Sustainable Furniture

How to Implement an Office

Recycling Scheme

Top Tips for Energy Efficiency

The Rise of the

Webcommuter

Low Carbon Communications

PLUS

Win a Colour Laser Printer

Ticking all the right boxes

Samsungprintersand theenvironment Page16

For a number of years care and concern for the environment has always been of paramount importance to the edding company. Our pens and markers have contained only the safest ingredients for many years. Many of the products are refillable, and even some of the nibs are replaceable, where appropriate. In recent years, we have installed modern, efficient production processes including a photovoltaic plant to generate electricity, and have also incorporated the use of recycled paper. Today we are proud to announce the introduction of four markers, whose caps and barrels are made predominately from recycled material, or a renewable resource. The new range includes: permanent markers in a bullet and chisel tip, a bullet-tipped boardmarker and a chisel-tipped highlighter. For more information, please go to www.edding-ag.com/environment

Sagem underlines energy starcompliant range of MFP DevicesSagem Communications (Part of The Goresgroup) is a major player in the field ofcommunications. Sagem specialize in thefollowing business & consumer product sectors:

MF printer & fax devices,digital TV set-top boxes,Dect phones, digital photo

frames, photo printers, mobilecommunications & electronicmetering.

As one of the UK’s leadingproviders of MFP Desktop printers to both thepublic & private sector Sagem is proud toannounce 3 key environmental credentials forthe Sagem range of Print products.

• The entire Sagem MFP & Fax range is EnergyStar compliant: in short significant reductionsin electricity consumption have been achievedfor users when the machine is in both standbymode and when in use.

• Sagem operates a Consumables recyclingscheme on all Sagem MFP’s; enablingrecycling of all Sagem consumable cartridges.

• Sagem Communications as a group are ESTapproved ensuring all new products launchedwill have an Energy Saving Trustrecommendation.

These key factors allow Sagem Communicationsto continue to help businesses and consumerslower their carbon footprints, saving usersmoney & resources without compromisingoperation service and quality.

For more info on the full range of SagemCommunications products & envirornmentalinitiatives please contact +44 (0)1932 572900or visit www.sagem-communications.com

sagem_hp_advl 11/8/08 14:52 Page 1

Sustainable Times is a supplement of Business Info Magazine. It is published by Kingswood Media Ltd., 4 New Cottages, Green Farm Lane, Shorne, Kent DA12 3HQ. Tel: 01474 824711. Email: info@binfo.co.uk

Welcome to the inaugural issue of Sustainable Times.

The only good thing about the high price of oil is that it has made sustainability much more appealing. Whether you come at it out of genuine concern for the environment or simply for financial reasons, the case for using resources more efficiently has never been so strong. Or the rewards so great. If there’s one thing we hope to demonstrate with Sustainable Times, it is the ease with which you can start to make a difference. We hope you find it useful.

James GouldingEditor

Contents

04 News

08 Analysis

10 Office Design

13 Sustainable Furniture

16 Cover Story

18 Energy-saving Tips

21 Office Recycling Schemes

22 London Remade

24 Bulletin

26 Sustainable Telecoms

27 Carbon Offsets

28 Web Conferencing

30 Green Print

Editor James Goulding 01962 771862 jamesg@binfo.co.uk

Advertising Director Ethan White 01474 824711 ethan@binfo.co.uk

Publishing Director Neil Trim 07803 087229 dd 01737 249408 neil@binfo.co.uk

No part of Sustainable Times can be reproduced without prior written permission of the publisher.© 2008 Kingswood Media Ltd.

The paper used in this magazine is obtained from manufacturers who operate within internationally recognized standards. The paper is made from Elementary Chlorine Free (ECF) pulp, which is sourced from sustainable, properly managed forestation.

04 sustainabletimes 0870 903 9500

greenAgendaLonger PC life is key to the success

of Government’s IT plansComputer reuse charity Computer Aid International has welcomed The Cabinet Office’s plans to carbon neutralise Central Government computer systems through a comprehensive carbon reduction and offset programme, with the caveat that to do it cost-effectively they will need to extend the lifetime of PCs.

Last month, the Government announced plans to reduce carbon emissions from information and communication technology (ICT) used by central Government departments,

which currently accounts for 20% of the carbon emissions generated by Government offices.

It plans to make the energy consumption of ICT carbon neutral by 2012, followed by the whole lifetime of IT equipment, including its manufacture and disposal, by 2020.

This will be achieved through a combination of carbon offsets and energy-saving strategies, such as automatically switching off PCs outside office hours; extending the life of computers; and auditing datacentres and servers to make sure they are running at maximum efficiency.

Louise Richards, CEO of Computer Aid International, welcomed the Government’s commitment to extend the life of computer equipment.

She said: “Turning PCs off overnight will help the Government reduce carbon emissions, but most of the energy used in the lifetime of a PC is consumed during manufacture. This is backed up by research from Professors Kuehr and Williams, showing that power saving can only address a maximum of 25% of the negative environmental impact of PCs.

“If the Government wants to attain its carbon neutral targets it needs to address the remaining 75% of the

problem and rightly identifies ICT re-use as an effective way to save both energy and money. The short lifespan of computers drives additional PC production, so extending the life of a PC through upgrade and re-use is vital in mitigating the environmental impact of PC use.”

Richards said that it was essential for the Government to prioritise reuse of equipment over recycling; to do away with automatic equipment refreshment cycles; to use its purchasing power to reward the producers with the ‘greenest’ manufacturing processes; and to urge OEMs to redesign PCs with an upgrade path.

She added: “In April 2008, the Department for International Development (DfiD) pledged 1,000 laptops to Computer Aid for use in schools in developing countries. If other government departments – and businesses – followed this example they could take a giant step toward becoming carbon neutral, without spending a penny and at the same time make an invaluable contribution towards reducing the digital divide between the developed and developing world.”www.computeraid.org 020 8361 5540

Since it was founded in 1998, Computer

Aid has provided more than 125,000 PCs

to organisations in developing countries.

EOL IT Services, a refurbisher of redundant IT equipment, has achieved carbon neutral status for all collections and deliveries by investing in carbon offsets from The CarbonNeutral Company.

The Essex-based company chose offsetting in preference to the use of biofuels or zero emission vehicles, due to concerns about biofuels’ impact on food production and the lack of infrastructure to support electric vehicles. EOL IT Services’ carbon offsetting initiative supplements its zero landfill policy and follows a hat trick of Business In The Community (BITC) Big Tick Awards for Eco-Efficiency.www.eolitservices.co.uk

Britons concerned that a low carbon society will involve a radical change in their lifestyles can take some comfort from a new study conducted by Siemens and McKinsey & Company.

In Sustainable Urban Infrastructure the two companies state that that by implementing existing technologies, London could reduce annual CO2 emissions from buildings, transport and energy by 44% (on 1990 levels) by 2025.

A reduction of this scale would enable London to meet most of its energy reduction targets, including a reduction of 12% by 2012 (Kyoto), 20% by 2020 (EU) and 30% by 2025 (UK Govt).

However, further reductions brought about by regulation, lifestyle changes or technological innovation will be needed if London’s own target of a 60% by 2025 is to be met.

The report’s authors have calculated that the measures need to meet these targets would require additional annual investment of less than 1% of London’s total economic output until 2025; and that almost 70% of the reductions could be achieved with technologies that would pay for themselves through reduced energy costs.

Nearly 75% of the technological changes required are dependent on the co-operation of individuals and businesses, notably the adoption of energy efficient lighting and improved insulation in London’s buildings, which account for two thirds of the capital’s CO2 emissions.

As a result, cities will need to address not only what they can do to directly reduce CO2 emissions but also how they can promote greater adoption of these technologies by consumers through changes in regulation, taxes, subsidies, access to capital and public information.www.siemens.com

Carbon-free delivery

London can meet carbon reduction targets

Not so green. Six out of 10 British IT directors and board-level decision makers rate their organisation’s green credential as ‘poor’ or ‘not at all good’, compared to 40% of European directors, according to a pan-European survey of 8,000 managers commissioned by datacentre networking solutions provider Brocade. Over one third (37%) of UK respondents said they were concerned about their company’s energy use, but less than half that number (16%) actively sought out environmentally friendly IT products. www.brocade.com/products/competitive/index.jsp

Ofcom sets target. UK communications industries regulator Ofcom has set a target to reduce annual carbon dioxide emissions by 25% by 2012 and by 50% by 2020. It plans to do this by reducing the power consumed by its IT systems; driving down building energy consumption; cutting business travel; increasing the use of conferencing technology; expanding flexible working options; putting in place a low-carbon procurement strategy; cutting paper consumption; and recycling more. www.ofcom.org.uk

sustainabletimes 05www.binfo.co.uk

Rising energy costs to change purchasing habits

The economic downturn and soaring energy prices could be just what’s needed to force businesses to adopt more sustainable practices, if the results of a recent survey are to be believed.

Six out of 10 respondents to a Kyocera-sponsored survey conducted by Loudhouse Research Consultancy said they thought rising energy prices would encourage organisations to become more environmentally responsible.

Currently just four out of 10 (41%) businesses actively seek energy-efficient products, and more than half

(54%) cite cost as a significant barrier to implementing green initiatives.

To date, there has been a marked preference for initiatives that are easy and cheap to adopt, such as paper reduction initiatives (implemented by 74%), toner cartridge recycling (72%) and waste paper recycling (86%).

