MPI’s updated environmental management system has been in place for a few months now and has led to some significant improvements. 7 environmental objectives and 16 targets were set last year to monitor and measure how we delivered the environmental objectives. All objectives were achieved and will continue to underpin our green drive in 2020.
One of the targets that we set, was to aim to reduce purchased paper consumption at MPI Hertford by 10%. In 2018 the paper usage equated to 1955 reams or 117 trees, however last year this was reduced to 22.25% which is only 435 reams or 26 trees. In addition to this, the paper stock that was used before scored 1 star on the Green Star system, meaning that it was not sustainable or recycled paper (3 stars and above are considered to be eco-responsible). The paper now being used not only scores 4 out of 5 stars, but also costs us less.
In 2018, the Hertford office alone used 59750.50kwh of electricity, so we aimed to reduce energy consumption there by 2% in 2019. Electricity consumption was cut by 3.05% last year, by everyone changing habits such as not using air conditioning with windows open and turning off lights and equipment when not in use.
We also set a target to reduce water consumption by 1% in 2019. By fixing leaks and using the dishwasher on eco mode only when it was full, led to a staggering 38.91% reduction from 257.35m³ in 2018 to 157.77m³ in 2019.
This time last year, little was being recycled at the Hertford office in the kitchen, so we set a recycling rate target of 80%. We appointed a waste management company in August to take away segregated card, tins, non-confidential paper and plastics for recycling and although robust waste data is not yet available to accurately measure this, very little is now sent to landfill in comparison to before. In addition to this, all batteries, printer and toner cartridges are now collected for recycling/reuse and disposable cups have been removed. Envelopes and cardboard are also being reused wherever possible.
Environmental training was given to the Environmental Champions at Hertford this month and will be extended to other staff members and offices throughout 2020.
Finally, our environmental management system was developed in order to achieve certification to ISO 14001:2015 and Hertford will be audited on 25 March by NQA.
More changes are set to be made to our office environmental practices this year, which should ensure that we maintain momentum.