How Environmentally Friendly is my Local Business?

 

Chelmsford Removals has a social and environmental conscience and understands that businesses, as well as individuals, need to analyse and minimise their environmental impact for the world to change.

For example, look at the picture of London City at night and all the lights inside the buildings fully on. Some of those London office buildings use more than the equivalent of a 3-bedroom house’s annual electricity bill in less than ONE week*.  This story is also playing out in local shops and retail parks that do not turn off their lights outside of opening hours. With the advent of heating control apps and devices in our homes, this should bring home how important it is that businesses, even small ones, address such issues as low-energy lighting, timers or sensors for lighting panels and ensuring heating is set as low a point as possible to maximise collective energy savings

The publicity surrounding COP26 over the last few weeks and last minute details being thrashed out late into the evenings and the weekend has certainly woken up a lot of people to push for changes in their own lives.  Some people are changing their lives dramatically, while some are changing little things such as simply saving water.  With close to 8 billion people on the planet, even a little change per person can deliver huge results to prevent using up the planet’s natural resources and help to make a collective effort to slow, with the goal to stop, global warming.

 

Here we have listed 8 major changes we have effected in recent years to reduce our carbon footprint and increase sustainability.

1. Greener vehicles – Have invested over £400,000 into the latest green emission vehicles.
2. Electric survey car – We have recently started on our journey to make our fleet all electric, with a survey car.
3. LED lighting – Our Head Office is fully lit with energy efficient LEDs.
4. Stopped use of most single use plastic – no more environmentally unfriendly bubble wrap.
5. 100% Biodegradable mattress protection – same durability but breaks down over time.
6. Box recycling machine – Makes wrapping from cardboard boxes to replace bubble wrap.
7. Cardboard Packing Boxes – We collect and re-use our packing boxes from your local move.
8. 100% Paper and Cardboard Recycling – In our Head Office and Warehouses

 

This is how we have achieved that –

Greener vehicles –  Our vehicles cover a lot of miles on a weekly basis and we have decided that, where practicable, when a vehicle is replaced it will be with one that is more green than it’s predecessor.  We have spent over £400,000 so far and will continue to seek out the best environmentally friendly alternative as the vehicles reach the end of their life-span.

Electric Survey Car –  The journey into electric has already begun at Chelmsford Removals and we are proud to be at the forefront of the latest, and some would say the most important, transport revolution with our first electric survey car and hopefully with many more to come.

LED lighting – When we sought out new premises in 2013, part of our remit was to ensure that as much of the premises, as practicable, was energy efficient and this included being lit by low energy LEDs. As the technology has evolved we have replaced outdated lighting with LEDs in other areas within the warehouse area, and will continue to do so

Stopped use of most single use plastic – no more environmentally unfriendly bubble wrap or non-recyclable plastic mattress protectors or furniture covers.

We have sourced 100% Biodegradable mattress protectors. They have the same durability and protection as single use plastic protectors for our customers’ beds but decompose in 3 months to 6 months (in the correct conditions).

We have made a conscious effort to extend the life of our Cardboard Packing Boxes. Once your local move is finished we collect those packing boxes from our customers and use them again.  Where we cannot use them again, we put them through our box recycling machine.

We have eliminated the use of bubble-wrap by investing heavily in a box recycling machine that was imported especially from Italy. The machine takes those boxes that have reached the end of their packing lifespan and recycles them into a mesh weave, that we use as an environmentally friendly alternative to the dreaded bubble-wrap.  This can be used to wrap items or fill packing voids. After a move has taken place, this weave can also be collected along with the packing boxes after a local move and re-used.

 

Our Head Office has periodic recycle collections that capture 100% Paper and Cardboard waste.

 

Here at Chelmsford Removals we are very proud of our environmental sustainability plans.  We are very aware that although we have made some far-reaching changes, we also recognise there is always more to do and we are ready to make those decisions and changes as they arise.

 

 

 

*source:  Kevin Gerrans – the author was involved with Facility Managers in the City of London for 10 years between 2001 – 2011, and attended meetings discussing building running costs.

Picture copyright – Kevin Gerrans – London Image.  Chelmsford Removals Ltd – box recycling machine and cardboard mesh weave