Far fewer businesses have undertaken more complex activities, such as assessing the environmental credibility of suppliers when making purchasing decisions, which was practiced by less than one third of respondents (29%).www.kyoceramita.co.uk/2008survey

Npower Business is urging large consumers of electricity to assess their energy management strategy before the mandatory Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) cap and trade scheme comes into force in 2010.

The energy supplier is advising even those businesses not affected by the legislation to address energy management in response to the growing importance of environmental credentials in the supply chain selection process.

CRC applies to large non-energy intensive public and private sector organisations with a total metered electricity consumption of more than

6,000 MWh per year, which equates to an annual spend of about £500,000.

Qualifying businesses must submit details of their energy use based on their own meter readings or annual energy bills. This year’s figures will be used to produce the baseline against which businesses must generate year-on-year energy use reductions.

npower business recently introduced its m3 (measure, monitor and minimise) portfolio, which includes a toolkit for developing an energy management strategy.www.npower.com/businessenergy

IKON Office Solutions has launched an electric courier service to help financial and professional services company Jones Lang LaSalle reduce its carbon footprint. The electric van will be used for all print and mail deliveries between Jones Lang LaSalle’s offices in Canary Wharf and Hanover Square. www.ikon.co.uk

Make the switch to hostedA provider of hosted servers is claiming that the UK’s small and medium-sized businesses could save £44 million in electricity charges and reduce CO2 emissions by 115 tonnes annually by outsourcing server functions to a hosted provider.

Mark Seemann, product & marketing director at Genesis Communications, said: “In-house servers are permanently switched on and require an air-conditioned environment to run effectively, consuming large quantities of energy. By sharing a data centre across large numbers of customers, third-party providers can reduce overall energy use, saving their customers money on electricity and cutting CO2 emissions.”

He added: “Large corporate organisations are already leading the way on server outsourcing. John Lewis switched to virtual servers in 2007 and has already dramatically reduced its carbon footprint by 250 tonnes of CO2 per year. It’s definitely time for smaller businesses to find out what savings they could make by switching.”www.genesis.co.uk 0844 847 9699

greenAgenda…

greenBrief

Electric Service

The time for energy management is now

Server outsourcing can help businesses reduce their carbon footprint

“37% said they were concerened about their company’s energy use…”

The Carbon Trust has introduced a new standard to overcome confusion caused by ‘greenwashing’ and public mistrust of carbon offsetting.

The Carbon Trust Standard certificate is awarded to businesses that have made, and continue to make, genuine reductions in carbon emissions without recourse to offsetting.

At launch, the standard was awarded to 12 organisations that in the last three years have collectively achieved an 84% reduction in carbon emissions, equivalent to 250,000 tonnes of CO2.

These include Abbey Corrugated, B&Q, Crown Prosecution Service, DEFRA, DSM Nutritional Products, King’s College London, London Fire Brigade, Morrisons, Thames Water,

Trinity Mirror and University of Central Lancashire.

The new standard will be run alongside the Carbon Trust’s Carbon Reduction Label, which displays the carbon footprint of individual products and services.0800 019 1443 www.carbontruststandard.com

06 sustainabletimes 0870 903 9500

New carbon offset body. Eight international carbon offset providers have set up a new trade association for their industry. The International Carbon Reduction and Offset Alliance (ICROA) will promote ‘reduce-and-offset’ carbon management strategies and build support for standards that exist for the voluntary offset market. Five of the eight founding members are headquartered in the UK: Carbon Clear, The CarbonNeutral Company, ClimateCare, co2balance and targetneutral. www.icroa.org

Big savings. Businesses that take advantage of the free services and professional advice offered by Envirowise save an average of £5,000 a year, according to a new report commissioned by the Government-funded programme. Envirowise’s latest impact assessment report shows that in a period of twelve months, its recommended efficiency measures helped firms save 17 million litres of water and almost 85,000 tonnes of raw materials. 0800 585794www.envirowise.gov.uk

Renewables on the rise. The number of renewable energy generation projects could rise following the launch of an initiative that makes it easier for small-scale generators to get wind turbines, biomass or waste-to-energy projects off the ground. The Local Community Renewable Generation Initiative (LCRGI) brings together would-be generators, developers, investors and customers, providing generators with a revenue stream and businesses with an additional source of renewable energy. The LCRGI is run by energy consultancy Utilyx in conjunction with the Renewable Energy Association (REA) and law firm Wragge.www.utilyx.co.uk

The Carbon Trust and British Computer Society are collaborating on a new simulation tool to help businesses understand energy use within datacentres. The software will allow operators to manage the total cost of ownership, energy efficiency and carbon emissions (carbon footprint) on a per service or per application basis. It is being developed in conjunction with Romonet and is expected to be available in first quarter of 2009. www.carbontrust.co.uk 0800 085 2005.

greenBrief

The recent furore over the employment practices of some of Primark’s Indian suppliers demonstrates the difficulty of monitoring the ethics of a global supply chain, especially for retailers with a commitment to FairTrade and other ethical programmes.

One solution mooted by Marks and Spencer and the Shell Foundation is to establish a new kind of supply chain based on ‘ethical agents’ that could bridge the gap between major retailers with high social, environmental and quality demands and small-scale developing world producers with limited capacity.

The retailer and charity make the recommendation in a report on their three-year partnership that has seen M&S become the first major UK retailer to sell products made from Fairtrade cotton, improving the livelihoods of 1,500 Indian farmers, and sell more than one million bouquets of flowers harvested and packed by workers from poor communities in South Africa.

Shell Foundation now plans to develop ethical agencies, such as The Better Trading Company (TBTC), a South African-based business that has already signed deals with two other major retailers and a range of small African producers, and Agrocel, an Indian agricultural services provider, which is helping more than 30,000 farmers convert to organic and fairtrade practices and access global retailer’s shelves.www.shellfoundation.org

greenAgendaOld mobile phones don’t die, they just get left in a drawer and forgotten. A global survey released by Nokia shows that just 3% of old phones are recycled, 4% are sent to landfill, 16% are sold, 25% are passed to friends and family, and 44% are kept and never used again. Nokia claims that 65-80% of the materials used in its phones can be recovered and used to make other products, such as kettles, park benches, dental fillings and musical instruments. Anything that can’t be recovered is either burnt to provide energy for the recycling process or ground into chips that are used in construction and road building.www.nokia.com/werecycle

Old phones don’t die

Ethical agents needed for global supply chains

New standard for carbon reductions

M&S’s use of Fairtrade cotton is claimed to have improved the lives of 1,500 Indian farmers

AT LAST. GREEN CREDENTIALS WORTH

THE PAPER THEY’RE PRINTED ON.

Are your printer suppliers really committed to minimising environmental impact, or do they just excuse it by planting a few trees? Kyocera printers have reduced environmental impact at the heart of product design, and have done since 1992. More than fifteen years on, we’re still the only printer manufacturer to provide an alternative to the conventional cartridge-based laser. And because our products use fewer consumable items, they also cost significantly less to run.

1992: KYOCERA PIONEERS SUSTAINABLE OFFICE PRINTING.

OUR COMPETITORS HAVE BEEN GOING GREEN EVER SINCE.

The result? Significantly reduced environmental impact AND lower consumables costs. Now that’s real sustainability. For more details visit www.kyoceramita.co.uk/sustainability or call 08457 103104.

KYOCERA MITA UK Ltd – Phone: 08457 103 104 – www.kyoceramita.co.ukKYOCERA MITA Corporation – www.kyoceramita.com

Kyocera 1992_GoingGreen_C.indd 1 14/1/08 12:18:57 pm

In a new report, SMART 2020: enabling the low carbon economy in the information age, the two organisations argue that emissions from information and communication technologies (ICT) will almost double by 2020, but that the carbon benefits they bring will be five times greater.

The global study predicts that from 2007-2020

• PC ownership will quadruple to four billion devices and emissions will double, with laptops overtaking desktops as the main source of global ICT emissions (22 per cent);

• mobile phone ownership will almost double to nearly 5 billion accounts, but emissions will only grow by 4%; and

• broadband uptake will treble to almost 900 million accounts, with emissions doubling over the entire telecoms infrastructure.

Despite major advances in the energy efficiency of products, the report estimates that the ICT sector’s own footprint – currently 2% of global emissions – will grow at 6% per year (CAGR) and double by 2020, driven by increased technology uptake in India, China and the rest of the world.

To help the fight against climate change, the report’s authors call on the ICT sector to manage its growing impact and continue to reduce emissions from data centres, telecommunications networks and the manufacture and use of its products. Trends like the virtualisation of data centres, long-life devices, smart chargers, Next Generation Networks and the growth of renewable energy consumption (e.g. solar powered base stations) could all help in this regard.

Global reductionsEven though the ICT industry’s own footprint will expand, its products and services have the potential to reduce global emissions by as much as 15% by 2020 – a volume of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) five times greater than its own footprint in 2020 – delivering energy efficiency savings of £400 billion worldwide (based on December 2007 prices).

The report estimates that today’s much-heralded ‘dematerialisation and substitution’ activities, which replace physical products and services with virtual equivalents e.g. teleworking, videoconferencing, e-paper and e-commerce, will account for just 6% of the estimated low carbon benefits delivered by the ICT sector.

