Environmental Management and Small Organisations

Over the last few months I have had the priviledge of conducting audits across several small businesses. What constantly impresses me is their committment to improve their environmental performance. This is never easy for a small organisation and they all have an approach which although based around an Environmental Management System has to be appropriate to the size and scale of the organisation. Often the person responsible for the system has little or no environmental training and therefore appreciates any professional advice they can get. Soalthough they are being audited it is also possible to give them some advice or relay examples of good practice from others.

This has got me thinking, what resources are available to help small organisations. I have recently developed a resource to help such organisations. More details can be obtained from me at chris@futuredirections.org.uk.
The structure of this resource briefly explains the importance of the environment and guides the participants through a series of worksheets to assess their current environmental impact.

Chris Gledhill
www.futuredirections.org.uk

The Challenge of IT equipment

We now have some pretty neat IT gear these days at home. At Christmas my wife got an
i-pad and I now use one of the new Android phone. Both of these have had a dramatic impact on our daily lives and means that our old trusty PC and my lap top get used less and less. As for newspapers, they are a thing of the past with the ability to download some of the major quality newsheets free. The downside of this is that we have no newspapers to light our stove!

The i-pad is so innovative that it becomes almost an extension of the hand and the brain and there are an increasing number of apps out there, some great, others less so. The same is the same for the android phone. What would i do without my GPS, diary and emails. The downside is that the battery quickly discharges. On one trip to Sheffield, I found myself without any power. This got me thinking about what would we do if the power actually runs out. This is no idle exercise as it is suggested that we could face power cuts by 2016 if we don't find new sources of power. So the one obvious solution is to generate more power, but how can we do this in just five years. Wind power is facing planning battles on shore and for off shore developments its at least a six year programme from conception to commissioning.

The other option is to find ways to reduce our energy consumption. So before you switch your lights and heating on, think about whether you actualy need to switch on. For more information on Greening your Office (and of course home) read my article on my website.

GOOD PRACTICE HINT:

Don't leave your electrical equipment on standby. They still consume a significant amount of power, so when not in use, switch off electrical and electronic equipment.

Chris Gledhill
01874 638 979

The Power of Mother Nature and cleaning products

The events of the last few weeks in Christchurch and now Japan has demonstrated that irrespective of how well we build, the sophistication of our technology and our emergency preparedness, nothing can prepare us for the full force of nature. Our hearts and thoughts go out to all those who have lost their families, friends and loved ones in these two devastating natural disasters.

In Japan there is so much still to do to try and find survivors, then no doubt the clean up will begin and the nation can start to come to terms with the full impacts of the earthquake disaster. Then the clean up can begin.


Cleaning Products


This week my blog is all about cleaning products. If you are like me, the temptation when choosing cleaning products is to purchase on the claims of what the products can do, rather than look more closely at the ecological attributes. Some cleaning products rely heavily on chemicals. If you look at their product data sheets it can be quite scary to learn of their potential harmful impacts to the environment. As a child, I remember my parents using Lysol. I checked this out and it contains benzalkonium chloride, a substance highly toxic to fish and aquatic invertebrates. So whenever possible I look for Ecover for the main source of our cleaning products. They have a really friendly and helpful website, so I would suggest readers to check it out. Whatever products you buy do check the labels, it’s a good idea to look for the European Ecolabel.

The European Ecolabel is a voluntary scheme, established in 1992 to encourage businesses to market products and services that are kinder to the environment. Products and services awarded the Ecolabel carry the flower logo, allowing consumers - including public and private purchasers - to identify them easily. Today the EU Ecolabel covers a wide range of products and services, with further groups being continuously added. Product groups include cleaning products, appliances, paper products, textile and home and garden products, lubricants and services such as tourist accommodation. While the logo may be simple, the environmental criteria behind it are tough, and only the very best products, which are kindest to the environment, are entitled to carry the EU Ecolabel. So really there is little excuse not to find a product which has minimal impact on the environment.

Researching all these “eco” products got me thinking. Do we actually need to buy these commercial products? What did our ancestors do? So Future Directions has started to do some research into these and I will share my findings in future blogs. I will also look out for other brands who have achieved the EU Eco Label.

GOOD PRACTICE HINT:

Bath cleaner: Mix 15 mls of vinegar into 1 liter of water. Use this mixture to clean your bath. For persistent strains use full strength vinegar on a cloth and rub briskly.


Future Directions work with companies to help them improve profitability and sustainability by finding ways to reduce running costs and ensure that they are compliant with environmental legislation and regulations. We offer an initial free consultation and can also conduct an initial assessment on your existing environmental management system. Contact us at;

email:             enquiries@futuredirections.org.uk
telephone:      01874 638 979

The Importance of Business Planning

More U turns than a learner driver or is it purely lack of business planning?

