We, Lifework, recognise and understand the importance of protecting the environment and promoting best practice. We are committed to continual improvement in our environmental performance, and to minimising adverse environmental impacts where reasonably practicable.

We demonstrate our commitment by:

• Reviewing and understanding the range of environmental impacts arising from our activities
• Ensuring that we comply with and, where possible, exceed all applicable UK, European and international environmental legislation
• Setting environmental objectives and targets for our most significant impacts, and defining the means of achieving them to improve our environmental management and performance
• Reducing energy and resource consumption by implementing effective and efficient reduction methods consistent with best practice
• Influencing and managing our suppliers and contractors to ensure that goods procured and services undertaken comply with our environmental policy
• Developing green travel plans by encouraging staff to adopt greener travel practices.
• Minimising the use of toxic and environmentally damaging materials and preventing the release of pollutants
• Minimising the generation of waste and implementing recycling initiatives
• Ensuring that the policy is understood, implemented and maintained at all levels within the organisation and is supported by suitable education and training whenever necessary
• Openly communicating our progress towards addressing environmental impacts to interested external parties and responding appropriately to reasonable requests for information
• Periodically reviewing the policy to take account of changes in organisation, legislation, Government targets or other internal and external factors

Key ‘Green’ Targets: Guidelines and Policies

‘Greening‘our office makes good business sense. Simply put, the less we use, the less we pay for. Also, it will assist in the promotion of Lifework as a responsible and forward-looking organisation, and ensure our own contribution to the concept of sustainable development.

‘Greening’ our office involves:

• reducing resources consumed/waste produced.
• reducing the amount of water and energy consumed and pollution produced.
• buying goods and services which minimise environmental impacts.
• increasing the amount of waste we recycle or re-use.
• promoting the efficient use of transport for commuting and business travel.

Guidelines:

The guidelines that Lifework follows on an individual, as well as organisational level are outlined below.

Waste Policy

The cost of waste includes:

• Wasted materials and natural resources (e.g. paper generated by over-ordering of printed items and poor office practice)
• Transport costs
• The costs of resulting water and air pollution
• Disposal costs (including payments to waste contractors in accordance with our Security Plan)
• Excessive use of energy and water

Reducing waste

• Reducing waste at source is the best and most effective method of reducing costs and preventing pollution

Follow three simple steps:

• Reduce: eliminate waste before it is created by only buying what we need
• Re-use: where possible, find alternative uses for goods, equipment and furniture, or use durable rather than disposable items
• Recycle: recycling waste produced including paper and cardboard, glass, toner and printer cartridges, computer equipment, furniture and any appropriate building materials.

Measure it, and then manage it:

We carry out waste audits to help identify areas where most waste is produced and what types of waste are being generated. The audit provides ideas on how to tackle the problem.

Paper Policy

Paper is perhaps the most obvious area within which we can reduce waste in the office. In order to do this, we encourage and use best practice procedures:

• We aim to ensure that all our paper is sourced from FSC approved suppliers.
• Always use both sides of paper. Set printers and photocopiers to copy double-sided as default.
• Use designated containers to collect part-used waste paper. This can then be fed back through faxes/printers, be made into notepads or used for rough working
• Shred confidential material and use as packing material in the office or send for recycling.
• Send all other used paper for recycling where possible.
• Reduce the circulation of printed documents by using email wherever possible, or attaching a circulation list to single copies whenever possible
• Use a central stationery facility in order to avoid duplication of orders.

Energy Policy

Office equipment is the fastest growing user of energy in the business world. Electricity consumption by office equipment represents twenty-five per cent of the total electrical energy used in offices, and places a significant cost on the organisation as well as on the environment. Additionally, the limited life of most office equipment means that much waste is generated when this equipment becomes obsolete. Heating/cooling and lighting accounts for the rest of the electrical energy used in most offices, but simple steps can dramatically reduce the amount of energy used. The key to cutting the amount of energy used in an office is good management. In some cases, energy costs can be reduced by more than half by adopting simple energy-saving measures.

Heating and cooling:

• Reduce office heating temperature where possible and appropriate
• Make sure that heating systems are switched off or reduced outside working hours
• Turn down thermostats instead of opening windows
• Maintain equipment properly
• Ensure that lights and other equipment are switched off when rooms are not in use.

IT equipment

• Ensure all users switch off office equipment when not in use, i.e. photocopier switched off overnight, computer monitors should be switched off overnight.
• If PCs are left on all day, switch off the monitor when away from desks for long periods of time (i.e. during meetings, lunchtimes, etc.); the monitor alone consumes over two-thirds of the total amount of energy used by a PC.
• Replacing conventional PC monitors with flat screens where possible; not only do they take up less desk space, they also use between twenty-five to sixty-five per cent less energy; flat screens also generate far less heat than conventional monitors.