By far the greatest benefits will come from applying ICT’s ability to measure, optimise and manage energy consumption to global infrastructure and industry. Based on regional case studies, the report identifies four major opportunities for emissions reductions:

1) Smart industrial motor systems. The report has calculated that, applied globally, smart industry motors and industrial automation have the potential to cut emissions by 0.97 billion tonnes of CO2e in 2020. A review of manufacturing in China shows that without technological improvements 10% of China’s emissions in 2020 (and 2% of global emissions) will come from China’s motor systems alone.

To improve China’s industrial efficiency by even 10% would deliver up to 200 million tonnes of CO2e savings.

2) Smart logistics.Global emissions savings from smart logistics e.g. the efficient planning of delivery routes could reach 1.52 billion tonnes of CO2e by 2020. The European logistics industry is set to grow by 23% between 2002 and 2020, but CO2e emissions in 2020 could be 225 million tonnes lower thanks to more efficient transport and storage.

3) Smart building design and use.Buildings are the second highest consumer of power in the world behind industry. Globally, smart buildings technologies, e.g. lighting and ventilation systems that turn themselves off when a room is empty, could reduce emissions by 1.68 billion tonnes of CO2e. An analysis of buildings in North America indicates that 15% of building emissions could be avoided through better building design, management and automation.

4) Smart electricity grids.Smart grid technologies to manage demand and reduce consumption present the largest opportunity for reductions, totalling 2.03 billion tonnes of CO2e. In India, over 30% of generated power is lost through aggregated technical and commercial losses (AT&C). Reducing these losses in India’s power sector by 30% is possible through better monitoring and management of electricity grids, first with smart meters and then through integrating more advanced ICTs into the so-called ‘energy internet’.

As a result of these findings the report calls for the ICT sector, national governments and industry to implement a SMART framework, encompassing standardisation (S), monitoring (M) and accounting (A) of energy consumption; a rethink (R) of lifestyles to optimise energy efficiency in a low carbon world; and the diffusion of business models that drive low carbon alternatives across all sectors of the economy to bring about a transformation (T).

The full ICT report can be downloaded at: www.smart2020.org

08 sustainabletimes 0870 903 9500

Smart ThinkingRising carbon emissions from the IT industry

will be offset by smarter use of technology,

enabling a 15% reduction in

CO2 emissions by 2020.

The Climate Group and Global

e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI) are

urging business to make smarter use

of technology to reduce man-made

CO2 emissions by 15% by 2020 and

in the process save £400 billion in

annual energy costs.

sustainabletimes 09www.binfo.co.uk

Greenwash. This is probably a

term we have all heard recently to

describe companies attempts to

appear Green and environmentally

friendly without a great deal of

substance behind the claims.

Eurotek however is one company

that is different and does have

the facts to back up its claims and

its culture of best practice and

environmental standards. Eurotek’s

environmental credentials and

culture is nothing new.

Over 20 years ago the decision

to be responsibly pro-active in

environmental affairs came from

the directors, many of whom

had come from the factory floor.

They understood the systems and

processes that had a negative impact

on the workforce, local and wider

environment. Executive Chairman

Bob Lee explains; “we took the

initiative to make the environment

our responsibility and it became

a core element of our business

ethics. To achieve this involved time,

resources, investment and a massive

change to our processes and our

structure”. A result of this change

was that Eurotek was one of the first

companies in the office furniture

industry to be awarded the ISO

14001 Environmental Standard.

Eurotek works to a stringent set of

corporate policy guidelines to ensure

that its own environmental footprint

is kept to minimum and ensure best

practice at all times.

These Policys include:

• Where practicable use materials,

components and designs to

minimise environmental effects

of products in production and

during their usage/final disposal

• Maintain the Forestry

Stewardship Council Chain of

Custody for ranges of wood

based products

• Aim to minimise the use of all

materials, supplies, energy and

evaluate waste streams for their

reuse and recycling potential.

• Work towards a sustainability

programme encompassing

purchasing, waste streams, end

of life management, ethical

policies, community relations,

employement conditions and

charity considerations.

This is just part of the story.

Eurotek has a list of accreditations

which reflect the company’s

commitment to sustainability and

successful business practices as one

of the UK’s leading manufacturers

of quality office furniture. A culture

which has truly grown from the

ground up.

To find out more about Eurotek’s

office furniture ranges visit

www.eof.co.uk

To obtain a copy of Eurotek’s

“Our culture your environment”

brochure simply call

01243 828921 or email

marketing@eof.co.uk

From The Ground Up

advertorial

A business that moves to a greenfield site has a golden opportunity to make a bold environmental statement. With a blank canvas to work on, the right budget and sympathetic architects and office planners, it is relatively easy to create a low carbon building. But what about businesses that have to make do with existing premises? How easy is it for them to design a more sustainable workplace?

To demonstrate how even businesses that can’t change the main structure of a building can cost-effectively create sustainable office interiors, Morgan Lovell recently refurbished its London offices occupying two storeys of a seven-storey 1960s office block in Noel Street, Soho.

Designer Elaine Duke’s brief was to create a carbon-neutral office, with a comfortable, inspiring interior that improved communication between staff. To dispel the notion that sustainable workplaces cost as much as 30% more than conventional developments, the project had to be financially viable and cost little more than a normal fit-out.

Morgan Lovell’s refurbished offices successfully combine a new interior layout, eco-specification of materials, energy-saving features and sustainable working practices and in February became one of the first fit-outs to receive a BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating.

The working environment has been improved by moving most employees onto the same floor, with meeting rooms and break-out areas for greater staff interaction. An interior décor inspired by the ‘office at home’ concept – comfy sofas, bookcases, decorative wall coverings, staff snapshots and chill-out areas – is said to enhance motivation and creativity.

Office furniture and decorative elements have been selected for their eco-credentials, with restrictions on ‘travel miles’ encouraging the local sourcing of materials. There is a clear preference for items with a high recycled content. The kitchen worksurface is made from recycled plastic bottles and the entrance mat from recycled car tyres. Herman Miller Aeron chairs are 66% recycled and 94% recyclable.

A variety of energy-saving systems and features have helped Morgan Lovell cut energy bills by 11% despite rising energy costs. These include zone-based lighting and infrared movement sensors; dimming lights that automatically adjust intensity to natural lighting conditions; a zoned heating and cooling system that can move hot air from an area being cooled to one that needs heating; and energy metering for each floor and the air conditioning system.

The offices are powered by green energy; car parking spaces have been replaced by bicycle racks; desktop printers have made way for centralised devices with duplex printing set as the default; and underdesk bins have been removed, encouraging staff to use the central recycling area with facilities for recycling paper, cans, light bulbs, cardboard, glass, electrical items, batteries, wood and plastic. A wormery in the break-out area turns food waste into compost.

Facilities managers can find out more about sustainable offices by downloading Morgan Lovell’s free step-by-step guide to creating a ‘green’ office interior from www.morganlovell.com/sustainability

10 sustainabletimes 0870 903 9500

Morgan Lovell’s refurbished London offices show that fit-outs can be sustainable and cost-effective

Green light for eco interiors

The meeting room has 100% recyclable doors made from FSC walnut timber.

sustainabletimes 11www.binfo.co.uk

Worktops in the kitchen are made from recycled plastic bottles.

The reception area features a re-used, refurbished reception desk, energy-efficient LED lighting and Faenza ceramic clip tiles that remove the need for adhesives or solvents.

Sedus Open Up meeting chairs are made with a solvent-free powder-coating process, CFC-free foam padding, 100% recyclable plastic and leather that is tanned using trivalent chrome salts - the most environmentally friendly method of tanning.

Acoustic panels have decorative and environmental benefits.

Zonal office lighting is controlled by movement sensors to prevent the illumination of unoccupied areas.

Office designer Elaine Duke, standing on Interfaceflor Straightforward carpet made from 80% recycled yarn. It is arranged non-directionally to minimise waste.

Printed on 100% recycled paper, the Ecorange features a selection of the mostpopular Collins desk diary layouts for

those who are environmentally conscious.New for 2009, this range also incorporates

a unique cover material, produced using100% solvent free, water-based coatings.

Collins NEW Eco Diary Range

For more information please call

0141 300 8500 or email

info@collins-debden.co.uk

rh ambioblack edition

RH Ambio is a range of seating designed by Zenit Design Group.Experience them at www.rhchairs.co.uk

RH Black Edition UK A5.indd 1 08-07-11 14.38.34

Ambio uses

horse and pig

hair instead

of foam.

The benefits to a business of installing sustainable furniture are minimal. The environmental impact of office furniture occurs during manufacture and at end of life, but not while it is in use. In this respect it is very different from IT, which consumes energy throughout its lifecycle.

Businesses have good reason to buy green IT, but no financial incentive to purchase sustainable furniture. The only reason to seek out furniture with a low environmental impact is to comply with a broader sustainable procurement policy or for reasons of individual conscience.

Today, this may be enough. A growing number of organisations are demanding that suppliers declare their environmental accreditations, forcing manufacturers to brush up their credentials.

Many furniture companies will already have ISO 14001 accreditation, demonstrating that they have a documented environmental policy, operate in compliance with relevant environmental legislation and monitor and control the environmental impact of their activities.

A growing number, so far more than 40, will also have FISP accreditation. Introduced in 2006, the Furniture Industry Sustainability Programme (FISP) enables manufacturers to take environmental responsibility to the next level.

