temperature caused by human activities, which has wide-ranging negative impacts, including increasingly erratic weather and increasing sea-levels leading to flooding. |
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"Environment Management System" |
A management tool designed to improve the environmental performance of an organisation in a structured way. |
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“Environmental Review” |
A procedure for gathering information about an organisation’s environmental impacts. |
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August 2008
Bye Bye BeMS!
Welcome to our first newsletter as our now new official title - Business Envestors!!! BeMS (The Business Environment Management Scheme) has been rebranded to Business Envestors – no, not because we can’t spell “investors” but because our new name encompasses what we do – Support and guide businesses to invest in best environmental practice and as a result receive numerous benefits such as reduce costs, improve efficiency, motivate staff, gain competitive advantage and avoid fines through Legal compliance.
The services we provide you with will still consist of onsite support, membership and training but we are more flexible now to cater for your individual business and industry specific needs. We can assist you what ever level of support you need whether you want to simply be kept up to date with current environmental legislation or whether you would like to implement a full environment management system to ISO14001 standards.
The launch of our new website also helps you to access our improved services more easily. It provides you not only the details of the services we offer but information on legislation, case studies on our members and what they achieved and dates of our upcoming training and events.
So please contact us on 01733 569 830 or Kalai.Mahalingam@pect.net if you have comments or feedback.
Will the green agenda weather the credit crunch?
Over the past few weeks the credit crunch not the environment has dominated headlines begging the question will the green agenda weather the credit crunch?
A recent survey carried out by Peterborough Environment City Trust (PECT) and consulting engineers and environmental scientists Royal Haskoning amongst Peterborough businesses, has shown that while 92% of businesses plan to operate in a more environmentally focused manner over the next 12 months, only 41% believed that their customers would accept a 10% price rise for a more environmental service.
Of 40 businesses surveyed 93% believed that the key driver for going green was public perception, followed by cost effectiveness.
Environmental consultant, Brett Miller from Business Envestors believes that the survey results provide strong evidence of a clear driver within industry to improve business sustainability and obtain green credentials to increase market share and profitability.
He says, “In the current economic climate businesses should be focussing on efficiency and saving money in day-today operations. The benefits of effective waste management and reducing utility costs are not just financial – they are also environmental.”
Dr. Martin Budd, Director of Environment at Royal Haskoning says, “The credit crunch may be grabbing the headlines at the moment; however Nick Stern’s 2006 report highlighted climate change as ‘the biggest long-term threat facing the world economy’.
Martin continues, “Business is responsible for 40 percent of the UK’s greenhouse gas – the time to address our environmental impact is now. Royal Haskoning is currently advising firms across the globe on emissions reduction. We are also addressing our environmental responsibility locally and have implemented IS014001, the highest international environmental standard, across all our offices.”
“The biggest change for us has been a shift in staff attitudes, for example in our Peterborough office in Bretton we have implemented a travel plan to increase the use of sustainable transport, we have installed state of the art video linking equipment to reduce the need for travel for meetings, and we have set up a ‘green team’ to make sure staff take simple steps towards reducing environmental impact such as turning off computer monitors, switching off lights and printing double sided.”
“The bottom line is that business can’t afford to ignore their environmental responsibility, especially in the current economic climate.”
Member Updates
New Members
Clarke & Tholomew, specialists in Sight and Sound AdvertisingTM based in Hampton, has this week pledged their commitment to reduce the environmental impact of their business.
The newly founded company is already enjoying great success including being shortlisted for the HSBC start up stars. Now the firm wants to support Peterborough’s ambition to become the UK’s environment capital by reducing the carbon footprint of their business.
Director of Clarke & Tholomew, Victoria Clarke says, “We are a small business but we feel strongly that we want to do our bit for the environment. We knew we needed to take steps to reduce our environmental impact and are now working with Business Envestors who are part of Peterborough Environment City Trust (PECT) to do just this.
“Our aim is to achieve ISO14001, the international standard for environmental performance. With the help of Business Envestors we have already finalised an Environmental Policy and are now putting a plan of action together to set up a travel plan, segregate our waste, further reduce our use of utilities such as energy and water, and ensure purchasing of office supplies is as environmentally friendly as possible.”
“We have only just started on our green journey and are very excited about the future. Anyone who is interested can follow our journey through the ups and downs on our website clarkeandtholomew.com.”
Brett Miller, Business Support Officer for Business Envestors is working with Clarke & Tholomew to plan and implement their environmental management plan. He explains, “Business Envestors is designed to help small and medium sized businesses ‘go green’ so we were delighted with the enthusiasm and commitment from Clarke & Tholomew. This kind of positive approach is vital for success.
“As an office based firm there are a number of steps that Clarke and Tholomew can take to reduce their environmental impact. Together we are putting together a plan to identify and implement the changes required.
In the short term this could involve simple steps such as setting up a travel plan, reducing the use of paper by only printing when necessary, printing on both sides and making use of scrap paper for note pads. In the medium term we will address energy and water consumption and hopefully also reduce the cost of utility bills. In the longer term there are a range of options available including introducing motion sensor lighting and investigating how to maximise sustainable purchasing decisions wherever possible.”
Local eco company success in UK Media awards
Green Passion Creative, Business Envestor members since May 2007 was short listed on 9th July 2008 for the UK’s Quality in Print Media Awards, celebrated at the Grosvenor House Hotel, Park Lane, London. The awards recognise excellence in the print industry and its client’s services.
