Greener cities mean greener offices?

'It's important to have greenery in a city, not just because it looks nice But we can also save our #earth and #environment'. This was a tweet sent out on Twitter yesterday from India - http://www.greenleapdelhi.org.in/

The Queen's jubilee year project aims to plant 6 million trees across the UK. The project is being organised by the Woodland Trust http://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk . We are all looking to maintain a greener lifestyle, organisations want to show that they understand what their Corporate Social Responsiblity (CSR) is. Having ethical values and showing that you are living in a sustainable manner is definitely still very much high on the agenda with individuals and businesses and this is international, not just in the UK.

The paperless office can demonstrate that all of the above values are being adhered to. Unfortunately however, it is our experience that the paperless office is more, or less a fallacy, if it does even exist at all. Should HMRC pay you a visit, then everything still has to be produced on paper for them to examine. Documents have to be kept for the statutory seven years and although there are options to use scanning services, many organisations still end up with many, many archive boxes full of paperwork that they are required to keep, littering up the workplace.

For as little as 5 pence per week, a box can be removed and securely stored at our premises, thus freeing up valuable working space. Not only does it remove clutter and create a tidy working environment, but it ensures that the data is kept in a remote fire-proof location, should any unforeseen disaster occur. Have a look at our archive page for further information about this very cost-effective service: http://www.barretts-selfstorage.co.uk/document_archiving.html

I wonder how much paper there is in 6 million trees?

Recycling is still the new Buzz Word

We have just added our recycling policy to our website and 'about time too' you might well say. Why has it taken us so long? The answer to that is, 'I don't really know'. I suppose it was sheer laziness. In reality, we have always had an in house recycling policy, we even set up a Recycling Centre on the Monument Business Park six or so years ago, when it was not fashionable to do so and there were certainly no grants around to help us. I have to say that it struggled too, mainly because most other businesses were not that interested in disposing of their waste in an ethical manner, not because they did not want to, but because it took up a lot of extra hours and manpower and they needed to concentrate on their core business. So what has changed?

Consumer awareness I think. All councils have a recycling centre and everyone is more aware that they have a responsiblity to be greener in their waste disposal. Hopefully this awareness now translates through to businesses too. Although I am sure that many of the smaller SMEs 'think' about it, as we did, and not too many actually commit anything to writing.

The reason that we have decided to devote more time to this came mainly from the influences of other businesses. Two of these are www.aspireoxford.co.uk where they not only work with recycling, but also help disavantaged people by giving them employment within their organisation and they operate a recycling service for businesses on the Monument Business Park and www.ethicalecoart.co.uk (see upcycled chair in picture rescued from landfill) whose mission it is to create works of art by upcycling through using all recycled products - what could be more sustainable and green? They are looking to work with any businesses who have waste that they might be able to use.

We are now looking at all of our suppliers to see how ethical and green their policies are and we hope that our customers are doing the same.

Barretts Storage Recycling Policy

As part of ongoing sustainability efforts, Barretts Storage will ensure wherever possible to recycle all paper, bottles, cans and furniture to work towards recycling and composting as much business waste from being landfilled.

The purpose of our recycling policy is to set up and maintain our commitment to sustainable stewardship through recycling, waste prevention, purchasing recycled content products and energy and water conservation.

When possible, Barretts Storage will place a preference on doing business with companies that demonstrate an excellence in sustainable operations.