The programme is managed by FIRA International and supported by the British Contract Furniture Association (BCFA), the British Furniture Manufacturers Association (BFM) and The Worshipful Company of Furniture Makers.

It is open to any manufacturer that can demonstrate that they have an

environmental policy and comply with existing environmental and health & safety legislation. Then all they have to do is commit to a process of continual improvement in at least five of nine environmental criteria and two of six economic and social ones.

One of the drawbacks of FISP from a purchaser’s perspective is that it is an industry scheme, designed to raise standards within the furniture industry as a whole and in so doing ‘pre-empt or reduce future regulatory action’. This, as BCFA technical director Peter Smith explains, means that it is far from onerous.

“We as an association have never subscribed to the elitist view that the eco-label board has, which is broadly that they want the eco-label to be achieved by only a very small number of companies. We would say that the accreditation should be achievable by any company that puts effort into it. We would expect one third of the industry to achieve this standard,” he said.

FISP gives an indication that a company is aware of its environmental responsibilities and attempting to do something to improve performance, but it is too broad to be useful for those requiring the highest environmental standards from suppliers, as manufacturers can pick and choose which standards to aim for.

FSCAccording to a recent WWF report, Illegal Wood for the European Market, almost one fifth of the wood imported into the European Union in 2006 came from illegal or suspected illegal sources. The UK was the second worst offender after Finland, importing 3.5 million cubic metres of illegal furniture, finished wood products, sawnwood and plywood.

Amid increasing concern about the effects of illegal logging and deforestation, purchasers looking for assurances that the timber used in office furniture comes from responsibly managed forests should look for FSC

accreditation or at the very least PEFC accreditation.

Carbon footprintsIn addition, to ISO14001, FISP and FSC or PEFC accreditation, a number of furniture manufacturers provide carbon footprints of their products (FIRA has just launched the Furniture Footprinter service for just this purpose).

One of the first to do so was Bisley. Sales and marketing director Richard Blackwell said that it did so for two main reasons: to meet the requirements of businesses that are going carbon neutral; and as an exercise to help Bisley monitor and control its own carbon emissions.

“If you are buying 500 units of a product just knowing what that does to your carbon impact is important. It’s a measurement for people who want to reduce their own impact on the environment,” he said.

He thought it unlikely that people would compare the carbon footprint of individual products, but said that Bisley had used carbon footprinting to demonstrate the benefits of buying

sustainabletimes 13www.binfo.co.uk

On your marks…Sustainable Times looks at what furniture companies are doing to improve the environmental performance of their furniture

KI’s Daylight chair is made

out of old car batteries.

rh ambioblack edition

RH Ambio is a range of seating designed by Zenit Design Group.Experience them at www.rhchairs.co.uk

RH Black Edition UK A5.indd 1 08-07-11 14.38.34

locally made rather than imported products as it highlighted the significant effect of shipping on a product’s footprint.

The fact that Jeremy McWhinney, operations and finance director of KI, argues that the effect is minimal suggests that carbon footprinting is still an inexact science and open to various interpretations.

“We used the BCFA carbon footprint model, which showed that freight accounted for 5% of the carbon footprint of our filing cabinets. While freight is easy to understand, it is such a small part of the overall footprint that it’s not a particularly useful way of looking at things,” he said.

“We stress the longevity of our products. That’s something that’s overlooked a lot when people try to measure the environmental impact of a chair or cabinet. It is of critical importance for reducing the environmental impact of a product, but it doesn’t get factored in to the models people use when they look at carbon footprints.”

LEED and GreenguardLike other North American furniture manufacturers KI places a great deal of emphasis on LEED and Greenguard certification.

Standing for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, LEED is a green building rating system introduced by the US Green Building Council to promote environmentally responsible and healthy working environments. When furniture manufacturers talk of LEED certification, it is in connection with specific offices or manufacturing facilities rather than products. Greenguard, by contrast, is an accreditation scheme for furniture products with low chemical and particle emissions.

Other eco-labels to look out for include Blue Angel, TCO Development, Nordic Swan and EcoLogo. These are regional schemes and so are limited, but accreditation is nonetheless a good indication of a company’s environmental values.

Life cycle assessmentsAllan Smith, vice president of Steelcase International, advises buyers to be rigorous in demanding evidence of a manufacturer’s envionmental claims.

“Everyone will tell you they have a great environmental story but what you don’t get is the data so you can see the carbon impact of products. Ask for more information. Not just certification and labels but also test data,” he said.

Steelcase’s commitment to Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) means that they are able to provide purchasers with an enormous amount of detail relating to their products at each stage of the production process, from the use of materials in manufacturing to the furniture’s disposal at end of life.

“People spend over one third of their lives in buildings with interior air quality issues and particulate matter. Therefore we look at how we can provide products that are safe and better to use,” he said. “We take a look at whether there is anything in our products that is dangerous from a human and from an environmental health perspective. We have 19 criteria and we look at all aspects down to 100 parts per million, which is a level that very few manufacturers go down to.”

Demonstrating the success of its LCA strategy, a number of Steelcase products, notably the Think and Leap chairs, have received Cradle to Cradle certification from McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry (MBDC).

This certification is awarded to products that use environmentally safe and healthy materials; are designed for material reutilisation, such as recycling or composting; and are manufactured in an environmentally responsible way.

One of the defining characteristics of a cradle-to-cradle approach is the design of products so that they can be re-used after use.

“Twenty years ago the furniture industry looked at how to put furniture together faster. Speed of assembly is still important, but now the main design criteria are can the product be disassembled into discrete parts and can you disassemble it in less than five minutes using common hand tools. We conducted research showing that if a chair took longer than that to disassemble it got dumped into the waste stream,” Smith explained.

To encourage the re-use of its products, Steelcase makes it easy for dealers

to recycle, refurbish, resell or donate furniture to a charity (in the UK, it encourages customers to give unwanted furniture to the Green-Works network of social enterprises).

Novel materialsAnother company that sees a cradle-to-cradle strategy as the way forward is RH Form, as country manager Jurgen Josefsson explains.

“For five years, all our products have been 100% recyclable. We have a policy to take back any product at end of life for recycling. If it comes to us here, we will dismantle it and then ship it back to Sweden,” he said. “Everything we take back is recycled: we have an agreement with our suppliers that they have to recycle things. For example, our plastic supplier will turn polypropylene into granules that can then be re-used in other chairs.”

The use of more natural materials that can be composted is another feature of this approach.

“Instead of foam, our Ambio chairs use a new material called Ventec that is woven out of horse and pig hair. The reason we use horse and pig is that the hair strand is hollow. You have an environmental benefit because it is biodegradable, so at the end of its life you could dig a hole in the garden and after 5 or 10 years it would degrade.

And because it’s hollow, it has

25% better heat and moisture disposal,”

he said.Expect to see

many more interesting materials in the near future, as manufacturers look for ever more inventive ways to meet growing demand for sustainable products and manufacturing processes.

“We find that more and more customers

are asking about sustainable furniture,” declared Josefsson. “We’ve talked about the environment for many years and this time we think its real.

It’s got to the stage where it isn’t a fad anymore.”

14 sustainabletimes 0870 903 9500

Steelcase’s Think chair was the first product to receive MBDC Cradle-to-Cradle certification.

On your marks…

http://www.linesave.co.uk

Climate change, rising energy costs and the growing importance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) have propelled sustainable purchasing to the top of the boardroom agenda. We know that businesses no longer buy solely on price and performance. Today you expect the highest environmental standards as well.

Samsung scores highly on all counts, making Samsung the obvious choice for public sector organisations and commercial bodies with sustainable purchasing policies.

Samsung Group takes environmental responsibility extremely seriously. As part of a policy to reduce the impact of Samsung products ‘from cradle to grave’, it has implemented far-reaching programmes to improve energy efficiency, eliminate harmful substances and use more recycled materials.

Greener printingSamsung Printer Division shares the Group’s commitment to sustainability. We are WEEE-compliant and have implemented the S.T.A.R. cartridge take-back and recycling program to prevent waste from going to landfill.

Samsung printers and MFPs are

Energy Star accredited and many exceed Germany’s demanding Blue Angel standard. Indeed, with 29 accredited printers and MFPs, Samsung has more Blue Angel-certified products than any other printer manufacturer.

In addition, all Samsung printers include cost-saving and waste reduction features that enable users to implement their own energy, waste and carbon reduction initiatives. Toner Save buttons on our printers (and in our drivers) cut toner consumption by up to 40%; automatic double-sided printing reduces paper consumption; and high capacity toner cartridges keep waste to a minimum, whilst maximising machine productivity.

Further savings can be made by using printer drivers and software applications to control toner and paper use through quotas, restrictions and rules-based printing. These include Samsung’s own solutions as well as popular third party applications like Pcounter print tracking, accounting and management software.

Support for our open JScribe platform on the latest generation of high-speed multi-function devices allows many of these applications (including Pcounter) to be run on the devices themselves, removing the need to install a separate server with its own embedded carbon and power requirements.

A4 versus A3One area where Samsung and its resellers have been able to generate real savings for customers is in the use of A4 rather than A3 devices. Independent research commissioned by Samsung shows that more than 97% of documents printed in offices are

A4. Yet, if you look around any workplace, you will see a multitude of A3 copiers

that are needed for less than 3% of a company’s daily output.Samsung

strongly believes that businesses are being

sold the wrong devices by organisations that have a vested interest in persuading

their customers to buy bigger, more expensive A3 devices that require more resources to manufacture, transport and dispose of at end of life.

