Kent Sustainable Business Partnership Forum

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Greening Your Business for a Competitive
Advantage Wednesday 21st February 2007 10 EASY
WAYS TO GREEN YOUR BUSINESS
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Buy Recycled!

• Its so easy to buy all kinds of recycled
  products, from pens and pencils to containers,
• the possibilities are endless...
• Just have a look around and find what you need
  for your recycled shopping list

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Source Products Locally

• Promote local businesses
• Reducing vital product miles
• Buy Fairtrade products
• Buy Organic products
• Buy Eco cleaning products

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Reduce your Waste

• What are you paying to dispose of?
• How much are you buying - just to dispose of?
• Get a waste audit done for free
• KSBP
• Envirowise
• Independent
• This will help you reduce your waste and make
  sure you are recycling all that you can

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Its a Tool not a Badge

• Environmental Management Systems
• ISO 14001
• BS 8555
• Internal Environmental Management
• Make the most of an Environmental Management
  System to assess all your impacts - then act to
  reduce them.
• Are you compliant with legislation?
• Start with a Policy and let the sky be your limit

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Green Procurement Policy

• Its good practice and reflects well on your
  business
• Factor the environment into your purchasing
  criteria
• Look for suppliers that with Environmental
  Management Systems

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Cut the Queues - Travel in Twos

• Encourage Staff to
• Car share
• Walk/ride to work
• Get public transport
• Write a Green Travel Plan and stick to it
• It will reduce your business mileage and reduce
  your CO2 emissions as a result
• Buy vehicles that are Dual Fuel or that take
  Biofuels

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Switch off, dont pay up!

• An average office wastes 6000 per year by
  leaving equipment on over the weekend and bank
  holidays
• Switch off
• Lighting
• Computers
• Printers
• Machinery
• Heating/ Air conditioning
• Displays
• Use posters, stickers available from The Carbon
  Trust
• Renewable Energy?

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Become Water Wise

• Reduce the amount of water that you use by
  installing
• Dual flush toilets
• Push button taps
• Waterless Urinals
• Rainwater harvesting
• Grey water systems
• Find out more from Envirowise

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Green from the Inside

• Train up your staff so that they can measure,
  monitor and improve your resource efficiency and
  performance
• Hadlow College - Sustainable Business Skills
• FCFE Level 3 Certificate for the Environmental
  Practitioner
• Environmental management Modules
• Small businesses
• Practical
• Land based
• Construction

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Spend Some Money

• Support a local community project
• Sponsor a programme
• Offset your carbon dioxide etc
• Help others and make a good name for yourself

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• Tell your customers about what you are doing!
• Enter the
• Environment Awards for Kent Business

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Greening Your Business for a Competitive
Advantage Wednesday 21st February 2007 10 EASY
WAYS TO GREEN YOUR BUSINESS