Limiting our carbon footprint

Earlier in the year, the management board sat down to discuss how to do our bit in reducing our carbon footprint. Being viewed as a socially responsible company is important for us- we want our customers to trust that not only are we wanting to provide a great service, but we want to give back to the environment at the same time.

Our purpose-built office on the A38 was fitted with energy-efficient lighting, which uses approximately 15 times less electricity than halogen lighting, whilst producing the same amount of light. Additionally, LED bulbs last 10 times longer than a halogen bulb.

We are also working towards an entirely paperless system. Over the last year, we have implemented systems in both the accounts and contracts department within the office, whereby all documents are stored and processed electronically – this is also a great move when considering the amount of office space taken up by storage! The development and implementation of our new “Reflow” App, means that not only have we gone paperless inside the office, but the operatives on the road are now also working towards a paperless system. The app allows all information to be inputted onto a tablet and stored electronically, as opposed to having lots of paper flying around. Not only is this an environmentally friendly move, but it means that data is more secure, and document storage and recovery is more efficient.

This year we have also made a big change to our fleet of vehicles. Until earlier in 2019, we operated with a fleet of 10 Nissan Navara’s alongside all our commercial work vehicles, which were great for company image, but not so great on reducing our footprint- which is the bigger picture that we are working towards. Our 10 Nissan Navaras have now been traded in for 10 of the new Citreon Berlingo models. The average CO2 output on these vehicles is 114g/km, whereas the Navara’s have an average output of 182g/km.

Of course, there is another positive outcome in contributing to limiting our damage to the environment- and that is the cost savings we can pass on to our customers by implementing the above.