Businesses still have an occasional need to print spreadsheets, page proofs and other detailed documents in A3, but the volume is so small that most will only need one A3 copier. Standardising on A4 MFPs, like Samsung’s new 53 pages per minute SCX-6555N or 38ppm colour MultiXpress CLX-8380ND, for other workgroup devices will bring real environmental and financial benefits.

Samsung can help you bring office printing under control through a combination of powerful software solutions and hardware that conforms to the highest environmental standards, bringing benefits to both your business and the environment.www.samsung.co.uk

16 sustainabletimes 0870 903 9500

Anthony Penton, Head of Marketing for Print, explains how Samsung is helping its customers reduce the environmental impact of office printing

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Switch lights off in empty rooms. You could cut your lighting costs by as much as 15%, just by making sure you turn lights off in rooms and corridors that aren’t being used. [1]

Don’t turn up the heating unless you really need to. Unless it’s just too cold for comfort, try to keep your thermostat at 19°C. Your heating costs will go up by 8% each time you increase the temperature by just one degree. [1]

Maintain your equipment properly. If you don’t regularly check your heating equipment, you could be adding as much as 10% to your heating bill without knowing it. [1]

Vending machines v kettles. It is cheaper to provide a kettle for staff who work outside normal business hours than to continue to run a drinks vending machine during these times. [1]

Turn computers off. A single computer and monitor left on 24 hours a day will cost over £50 a year. Switching them off out of hours and enabling standby features could reduce this to £15 a year each and prolong the lifespan of equipment. [1]

Lighten up. Replacing high wattage filament lamps or tungsten halogen lamps with compact fluorescent lamps or metal halide lamps will give energy savings of 65-75%. [1]

Print double sided. If you have purchased a printer or copier with duplex capability, make sure that it gets used. Set machines to print double-sided as a default. Paper use can also be reduced by encouraging users to print more than one page per side of A4 – known as ‘N-up’ printing. [2]

Explore alternative finishing options: using A5 and creating a booklet will halve the amount of paper used – not everything has to be in A4. [3]

Reduce excessive e-mail printing. When replying to e-mail messages most users have Outlook set to ‘Include original message text’. A long exchange can lead to several pages of text, which can waste paper when printing the most recent message. To save all the unnecessary printing of e-mails, select ‘Tools’ on the Outlook menu bar, then select ‘Options’, then ‘Preferences’, select ‘E-mail Options’ and under ‘On replies and forwards’ choose ‘Attach original message’. [2]

Reduce the number of print devices. Use multifunctional MFDs instead of printers, copiers and scanners. [4]

Reduce uncollected output: when people print to networked printers, people often forget to collect their print outs, resulting in piles of uncollected documents. Using Secure Print solutions will eliminate this waste. Because staff will need to use a swipe card or personal ID to print the document, they will be there to collect it. [3]

Turn off copiers and printers at night. Switch your nearest copiers and printers off at the main switch overnight and on weekends. A copier left on overnight generates enough energy to print 5,400 pages. [2]

Network Projectors. Businesses with a fleet of installed projectors can make considerable energy savings by turning projectors on or off remotely, on an ad hoc basis or at pre-programmed times. [6]

18 sustainabletimes 0870 903 9500

Think big“We’re currently introducing 24-inch monitor screens for everyone in our offices to increase productivity and reduce waste paper. So far, half the staff have the larger monitor screens and we’ve already seen real benefits. The larger screens allow people to view up to two full A4 pages simultaneously, making it far easier to proof-read documents and reducing the need to print documents purely for proofing. They also allow laptop users who have docking stations to use two screens at once – their laptop and the larger screen. This enables them to copy and paste documents from one screen to another and has given productivity a major boost.” Phil Jones, sales and marketing director, Brother UK

Six out of 10 of respondents to a recent Canon survey said that eco-efficiency in the office was someone else’s responsibility. But even if you can’t persuade the board to install smart electricity meters or make duplex printing the default setting on printers, you can still do your bit by implementing some of the following energy or waste-saving measures.

Stop the waste

[1] The Carbon Trust

[2] Tracey Rawling-Church, Kyocera

[3] Andy Vickers, managing director for Canon UK & Ireland

[4] Xerox

[5] Ricoh

[6] Mark Karsey, Business Manager,

Epson UK

sustainabletimes 19www.binfo.co.uk

A to BSatellite The Green Agency is urging businesses to cut paper use by one third by switching from A to B paper sizes. It argues that this is the least disruptive and most economical way to reduce paper consumption, and is recommending that businesses use it in conjunction with existing waste reduction initiatives. A less radical option suggested by Kyocera’s Tracey Rawling-Church (left) is to fill one tray with B5 size paper and only print on A4 when necessary. She also recommends using lighter paper, such as 70gsm grades, which requires less energy to produce and transport.

WIN A COLOUR LASER PRINTERSend us your energy saving tips and we will enter you into a draw to win a brand new Konica Minolta bizhub C10P colour laser printer.

Konica Minolta is teaming up with Sustainable Times and giving away a brand new bizhub C10P colour laser printer to the reader who sends in the best or most inspiring waste or energy-saving tip.

In June Konica Minolta was awarded an ‘Energy Conservation Grand Prize for Excellent Energy Conservation Equipment’ by The Ministry of Economy, Trade and

Industry of Japan. The award was given to the Konica Minolta bizhub C550 and bizhub C650, which

have significantly reduced energy consumption through the use of Induction Heating technology and polymerised Simitri HD Toner.

Used by all bizhub devices, including the bizhub C10P, Simitri HD (High Definition) toner is made of smaller and more uniform particles than conventional pulverised toner. Because the particles are soft on the inside, they melt at lower temperatures, which means that less energy is used in the fusing process. Simitri HD is also more energy-efficient to manufacture.

The bizhub C10PKonica Minolta’s compact bizhub C10P colour printer was named ‘Pick of the Year’ and described as an “outstanding small workgroup multi-pass colour printer” by Buyers’ Lab (BLI), an independent authority for office equipment.

The bizhub C10P produces five colour pages and 20 black-and-white pages per minute and is an ideal output device for individual users or small teams. It integrates seamlessly into any network, including Windows, Mac or Linux environments, and comes with Ethernet and high-speed USB (2.0) connectivity as standard.

How to enterFor your chance to win a bizhub C10P please email your energy and waste saving tips to jamesg@binfo.co.uk or send in a completed entry form. The printer will be awarded to the person who submits what John Howard, head of marketing at Konica Minolta UK, and James Goulding, editor of Sustainable Times, deem to be the best suggestion. The deadline for entries is October 30, 2008.

ENTRY FORM

Name: _____________________________________________________________

Position: ____________________________________________________________

Company: __________________________________________________________

Address: ____________________________________________________________

___________________________________ Postcode: ______________________

Tel: _________________________________________________________________

Email: ______________________________________________________________

My energy/waste-saving tip is to:

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

Please return completed form to: Konica Minolta Competition, Kingswood Media Ltd, 4 New Cottages, Green Farm Lane, Shorne, Kent DA12 3HQ

If you would prefer not to receive further mailings relating to this competition, please tick the box. q

Save one litre in one day by washing 20 office coffee mugs collectively in the sink instead of individually under a running tap. [5]

Place a ‘save-a-flush’ in your cistern. [5]

Fit all company taps with efficiency devices e.g. Tap Magic (illustrated) reduces water wastage by up to 70% but also enables you to have the normal full flow. [5]

Replace traditional urinals with waterless alternatives and flush toilets with ‘grey water’. [5]

Switch off your monitor every time you are away from your desk for a few minutes. Leaving your monitor or computer on stand-by mode still consumes significant amounts of electricity, as much as 30% of normal use. [2]

Remove rubbish bins from beside desks. Removing desk-side bins and having central collection points for both general rubbish and recycling organisations will increase the amount of recycling taking place and reduce the volume of general waste. [3]

Green & ThriftyAt London Remade’s recent Green & Thrifty event, Ben Murray from Carbon Smart suggested the following ‘no cost’ and ‘low cost’ initiatives.

NO COSTSwitch off lightsTurn off/down heatingStop dripping tapsSwitch off office equipmentDon’t obstruct radiatorsStop draughts

LOW COSTMaintain equipment for peak performance Fit presence detecting light controlsFit time switches and thermostatsUse simple heating controlsInstall door closing mechanismsFit draught proofing

Eliminate solar gainFollow the example of the European Commission and cover the inside of windows with Luxasolar Clear View window film. This sun resistant film keeps out 99% of UV rays and 93% of infrared heat rays, lowering indoor

temperatures by 6-9 degrees centigrade. This reduces the need for air conditioning, whilst minimising glare on PC screens. Luxasolar claims that organisations with air conditioning will make energy savings of 30% from May to October. The film has the opposite effect in the winter, helping to keep heat within a building, reducing heating bills by 17-25%.www.luxasolar.eu

How can you reduce the environmental impact of your document strategy and hedge your bets in an

uncertain economic climate?

Answer: Remanufactured devices on a “No Risk” rental basis!

Go for Remanufacture

Remanufactured MFDs are contractually guaranteed to deliver an “AS NEW” performance by using

up to 94% of their original components. An “IKON Reman” device significantly reduces your

environmental impact.