Lighting

• Make the most of natural light by keeping windows clean and free of obstructions
• Run a ‘switch off’ campaign to dispel the myth that it takes more energy to switch fluorescent lights and computers on and off than it does to keep them running.
• Run banks of lighting units with reduced numbers of bulbs.

Water Policy

• Avoid washing crockery and cutlery under running taps
• Do not use hosepipes to wash office vehicles – using instead buckets or car washes that recycle the water used
• Avoiding plants that require excessive watering

Procurement policy

In general, when procuring goods and services for Lifework, we aim to follow the following principles:

• When buying or leasing replacement equipment such as printers, photocopiers and fax machines, choose duplex models that will automatically print on both sides of the paper at sufficiently fast speeds (circa 32 pages per minute for photocopiers, and 17 for printers)
• Ensure that all machines have the capacity to handle recycled paper comprising one hundred per cent post-consumer waste
• Choose models which have low energy use and an energy saving facility
• Repair equipment before replacement; planning long-term maintenance needs for repairs, services and electrical appliance testing – this is done on a regular basis, thus extending the lifetime of office equipment
• Buying recycled goods, thus ‘closing the loop’ between buying new items, and recycling them. In this way the drain on our limited natural resources will be reduced. One good example of this is buying recycled paper (not just paper which is labelled ‘environmentally friendly’, which can mean anything). Many suppliers and printers now provide high grades of recycled paper suitable for most applications
• Choosing chlorine-free papers with a post-consumer waste content, rather than post-industrial mill waste to maximise environmental benefits. Asking suppliers to provide evidence of the ABCD rating of recycled paper to show the origin of the waste
• A large range of recycled stationery items is now widely available including fax paper, files, document wallets, flip chart pads and storage boxes
• Also, buying refillable pens, water-based markers and avoiding disposable desk items minimises waste and reduces costs

Recycling Policy

Up to seventy per cent of office waste is recyclable. Lifework intend to recycle the following:

• Plastic bottles & cans
• Paper
• Cardboard
• Glass and building waste
• Ink / toner cartridges
• PCs and PC peripherals
• Kitchen Waste

Transport Policy

Vehicle exhaust emissions are a major source of air pollution worldwide. 22% of carbon dioxide, a major contributor to global warming, originates from transport. Emissions levels are dependent on vehicle technology and the state of maintenance of the vehicle. Other factors, such as driving style, driving conditions and ambient temperature also affects emissions.

Green transport tips

• Offset travel carbon emissions
• Use telephone conferencing for long-distance meetings, where possible
• Use public transport, where possible and practicable, for business travel
• Walk/cycle to work (cycling for fifteen minutes a day reduces the risk of heart attack by fifty per cent)
• Car share where possible

Improving the environmental performance of vehicles

• Plan ahead – choose uncongested routes, combine trips and car share
• Cold starts – drive off as soon as possible after starting
• Drive smoothly and efficiently – harsh acceleration and heavy braking have a very significant effect on fuel consumption – driving more smoothly saves fuel
• Slow down – driving at high speeds significantly increases fuel consumption
• Use higher gears, as soon as traffic conditions allow
• Switch off – sitting stationary is zero miles per gallon – switch off the engine whenever it is safe to do so
• Don’t carry unnecessary weight – remove roof racks when not in use
• Regular servicing helps to keep the engine at best efficiency
• Make sure that tyres are inflated to the correct pressure for the vehicle
• Do not compromise safety, but be aware that the use of on-board electrical devices increases fuel consumption
• Check your fuel consumption – it will help you to get the most from the car; changes in fuel consumption may indicate a fault
• Use air-conditioning sparingly – running air-conditioning continuously will increase fuel consumption significantly.

Environmental Contract Waste Policy

Lifework recognises that considerate waste management practices should mean that  a good percentage of construction, demolition and gardening/landscaping waste need not have been produced in the first place. In any project, the following questions will be asked prior to commencement:

1. Can the project be designed so as to minimise the amount of waste produced?
2. Could the waste material be reused in-situ or elsewhere?
3. Can the project be designed so that (in order of preference) second hand materials, recycled materials, renewable materials or local materials be used?

Lifework is committed to ensuring that the following procedure is adopted whenever possible.

• All green waste/brash is to be chipped and spread.
• All bricks, concrete products and similar materials are to be reused whenever and wherever possible.
• All other waste products are to be transported to the contracted disposal agent (in as great a volume as is legally and logistically possible to accord with the above transport policy) for recycling and/or appropriate disposal.

This policy was approved and endorsed by the Board of Trustees on 17th February 2011.