NICK GRAY is managing director of a design agency that is going green. Since
2004, Live and Breathe has invited in the Carbon Neutral Company every two
years to audit its carbon footprint and calculate how much levy it needs to
pay to offset it. Last year the levy, which goes to global regeneration
projects, cost the firm £5,000.
“We decided as a business that we should try and be more green,” said Gray.
“It is not to make us feel good, it is because we think it is the right
thing to do. The staff all completely buy into it.”
As well as adopting a policy of “reuse, recycle and reduce”, Live and Breathe,
which has offices in London and Leeds, also tries to use green suppliers.
Gray said that going green has become more important from a commercial point
of view. “In 2004, a lot of clients truthfully didn’t care about this. Now
they do,” he said. “It helps our image a lot. For example, we pitched for
some BP work last year and one of their main questions was about our
environmental policy.”
Sue Welland, co-founder of the Carbon Neutral Company, which advises 500 small
businesses on becoming environmentally aware, said that adopting a green
policy was starting to have a big impact on a firm’s ability to compete. “We
have seen from our own clients that the number of tenders with a requirement
about climate change has gone up by 30%-40% over the past year.”
She said the secret to turning a company green was to find someone within the
business to champion the changes. “This person needs to be somebody who has
influence and, ideally, budget – somebody who understands the commercial and
moral benefits, who can make things happen.”
The second step, she said, was to make an assessment of your carbon footprint,
either by getting Carbon Neutral to do it for you, or by working it out
yourself on its online small-business calculator, available at sales@carbonneutral.com
or by calling 020 7833 6000.
Welland said: “By doing an assessment you will begin to identify where your
core emissions are from. The three critical areas are travel, waste and
energy. If you know where the carbon you produce comes from, then you know
how to prioritise.”
She said that even small things, such as turning off lights and equipment when
they are not in use, can make a difference. “You can save about 10% of your
carbon emissions just by doing this. And go for energy-saving light bulbs.”
She said small firms should also consider joining the government’s
cycle-to-work scheme and, if you are having a meeting, use glasses rather
than plastic cups.
Welland said that choosing to deal only with green suppliers can also have a
positive impact. “You could have a policy that you are going to buy only
from companies that are carbon neutral or low carbon or at least have a
carbon-reduction policy. The benefit of doing this is that you are helping
to push responsibility for carbon down your supply chain and you are
encouraging others to think about it, as well as being supplied with greener
goods or services. It is a no-cost act to you but it will deliver a benefit
to your company.”
She points out that Radio Taxis, the London taxi firm, for example, won £1.2m
of business by going carbon neutral.
Russimco is another established company that has chosen to adopt green
principles. A maker of traditional wooden toys since 1993, the firm, based
near Bridgewater in Somerset, has just launched a range of electronic toys
with a difference - none requires batteries.
Founder Sim Oram said: “I began to get uneasy with the terribly wasteful
nature of the toys industry. If you look at the packaging toys are in, there
are lots of layers of cardboard, shrinkwrap and acetate. Then when I went to
see a plastics factory in China I came away heartbroken because of the
horrible conditions for the workers there. I thought there has to be a way
that this can all be done better.”
It was while listening to a broadcast by Trevor Baylis, the inventor of the
wind-up radio, that Oram discovered how to put his plan into action. “I
wondered if it was possible to change toys so that instead of having
batteries they had a wind-up mechanism, like toys used to have.”
The result is a range of 10 toys for babies and children aged up to 8,
including a toy mobile phone with flashing lights and noises - which works
by being shaken - a radio and a toy microphone. They will be in shops from
April.
The packaging for the toys, which have been branded Ecotronic, has been made
from 100% recyclable pulp and this means the toys take up two-thirds less
space in shipping containers.
Oram said: “I believe the consumer is at the point of being able to make
decisions about green issues and the fact that our toys don’t require
batteries is a huge plus. I think people are grown up enough to real-ise
that we can’t go on living like this.”
Paul Rowley at the Centre for Renewable Energy at Loughborough University and
co-founder of the energy-advice web-site Greenenergy360.org, said: “It is
not easy for small businesses because they are really focused on their cash
flow and on maintaining productivity and competitive-ness. But as energy
prices increase, it is becoming more important to deal with energy in the
context of green issues.
“In terms of tendering for contracts, for example, a company that can show it
is actually doing something, rather than paying lip service to green issues,
will stand a better chance.”
He said that small businesses should start by tackling their energy usage. Not
only would that have the biggest impact on emissions, but the biggest impact
on cutting costs. The first step, said Rowley, was to find out how much
energy your firm uses, perhaps by getting an expert from the
government-funded, independent Carbon Trust to come in and carry out a free
energy audit.
Once you have tackled ways of reducing your energy output – for example, by
using motion sensors in areas that are constantly lit – the next step is to
look at renew-able-energy options such as wind and solar energy.
Rowley said: “You don’t have to be big to be green. It may seem like a complex
picture at first, but by taking small steps you can quickly make big
strides, both in terms of your branding and market position and your
marketability within the supply chain. You can also make very simple steps,
primarily related to energy, that can have a significant impact on your cost
base.”
In fact, he warns that small firms that do not start addressing the issue soon
will come unstuck. He said: “At the end of the day increasing legislation,
especially on energy and waste, means you don’t have a choice. The sooner
you start to get to grips with it, the easier it will be because one day you
will have to do it anyway.”
PART ONE: Green
means go for new firms
RESOURCES
Carbon Neutral carbonneutral.com
The Carbon Trust carbontrust.co.uk
Green Energy 360 greenenergy360.org
