In recent years, we have done our best to become a fully digital, paperless office. However, due to the nature of the work that we do, we cannot be entirely paperless. We still have to print forms for clients to sign amongst other documents. So, to account for that, we do our best to recycle as much of our waste as is possible. The company that we use, Change Works, regularly share with us how much we have recycled. We felt it would be a good idea to share that information with you and let you know our plans for moving forward.
Since we have found the transition to paperless quite smooth, we don’t generate much waste. In the last 12 months we have only generated enough waste for two collections. But we still think it’s important to share. Change Works split their data into 7 categories; glass, paper, cardboard bundles, plastic bottles, cans, drinks cartons and confidential paper.
The following chart highlights what we recycled since October 2022:
The paper has been recycled into tissue paper at a facility in Wales and the cardboard has been recycled back into cardboard in the North of England. The plastic is reprocessed back into pellets for manufacturing and the cans are recycled back into drinks cans via UK processors.
Over the course of the last year, we have diverted 79.33 kg of carbon which means that we have saved the equivalent of one bin lorry driving 81.19 km (or 50.44 miles).
Moving forward, we want to make sure that we continue to recycle as much waste as we possibly can. But we feel that it is more important that we reduce the amount of waste that we generate to begin with. We feel that it is reasonable to request that our staff only print documents that are necessary. We want to encourage everyone to do as much work as possible digitally. We also aim to encourage our clients to interact with us digitally as much as we can. We now have the technology to request signatures digitally and to send documents via our secure messaging system. In terms of plastic and cans, we will switch from plastic bottles of milk to glass as much as we can and be more vigilant with bringing in reusable water bottles.
As our clients, we want you to hold us to any commitments we make so feel free to ask your adviser about our progress with our recycling project!
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