Environmental Policy
Last updated 4th January 2008
Both co-founders of Make Hay are committed to living and working in ways which are kind to the environment and inevitably working from home one impacts on the other. Due to our line of work both purchase of materials and production of waste are minimal.
We employ green/resource efficient working practices on a daily basis but we are always looking at ways to improve what we’re already doing. Therefore we are developing a plan to outline current practices, how we can become more efficient with these and any relevant, new practices we can implement.
It is our Policy to:
- Comply with all relevant environmental legislation, regulations and requirements.
- Continue to use a renewable energy provider for our electricity, and aim to reduce our gas heating usage where possible.
- Continue to host our websites on wind powered website hosting (www.green-hosting.co.uk) and promote this to clients and potential clients.
- Keep energy use low by continuing to turn off equipment / lights (low energy light bulbs) which are not being used.
- Continue to keep our water usage to a minimum, which is currently used only for regular office activity (drinks & bathroom). However, we plan to reduce the amount of water used after investigating the option of a water meter being installed and therefore monitoring our usage.
- Reuse resources whenever possible rather than dispose of them. Non-confidential paperwork is either used to make notepads or recycled. Confidential paperwork is shredded and composted – as is biodegradable food waste from staff. Old electronic components for computers are wherever possible used to build computers for friends/family members. We have joined Nottingham Realcycle which will be another way to recycle electronic and office waste as is donating to charities wherever possible.
- Continue to purchase our business stationery from the Green Stationery Company; thus making use of a full range of recycled products needed for our business. Letterheads and business cards are printed on recycled paper with vegetable ink. Any other furniture / equipment for the office is bought either second hand or from companies with positive environmental credentials or acquired via Realcycle.
- Continue to keep to a minimum the amount of paper coming into the Make Hay office by joining the Mail Preference Service
- Keep business travel to a minimum with the majority of work with clients being carried out electronically or by phone. When travelling is necessary, public transport is our first choice. At times when car usage is needed we aim to plan more than one meeting in that geographical area; thus limiting such journeys and their environmental impact. We use an ethical motor insurer which offsets 20% of the CO2 emissions of an average passenger car with an average mileage. We have also purchased carbon offsetting with Climate Care which covers the CO2 emissions of more than our business and personal car use.
- Be committed to constantly learning about how we can further improve our environmental practices/resource efficiency plus methods to measure the success of these.
- We will continue to communicate, support and network with suppliers, clients, & associates who sympathise with our environmental and ethical aims and demonstrate such commitment.
- We are committed to ensuring that Make Hay staff, our current and potential clients plus the general public can access our policy easily.
Our policy is regularly reviewed, with updates included as and when current objectives are met and new ones are identified.