The Green Clock is Ticking for UK Businesses

Over the past weeks political parties have been falling over themselves to put across their green messages. The major parties have made the environment one of their key political battlegrounds with announcements and policies coming thick and fast. It is clear that environmental issues are now just as important to the political parties as the economic ones, a change in mindset that is sure to impact upon the business community. Now, according to environmental experts, businesses should take action to reduce their impact or risk being left behind in both the public and political arena.
Lena Johansson is an environmental business expert and Director of Responsible PrintT (www.responsibleprint.info). She believes that it is a case of ‘now or never’ for UK businesses who are yet to go green: ‘Businesses that haven’t taken steps to assess their environmental impact should not be putting it off. Going green is not a phase; it is not going to go away and if businesses continue to bury their heads in the sand they will quickly be playing catch up with both consumer concerns and government legislation.’ In recent months it has become the latest fashion for blue chip companies with hefty marketing budgets to flaunt green credentials in an effort to attract today’s conscientious consumers. But, whilst some of these companies have a genuine interest in the environment, others have simply jumped on the latest marketing bandwagon, ‘greenwashing’ their products and services to appeal to modern consumers. If businesses are going to react to environmental issues authenticity and positive action are key, there is no use making a token effort, if you are really going to make an impact you will need to make changes to your business. Lena says: ‘As more and more companies try to green up their act, consumers are beginning to look beyond the greenwash to those genuinely eco-friendly, sustainable companies that are doing everything they can to assess and tackle their impact on the environment. Businesses shouldn’t be fearful of change. Becoming more environmentally friendly will benefit your business as well as the environment. You should however be fearful of not making changes because if you don’t start planning them now you may risk damaging your company’s reputation in the long term. It is much better to be seen as a forward thinking company that is committed to doing what it can to make changes than one that’s stuck in its ways and isn’t reacting to the social climate.’
Looking beyond print, waste in business and the public sector has long been a concern for the more environmentally aware amongst us. It isn’t just about wasted print or supplies, but the profligate waste of energy that rings most alarm bells. In every city centre, late at night, light radiates from empty office buildings which are also ordinarily over-heated during the winter and super chilled by air conditioning in the summer. Hotels and pubic buildings are stifling and uncomfortable, heated to wasteful temperatures, shops blast hot air out into the street, even our cash strapped hospitals are over-heated to the point where many patients having to stay in wards suffer from extreme discomfort. The latter must also pay a significant part in the spread of germs and bacteria which thrive in the heat. A few degrees down on the thermostat would save millions for every health authority - millions that could be spent on much needed healthcare... and every business could save at least ten per cent of its energy bills and likely much more by simply ensuring that all equipment and lighting that can be turned off when not needed is turned off. This seems little to ask of the employees of any business.
But individual employees leave their computer screens and processors turned on all night and other shared offi ce equipment is rarely powered off. Lights are left on in cloakrooms, in store cupboards, in rarely used meeting rooms - in short it seems that most people have a completely different mindset when at work because they personally don’t see or have to pay the bills. Whilst email has taken the place of much printed communication in businesses, the paper-less office remains a myth. Local government departments spew out reams of paperwork - reminding businesses, and this is ironic, of their obligations to separate their waste and pay additional monies to have it collected!! In fact the waste from government and from the utility companies is the worst of all by volume.
Empty buildings lie unused when demand for temporary housing or low cost business space is high. Local authorities too often look to build new rather than refurbish, oblivious it seems to the logic of bringing existing empty space back into use. Flats above shops are often left empty and behind most older High Street premises are neglected gardens that could be put to excellent use. It seems that everywhere we look there is waste, waste and yet more waste. Perfectly good cardboard cartons are fl attened and sent for recyling by one business when another down the road is buying in the same type of boxes new; the office equipment and furniture considered redundant by one organisation rarely reaches the second user who would welcome it with open arms; there are myriad small things that could combine to reduce the carbon footprint of every business, commercial and public premises in the country. So why don’t you set aside an hour or two fi guring out what you could do to reduce the environmental impact of your job and pool ideas with your colleagues to improve your organisation’s environmental record.