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Instead of committing to a 3 or 5 year contract on a new device you can take an

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Reduce your costs and your environmentalimpact with a “Risk-Free RemanufacturedRental” copier from IKON!

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Isn't it time you left a green impression?

Environment adv A4 final 21/7/08 13:27 Page 1

Three quarters of businesses have some form of office recycling system, but, according to Bill Swan, managing director of Paper Round, one third of these are doing it wrong. This means that about half of UK businesses are failing to recycle as much waste as they could.

He points out that businesses that have not yet implemented a recycling scheme are wasting money.

“Three quarters of waste is easily recycled. At the moment if a business is not recycling it will be paying someone to remove the material as waste when they could be saving money by recycling, as recycling charges are invariably cheaper than removing materials as waste,” he said.

Recycling companies should be able to take away waste paper, shredded paper, cans, plastics, batteries, CDs, IT equipment and glass. The sorts of things they generally can’t collect include OHP film, carrier bags, laminated materials, dirty tissues and contaminated plastics, such as food packaging.

People who expect their waste to be collected free of charge on the basis that the waste has some resale value will be disappointed, as collection costs outweigh the waste’s resale value. The only exception is waste paper, which Paper Round can afford to collect free of charge due to a high resale value and low volume to weight ratio.

ImplementationImplementing a recycling process is extremely straightforward. Swan advises businesses to start with a paper recycling scheme, as this is a quick and easy way to demonstrate the value of recycling, before adding other materials, such as cans and plastics.

The first step is to create a network of recycling bins around the office and advertise the scheme to employees. You will then need to find someone to collect your waste at suitable intervals. This is likely to be a specialist provider, as with very few exceptions, councils don’t offer commercial recycling services.

There are essentially two types of recycling service offered by providers: separated, where there are separate bags for different types of waste, or co-mingled, where all non-food waste is collected in one container and separated on a conveyor belt at the recycling plant.

Separated vs. co-mingledSeparated schemes are still the most common type of scheme, though co-mingled options (like those enjoyed by many households) have become more popular in recent years, particularly in very large organisations where the facilities team want a quick win.

There is great debate in the recycling industry about which is the best type of scheme. Proponents of co-mingled services argue that they encourage higher recycling rates, while their opponents point out that mixed collections are more costly and less efficient.

“Paper from offices is very high grade,” Swan explained. “Unlike newspapers and magazines, white office paper can be made back into copier-grade paper. But it must be kept separate from food residues and moisture as that will cause fibres to rot so that they can’t be recycled; and it must be kept clear of glass, because if glass breaks, fine shards will stick to the paper and damage the recycling machinery.”

He argues that offices and households recycle different types of material, so a collection scheme that works for domestic rubbish may not be suitable for commercial waste.

“Co-mingled schemes were started for households that have smaller quantities of material. Waste material is mixed and they have lower grades of paper (newspaper and magazines) and a lot of glass and plastics. So the arguments for co-mingled and source separated are more balanced in that area. But in a commercial situation where you have an office producing good quality paper or a restaurant producing large quantities of good quality glass, it is criminal to mix one with the other.”

A third option is to have a partially co-mingled scheme where recyclables are separated into two categories, e.g. one for paper and one for glass, plastics and cans.

Once you have decided on the type of scheme and collection intervals required, and satisfied yourself that your provider is recycling material in a responsible manner (i.e. not just shipping it overseas), it is important to keep monitoring the scheme.

Swan warns that the failure of businesses to do this means that one third of existing schemes are not working well. He suggests that cleaners are a particular problem and will often throw recycling bags out with general waste.

“If your recycling bins are lined with a black bin liner that’s a very bad sign,” he warned.www.paper-round.co.uk 020 7407 9100

sustainabletimes 21www.binfo.co.uk

Do it right

Implementinganofficerecyclingschemecouldnotbeeasier,sowhyareoneintwobusinesseseithernotdoingitordoingitwrong? James Goulding reports

Is there a role for smaller businesses to play in addressing the rise of the carbon agenda and worries about climate change? Can they be part of the solution, and if so, how do they reduce their impact? Dee Moloney, Director of London Remade Solutions explains how office recycling can help make your business more resource-efficient and reduce costs.

Climate change is a pressing issue that continues to capture public and media attention. Rising costs of energy, fuel and waste disposal mean that businesses have to rethink the way they manage their resources. Many struggle with new legislation and understanding what applies to them: keeping abreast of the changes and what it means in practical terms, requires knowledge, compliance and putting the right systems into place - all added pressures!

Opportunity knocksBusinesses that understand and react to climate change issues will be better placed to take advantage of new business opportunities. When tendering for suppliers, organisations are increasingly looking at corporate social responsibility

when making a final decision. For many, recycling is a simple

and effective first step towards improving environmental credentials.

So is recycling beneficial from a carbon footprint perspective? Research by WRAP into greenhouse gas emissions, indicates

that it is. Between 10 and 15 million tonnes of carbon

dioxide are saved annually from recycling, equivalent to

removing 3.5 million cars off UK roads.

How SMEs can reap the benefits of recycling

SMEs can struggle to recycle the waste they generate. Other business

priorities and resource constraints are all potential barriers. However, once the penny drops that it’s good for business as well as the environment, companies can utilise this to become more sustainable and reduce their waste management costs in the process.

For example, London Remade Solutions helped CHP Consulting (asset finance software specialists) put in place a recycling system setting them on course to divert over eight tonnes of waste from landfill in the first year. Jo Rolland of CHP said: “As a result of this service we have now selected a recycling provider and the scheme has been running successfully for 6 months now. I’m sure that there are improvements that we can make to the scheme over time and I feel confident that London Remade Solutions would also be able to provide good advice on the type of improvements to make.” So far, CHP have recycled 1,431kg of waste resulting in savings of almost 2 tonnes of carbon dioxide.

Looking up and down your supply chain is important. What you do with the material you are recycling can really make a difference to carbon savings. Glass, for example, when sent for closed-loop recycling creates a larger carbon reduction than if you send that material to be re-processed into aggregate.

CHP Consulting was overwhelmed by the choice of recycling service-providers. London Remade Solutions put them in-touch with the right provider by taking account of materials up and down-stream.

Making a start• audit – establish your baseline by

reviewing current practices and what materials make up your waste. Seek input from staff through surveys and other engagement activites.

• regulation compliance is essential – Duty of Care, Landfill Regulations (including pre-treatment requirements), Climate Change Levy and Producer Responsibility Obligations are just a few examples of current legislation you need to be aware of.

• board involvement – seek leadership from your board and senior management at the outset.

• make it easy – place recycling bins conveniently next to printers and photocopiers and in other communal areas.

• communications – make people aware of the scheme and what’s expected of them. This could be through staff briefings, posters, e-bulletins and training. Visual reminders also help to maintain awareness.

• monitoring and feedback – set in place a system enabling you to capture valuable data and track results. Let people know how they are doing including amounts recycled as encouragement to keep up the good work.

What is clear is we are in a period of change and transition where climate change is concerned. For those who understand the changing dynamics of the carbon landscape, there are opportunities to be had – SMEs in the capital can be key players in responding to challenges brought about by climate change by innovating and taking a lead. Let’s work together to make London’s businesses sustainable.

Dee Moloney is Director of London Remade Solutions, a consultancy focusing on resource efficiency and recycling measures for businesses and local authorities. Readers interested in greening their business can visit www.londonremade.com for more information.

22 sustainabletimes 0870 903 9500

Lightening the loadReducing your carbon footprint through recycling

sustainabletimes 23www.binfo.co.uk

We don’t conduct experimentation on animals. We don’t develop weaponry. We don’t make things that produce dangerous emissions. We don’t support political parties. And we don’t come second in any of the Ethical Company Organisation’s recent results for each of our product categories.For the second year running, we’ve come first.

If you’d like to discover more things that we don’t do visitwww.brothergreen.co.uk or call 0845 6060 626

Once again,we’d like to tell youwhat we don’t do

Source: www.ethical-company-organisation.org

.

A good impressionLast year Royal Mail introduced a carbon neutral service for unaddressed

door-to-door deliveries that enables customers to measure, reduce and

offset emissions associated with this form of direct mail. Now, TNT Post

has launched a similar service for business customers’ addressed mail.

Like Royal Mail’s initiative, TNT Post’s CarbonNeutral service will combine

offsetting with advice on how to minimise the carbon impact of mailings

e.g. by printing on recycled paper and cleaning databases to reduce the

number of undeliverables. www.tntpost.co.uk

24 sustainabletimes 0870 903 9500

What’sNew…

A shining lightLuxo describes the Ninety as the most

energy-efficient task light in the world.

Its four 1.5W diodes provide up to

1280 Lux on the work surface and last

for 25 years with normal office use.

Both the lamp position and light levels

are fully adjustable.