Green Passion was judged on professionalism, innovation and expertise in the ‘Environmental Corporate and Public Sector Award’ for the design and print of The Wildlife Trust Annual Review 2006/07. The company was judged on commitment to its environmental performance and the overall environmental performance of its clients’ design products.
Owner Claire Simsek said: ‘We were up against some big businesses: Royal Mail (Winner), Department for Transport, The James McNaughton Group, Alliance and Leicester and Stralfors Plc. and we are delighted to have our work recognised at this national level. As tenants of the newly opened Eco Innovation Centre, we hope that our being short listed champions the city’s green credentials. We also recently won a prestigious three year contract with a prominent city business and hope our progress in only 16 months of operating will encourage more green businesses to relocate to the city and the Eco Innovation Centre.’
To find out more about Green Passion Creative visit www.green-passion.co.uk.
Green Business Survey
I would like to thank everyone who took the time to complete our Green Business Survey. We had 39 participants and to show our appreciation, we entered all of these people into a prize draw to win a free bottle of organic champagne. Business Envestors are pleased to announce that the winner was Andy Louden from Mainland Construction, who specialise in construction, civil engineering and plant hire.
Based on the answers of those who responded our survey showed:
- 95.2% of businesses support Peterborough’s bid to become the UK’s Environment Capital.
- 50% of businesses think that addressing environmental issues will be profitable
- 59.5% of businesses claim that their customers enquire about their environmental responsibilities such as having an Environmental Policy, Environmental Management System and ISO14001
- 30% of Businesses have an Environmental Management System
- 70% either do not have an Environment management System or do not know what one is.
- The majority of businesses felt that ongoing support was most important to fulfil their environmental goals.
- The majority felt that the 3 biggest environmental issues affecting businesses were:
- Minimising Waste, Maximising Recycling
- Energy Consumption
- Reduction of CO2 emissions
- Minimising Waste, Maximising Recycling
If you need advice on how to manage the above environmental issues, Need some onsite support, help implementing an Environment Management System or even just want to know what one is please contact us Clare Watters on Clare.Watters@pect.net or 01733 897 780
Questions and Answers
Our consultants are always happy to answer your environmental management questions; here are a few questions that have been asked over the past 3 months, and the answers given by Clare Watters, Business Envestors’ Manager.
What happens to all the tyres now that they are banned from being landfilled?According to the Lets Recycle website, there were nearly half a million tonnes of waste tyres generated in 2004 and more than half of these were either recycled or reused, some 15% were also used as fuel, 7% exported and 6% used in landfill construction. There are many ways that old tyres can be disposed of responsibly and these include the following: Landfill Construction (as part of a Leachate draining system), Reprocessed (used for a variety of different purposes such as surfacing for sports and play areas, underlay for carpets, soles for shoes and even for road construction), Fuel (tyres can replace some of the coal used to fuel cement kilns but stringent air emission limits apply to this type of operation), Serving another purpose (e.g. play items in children's play areas, motorway embankments, crash barriers at racing tracks, noise insulation, containers for compost heaps, protection for shrubs and trees and so on, the possible uses are limited only by the imagination), or Exported (to meet foreign demand for retread operations).
Is there anyone that will accept old (one-trip) pallets?
Rob Bresler from NISP has had a tonne of pallets picked up for Taylor Wimpey. There may be an opportunity to get rid of more, but it depends where from, quantities etc, also recommended is a wood recycling project, which has a site in Cambridge. For more information on NISP or the wood recycling project, please ring Clare Watters on 01733-897780.
Is there any waste documentation that needs to be kept for 4 years?
There is nothing that needs to be kept for 4 years, 2 years for transfer notes and 3 years for consignment notes.
Are there any funds available for making environmental improvements?
East Midlands Development Agency (EMDA) provide loans that are available for East Midlands businesses. There is no size limit to the businesses that can apply, loans are available £2-£30k and 30% of the cost has to be put in by the businesses themselves.
EMDA also provide business grants; they have 2 types, for R&D and for finance for investment.
Furthermore through the Shell Springboard programme, small businesses are being offered the chance to win awards of up to £40,000 to help fund innovative ideas to tackle climate change.
Last year, oil and gas giant Shell handed out maximum £40,000 awards to five businesses for their projects, which had to prove they can lead to greenhouse gas reductions and be commercially viable. One of the 2007 winners was Dr Paula Carey of Carbon8, a company which turns everyday rubbish from landfill sites into building materials such as bricks or roofing.
Up to six awards of between £20,000 and £40,000 are on offer in each of the regions. Entries must be received by November 7.
For further information on this or any other of the answers above please contact Clare Watters on clare.watters@pect.net or call 01733 897780. She will also be happy to answer any other questions that you may have.
ECO Jargon buster
"Carbon Footprinting" |
The term carbon footprint is commonly |
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Carbon offsetting is a way to counter the release of carbon emissions (CO2), from activities such as driving a car, flying or heating a building. The idea is that for every tonne of CO2 emitted, an equivalent tonne is removed elsewhere. Methods of offset your carbon emissions include planting trees or funding a renewable energy project in the local community or the developing world. |
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The term suggests that a business has no net CO2 emissions. This can be achieved through using renewable energy sources for all heating, electricity and transport needs, or (more commonly) by using offsets to compensate for emissions. |