I can’t help but notice that our current government have done more u-turns in the last few weeks than a lost driver. Some of these have included;

The re-organisation of the NHS (despite earlier promises)

The sell off of our forests (some of these are ancient Royal Forests)

Free milk (one day they were withdrawing it, then no they weren’t)

The Lisbon Treaty (what happened to the promised vote?)

In addition they have been told by the courts that the cancellation of the schools building programme was illegal. All of this does beg the question “what is going on?”

I always thought that our governments would develop a plan, discuss it in Parliament, refine it and then implement it. All they seem to doing at the moment is falling off their bikes.

Most businesses have some form of plan with targets and deadlines and generally then get on and do it. Increasingly more enlightened companies have embraced some form of environmental management as part of their business strategy. As the costs of fuel, they are in a stronger position than their competitors, because they measure and manage their energy use. The ongoing recession is not going to make it any easier for any business but there is an opportunity to improve performance and reduce costs by minimising waste which includes not just rubbish, but heat, light and materials.

So what can we do about rubbish and waste? A good approach is to walk around your premises and have a look at what you are throwing away. Look in your bins and skips. Ask the questions what and why you are throwing it away. The why is the question we don’t ask enough? For example, is the paper you are throwing away printed on both sides, or why does there seem to be too many rejects or damaged products in your skips. It is not rocket science but these simple steps can reap a big reward in starting to identify what you are wasting and if you are not throwing things away then you not adding to the rubbish in land fill sites.

We can help you with your environmental management and associated systems. Contact us.

GOOD PRACTICE HINT: If you can not cut down on the volume of waste cardboard, flatten or crush it to reduce its volume.  

Merthyr Mawr National Nature Reserve

Just back from Merthyr Mawr National Nature Reserve. This is a fantastic sand dunes complex on the south Wales coast. Famous for it great number of invertebrates and its unique flora. The dunes lie on top of a limestone outcrop. Hardly a soul about, but really great to see local stables using it. But I have got to have a rant. The amount of litter across the reserve is appalling. No matter where you looked you saw it. Come on Countryside Council for Wales, I know that it is difficult to stop these ignorant people dropping the litter, but what about a few volunteer parties to pick it up and who knows, if there was no litter then maybe people would be less likely to drop it.I would certainly sign up to volunteer. What about getting Keep Wales Tidy involved as well?

Picture from the Ramblers



Chris Gledhill
Future Directions

The Hiddens Costs of Climate Change

With the outcome of the recent UK elections and the BP crisis, there hasn't been too much kin the papers or the media about climate change. Sadly it is still there and following a recent piece of research by the u-Switch website, it looks as though the average household is now paying £84 per year to meetthe increasing environmental levies. This includes the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target, the Community Energy Saving Programme and the Renewables Obligation currently make up 7% of energy bills.Writing in the Independant Nicky Burridge reports that this could well double in the next 10 years. It is clear that as governments (UK and Europe) look to tackle the challenges of climate change whether we like it or not we the end user will have to pay.

So what are our options? The simplest way is to cut back on our use of electricity and fossil fuels. We have  installed an energy meter to better manage the way we use electricity in addition to switching to a green tariff.  We also have installed a multi fuel burning stove from Clearviews Stoves. We are really impressed by its performance, but it does take quite alot of work in cutting the wood. However we have an agreement with our neighbour, we do work on his hedgerows and get the wood.

Our next consideration is to practice what we preach and our looking at solar and photovoltaics.

Future Directions are pleased to offer advice and guidance on energy reduction and alternative energies. e-mail us or call us on 01874 638979

Wind Power

One of the impressive things that I saw when I recently visited Denmark was the way that they approached carbon reduction and clean energy supplies. The coastline is dotted with small wind power farms. Generally these are no more than 3 to 10 and despite the flatness of the country merge well into the landscape. One day we actually sailed into a harbour where there was a large production facility, constructing wind farms. I am happy to see wind turbines in the right place. The UK still has a long way to go to meet the power demands of the next 20 years. Wind farms alone will not solve the problem, we will have to look to other generating sources, however last week saw the official opening of the UKs latest offshore wind farm. I actually flew over it on my return from Denmark. It is an impressive site some 48 turbines that will produce 172 megawatts of electricity (enough to power 125,000 homes on an annual basis). The visual impact of this development is much less than the equivalent sized development on land.

Lynn and Inner Dowsing wind farm, off the Lincolnshire coast Photograph: David Sillitoe /Guardian

There are many ways that we can all get involved in renewable energy and recent government incentives for the Feed In Tariff or the Clean Energy Buy Back Scheme is beginning to make it more viable for many households, farms and estates to invest in renewable energy. Under this scheme energy suppliers make regular payments to householders and communities who generate their own electricity from renewable or low carbon sources such as wind turbines, hydro electric or solar panels.
At Future Directions we can provide advice and guidance for those thinking about renewable energy and can identify appropriately qualified installers.
You can contact us on 01874 638979 or email us at enquiries@futuredirections.org.uk