The ring of changeDuraweld has reduced

the size of the packaging

needed to transport A4

polypropylene binders by supplying

them flat-packed rather than pre-

assembled. The ring mechanisms are

delivered in the same box as the folders

and can be put in place by the user

when needed. Supplying the binders

in this way has enabled Duraweld to

reduce the size of the box needed

to transport 25 folders by 75%. The

latest addition to Duraweld’s Clever

Conversions range of sustainable

products, the binders are available

in off-the-shelf and custom designs

and cost from £1.75 each. In October,

Duraweld is launching versions made

from recycled vinyl.

www.duraweld.co.uk

Sustainable to the coreArup is using the Luxo Ninety

with Kinnarps height adjustable

Bench F system, which has some

interesting environmental features

of its own. The worksurface is made

from Dufalite, which consists of

a honeycomb layer of recycled

cardboard between two outer

layers of hardboard. This uses fewer

resources and is lighter and easier

to transport than conventional

chipboard. Surfaces are finished with

Lamine, a durable paint-type finish

that is indistinguishable from real

wood. Created by applying fourteen

layers of solvent-free lacquer to an

untreated chipboard base, Lamine

eliminates the use of glues, veneers

or melamine, keeping stockholding

requirements and manufacturing

waste to a minimum.

www.kinnarps.co.uk

Sun screenA solar-powered TV was one

of several sustainable products

shown in the Zero Emission

House at the Hokkaido Toyako

(G8) Summit held in Japan

from July 7-9. Sharp paired its

prototype 26-inch low power

LCD TV with a solar power

module of an equal size to demonstrate

how it will soon be possible to power

TVs with solar energy. Another benefit

of this solution – though presumably

not an environmental one – is that it

will make television available to the

1.6 billion people who live in areas

where utility-supplied electricity is

currently unavailable. Sharp’s low

power consumption LCD TV uses one

quarter the power of a 28-inch CRT

TV and one third of the power of an

existing LCD TV.

http://sharp-world.com/eco-showcase/

Cut off pointPC Power Down Network automatically

powers down and restarts PCs and

peripherals (monitors, printers, routers

etc) at times scheduled by the network

administrator. It combines a software

application that schedules the computer

to power down and a surge protected

smart power block that senses when the

PC has shut down and automatically

cuts power to peripherals such as

monitors and routers. The administrator

can set different stop and start times

by department, group or individual and

can schedule ‘open windows’ to perform

planned maintenance and other tasks.

PC Power Down Network is available

for £45 per workstation (including the

server software and one year’s licence:

licence renewal is £20 per workstation).

A Home Edition is available for £29.95.

www.pcpowerdown.com

0808 137 1010

awardGREENinitiative

SUMMER 08SustainableTIMES

Luxo

GREENinitiative

SUMMER 08SustainableTIMES

Duraweld

award

sustainabletimes 25www.binfo.co.uk

Marketing spinTimes Square’s first solar and wind-

powered electronic billboard is due to

be unveiled by Ricoh in December. Four

wind turbines and 45 solar panels will

power the 14.3 x 38.4 metre screen

and the lights needed to illuminate

it, saving 18 tons of CO2 a year. Most

of the power produced in an average

day (98 kwh) comes from the wind

turbines (93 kwh), with the solar

panels contributing just 5 kwh. Energy

is stored in 16 batteries that can hold

enough power for four days. No other

energy sources will be used, so if there

is not enough wind or sun the screen

will remain blank. This is not the only

example of a wind and solar-powered

billboard. Unlike Ricoh’s electronic

billboard, which needs all the electricity

generated to power itself, Nedbank,

a South African bank, is using the

power-generating capacity of its poster

billboard to provide power and hot

water to the Athlone Youth and Family

Development Centre in Cape Town.

www.ricoh.com

Green gaugesCarbon View is an interesting way to engage staff in carbon reduction initiatives.

Developed by energy management and smart metering specialist PRI, it displays

energy consumption data gleaned from smart

electric, gas and water meters. CO2 emissions

are displayed in real-time on a series of colour-

coded dials so that employees can see at a glance

whether an organisation’s emissions are within

or outside parameters set for a building. PRI

argues that providing this information in such a

visually appealing way makes it more likely that

employees will adjust their own behaviour to

reduce energy consumption.

www.pri.co.uk 01962 840048

What’sNew…

It powers down when you doBusinesses that want to reduce the

energy consumption of PCs and

peripherals can do so using an intelligent

power module from DPG/Form Fittings.

eco2power is a six-socket desk module

with one permanently-powered master

socket for the PC and a USB connection

that enables the power system to detect

when the mouse and keyboard are

not being used. Based on parameters

set using the management software,

eco2power will put devices on standby

or turn them off completely after a

period of inactivity. One nice feature of

the software is the ability to see

on-going and cumulative

energy savings in real

time. DPG/Form Fittings

estimates that eco2power

can deliver annual savings

of £20-£100 per user for a

payback period of

1 to 3 years.

Recycology morePentel launch “Recycology” a new range of recycled filing and presentation products and writing instruments.

“Recycology is about so much more than recycling,” explained Pentel marketing manager Wendy Vickery. “It’s a range of products made from at least 50 per cent recycled material, many of which have been chosen because they last longer than our standard products or can be refilled to prolong their life.”

She added: “From an office products purchasing point of view it makes sense for buyers to choose products that last longer and provide better value for money – with the added reassurance of knowing that the products they’re choosing use fewer valuable virgin materials than our alternatives.”

Recycology filing and presentation products include display books, presentation files, clip files, document wallets and organisers. The comprehensive writing instruments collection features EnerGel, the company’s quick-drying liquid gel pen; ballpoint pens; permanent and drywipe markers; automatic pencils and refill leads; correction and glue tapes; and an eraser. www.pentel.co.uk

GREENinitiative

SUMMER 08SustainableTIMES

Pentel

award

The prime cause of global warming is the build up of CO2 in the atmosphere. Every person and organisation produces CO2 and the amount is known as a ‘carbon footprint’. Because we all produce CO2, it’s the responsibility of everyone to try to reduce the amount they produce to help slow global warming. This simple four-step process is something that all businesses can follow:

Step One: Measure It is possible to measure the amount of CO2 produced by anything from this publication or the production of a TV advert to an entire company or manufacturing process. A piece of print produces roughly its own weight in CO2, whilst an office of 20 staff leaving their computers on overnight for seventy days produces 0.5 tonnes of CO2. If you want to measure the carbon footprint of your business visit:http://www.carbonneutral.com/business-carbon-calculator

Step Two: Reduce through internal measuresFrom your footprint, you can prioritise how to reduce your emissions and set targets for doing so. Typical actions might be to:

• Set targets to change travel patterns e.g. encourage car sharing or switch from air to rail for domestic and staff meetings;

• Use video-conferencing facilities when you don’t need face-to-face meetings;

• Change your energy supplier to a greener alternative

Step Three: Reduce emissions through carbon offset Scientists are telling us that we need dramatic reductions in CO2 to help meet targets. To do this or to achieve net zero CO2 you can pay for reductions to be achieved externally: this is what is known as ‘carbon offset’. Through this mechanism for every tonne of CO2 you produce, your money can save one tonne more easily and more efficiently through a project somewhere else in the world. There are a number of projects that you can choose from, including renewables (e.g. wind, wave, solar, hydro and biomass), fuel switching/mixing to biomass, waste to energy projects with additional benefits (e.g. bagasse combustion, animal waste combustion) and energy efficiency projects.

It is important to check your provider’s credentials by asking these questions:

1. Do you use third parties to calculate emissions reductions from client activities ?

2. Are assumptions used to make calculations clear and in line with national or international standards? For instance, do you publish a Protocol or code of practice?

3. Do you use third party verifiers for emissions reductions projects?

4. Do you sell all types of carbon credits?

5. Do you have a global reach?6. Do you have a rigorous system

for contracting and retiring carbon credits?

7. Do you submit your own business to independent audit and/or professional review?

8. Do you publicly publish all the emission reduction projects you have contracted?

9. Do you guarantee the delivery of every tonne of carbon offset purchased?

10. Do you provide robust evidence that the CO2 reductions promised are delivered?

Step Four: CommunicateFinally, it is important to let everyone know what you have done – your staff, suppliers and customers – to encourage others to follow suit.

Companies find that there are many benefits to going carbon neutral. Office supplies company PDQ in Worthing, West Sussex was awarded the CarbonNeutral® company accreditation after having their emissions assessed and reducing them to net zero through a combination of internal reductions and offsetting.

Building on this accreditation they started to encourage their customers to introduce energy efficient ideas such as weekly orders to replace some daily trips to London. By going carbon neutral the company estimates it has saved £3,500 a month through this initiative alone. They are now examining other parts of their business and are encouraging their suppliers to follow suit.

To find out more about carbon offsets, please visit www.carbonneutral.com or phone 0207 833 6000.

26 sustainabletimes 0870 903 9500

Taking action to tackle

climate change

Sharon Corrigan of The CarbonNeutral Company explains how businesses can reduce their carbon footprint

The CarbonNeutral Company is one of the world’s leading carbon offset and climate consulting organisations with thousands of clients and more than 150 emissions reduction projects worldwide.

Established in 1997, it employs about 40 people in its head office in King’s Cross, London in addition to a field-based salesforce. It currently has six overseas offices, each of which is staffed by a team of four to five people.

The CarbonNeutral Company has sophisticated communications needs, due to the global nature of its business and its commitment to minimise the carbon impact of its activities through initiatives such as remote and homeworking.

The CarbonNeutral Company’s ability to work in the most efficient and sustainable manner was being hampered by an outdated telephone system that was operating at maximum capacity and no longer able to meet the company’s increasingly complex call routing and messaging requirements.

In January, chief information officer Joe Bai started looking for a replacement that would enable the company to meets its CSR obligations and give employees a fully integrated and cost-effective alternative to landlines and mobile phones for remote working with a unified Inbox for voice and email messages.

“This project was all about meeting our needs as a global company. My goal was to build a phone system that would enable staff anywhere in the world to make and take calls just as if they were in the London office,” he explained.

“I also wanted to implement complex routing schemes, so that if a call was not being answered in sales it would ring in another department, with the ability to ‘follow the sun’ outside office hours. If there was no one to pick up a call in the London office, I wanted it to be routed to US East Coast, then the West Coast and finally, if necessary, to the Pacific Rim, ensuring that phone calls to us always get answered.”

sustainabletimes 27www.binfo.co.uk

The SolutionSamsung recommended a Samsung OfficeServ 7000 IP phone system, which combines voice and data communications with the latest features, such as wireless handsets (DECT or WiFi), mobile extensions and remote working.

Bai was impressed not only by the system features and ease of installation, but also by the way in which Samsung’s system met The CarbonNeutral Company’s broader environmental obligations.

“The Samsung OfficeServ 7000 is such a well thought out package. This is the third or fourth brand of VoIP system I have implemented and Samsung’s is the most complete and integrated solution of them all,” he enthused.

“I run a very small IT staff so I don’t want to spend months training people in how to use the system. And with the OfficeServ I didn’t have to. Implementation really was just a question of taking it out of the box and plugging it in. The system was installed in one day and the only thing users had to do was reset their voicemail box, otherwise they just carried on working as normal.”

Office staff are even using the same handsets. Because the OfficeServ 7000 is compatible with both IP and traditional handsets, The CarbonNeutral Company was able to keep the deskphones from its old system, saving money and maximising the use of existing resources.

Remote workingA key benefit of the new system is the IP extension capability that enables remote workers with an internet connection to appear as just another office extension with access to exactly the same system features that they enjoy when in the office.

Before, employees working remotely would communicate by mobile phone and landline, which was both costly and inconvenient for customers who would often have to dial several numbers before they were able to locate the person they wanted. Now with IP extension phones (and softphones on laptops), calls to the office number can be transferred to remote workers without the caller even knowing – and without incurring additional call charges.

This is a feature common to all IP phone systems, including others looked at by Bai, but what impressed

him about Samsung’s offering was its simplicity.

“Samsung’s phones are very, very convenient. IP phones are pre-configured centrally and then sent out to remote workers. All they need to do is plug the phone in to their broadband connection and it will automatically connect to the office phone system,” he said.

Removing the need for technicians to set-up employees’ home offices reflects Samsung’s commitment to reduce the footprint of its products, which, as Bai notes, extended right down to the economical, waste-free packaging.

“When the phone system came, it was boxed in just plain cardboard: there was no foam and no waste. All the packaging was 100% recyclable and went out with the weekly recycling collection,” he said.

The futureThe Samsung OfficeServ 7000 has only recently been installed but Bai is already thinking about how its features can be used to achieve even greater efficiencies for The CarbonNeutral Company.

One aspect he is looking at is toll bypass to reduce the cost of international calls. The CarbonNeutral Company can make free internet calls to its offices around the world, but calls to and from international customers, suppliers and contacts attract charges.

By installing a Samsung switch on the other side of the Atlantic and

networking it with the London system, Bai hopes to reduce these charges substantially. For example, a call to a customer in the US could be routed at no cost to the US switch where it would break out onto the PSTN incurring only local charges.

As a business that advises customers on ways to reduce their carbon emissions, it is essential that The CarbonNeutral Company practises what it preaches. The Samsung OfficeServ 7000 lets them do just this and improve efficiency and customer service.

Home and away

The Samsung

OfficeServ 7000

is helping The

CarbonNeutral

Company

adopt more

sustainable

working

practices.

James Goulding

reports

www.samsung.com

Joe Bai: This project was all about meeting our needs as a global company.

Oil companies are not the only businesses doing well out of rising energy prices. Web conferencing suppliers are also benefiting from the high cost of petrol, as businesses consider more economic alternatives to business travel.

According to Wainhouse Research, the UK web conferencing market grew by 29% in 2007 and is likely to increase at a similar rate for the next four years, rising from $70.4 million to $154.0 million by 2012.

The surge in the use of web conferencing was already happening before this year’s massive rise in oil prices, and talk of oil at $200 per barrel will have done nothing to dent businesses’ enthusiasm for the technology.

In particular it strengthens the already compelling financial case for web-based meetings.

The National College for School Leadership (NCSL) uses online meetings from market leader WebEx to deliver information and training to school leaders across England and to cut down

on business travel by staff.It conducted a cost analysis of 378

meetings held between April and June 2008 and worked out that it had saved £54,000 in travel expenses; 408 days in travelling time; and 57 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.

Economic factors may be the primary motivation for adopting web conferencing, but it also provides businesses with a quick and easy way to reduce their carbon footprint, whether

it is used for one-to-one meetings or webinars.

Clearly the larger the audience, the greater the environmental benefits of choosing to communicate online, as research from web TV specialist BroadView demonstrates.

It commissioned carbon management specialist co2balance to compare the carbon footprint of a webcast with an international pharmaceutical conference in New Orleans involving international air travel and an overnight stay.

They found that a physical event would produce 3.7 tonnes more CO2 per delegate than an online webcast, even when taking into account the energy used by the production crew, webcasting servers and PCs for viewing the event.

Above all, web conferencing is a critical productivity tool for the growing number of people who spend part of their week working outside the office either from home or from another remote location.

Citrix Online refers to such workers as webcommuters, contrasting their use of web-based conferencing and collaboration tools to the use of the telephone by the telecommuters of the ‘80s and ‘90s.

It is looking more and more likely that the high price of oil, if not climate change itself, will make webcommuters of us all.

28 sustainabletimes 0870 903 9500

Distance no objectWhy we are all webcommuters now.

WebEx MeetingCentre

costs £42 per month for

each named host license.

Hosts can hold meetings

with up to 15 people per

meeting. No software

is required: all you need

is a web browser and

telephone.

Natalie Butler, UK Manager for WebEx, spoke to Sustainable Times about WebEx’s plans for the future.

The market leader in web conferencing is WebEx. It has a 60% share of the software as a service (SaaS) web conferencing market in the UK, and in response to rising oil prices saw demand

for its services increase by 20% in May and June.

Natalie Butler, UK Manager for WebEx, told Sustainable Times that a number of factors were forcing businesses to change the way they do business, helping to drive demand for WebEx’s services.

“The high price of oil is a catalyst. People are having to cut back on travel but they still

View from the topwant to increase productivity. In the current economic climate businesses may also have headcount issues, but even if they make redundancies, they won’t accept any loss of productivity. So they need to find a way to do things better.” She believes that WebEx is the solution.

“It is not just about doing meetings but changing the way you do business,” she said. “We started in the ‘90s in web conferencing with MeetingCentre. This is still our bread and butter, general tool for holding internal and external meetings, product launches and meetings with suppliers. But we decided that one size doesn’t fit all so we created different centres for different types of business.”

These include the Training centre for e-learning; the Event Centre for one-way meetings, e.g. press conferences;

the Support Centre with remote access to a PC; and the Sales Centre, which can be used to interact with clients via a portal where you can share documents.

WebEx also offers a number of bolt-on services under the WebOffice umbrella. In January it is re-launching these as WebEx Connect, which will give users a presence-enabled dashboard through which they can conduct their daily business, with access to web conferencing, instant messaging, a document sharing portal and other applications.

“We see the market growth in web conferencing as a huge opportunity, but that’s not where Webex stops,” explained Butler. “Connect takes it from the conferencing piece into true collaboration.”www.webex.co.uk

UK businesses consume more than 1 million

reams of office paper every working day.

And more than half of that just gets thrown in

the general waste bin and ends up in landfill.

It’s a waste economically and environmentally.

yoyo can help your organisation use and

dispose of your office paper responsibly and

efficiently — reducing your paper spend and

your impact on the environment. Paper is a

beautiful, natural, renewable, biodegradable

product that facilitates learning, creativity and

communication — don’t feel bad about using it,

feel bad about wasting it.

C

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Y

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yoyo binfo ad_210x297.ai 23/7/08 09:13:33

There’s an awful lot you can do to reduce the environmental impact of office printing, from the type of printer you use to your choice of driver settings and how you use the free tools that come with it.

It is easy to view printers as commodity items that all do the same thing in a similar way, but this is far from the case. An all-in-one cartridge containing both the toner and drum may be the most common type of consumable, but there are less wasteful alternatives, such as Xerox solid ink and Kyocera Ecosys printers.

Look again at inkjet technology: this is making a comeback in offices and it may be all you need, but before making your decision do work out the cost per page from the cost of the cartridges and their stated capacity.

And don’t forget to compare the energy consumption of printers: Energy Star accreditation is essential (its website has a useful table showing different printers’ consumption figures).

Once you’ve installed your printer try to keep paper use to a minimum.

The obvious thing to do is to print on both sides of the page. But you could also use smaller/lighter paper, reduce margins and font sizes, change font (Green print has developed one specially to reduce paper consumption) and print n-up so that you can fit 2 or 4 pages on a single side (visit www.shrinkpaper.org for a comprehensive list of tips).

These are all thoroughly recommended, and easy to do on any printer. Once you get into the habit they become second nature: in fact, pretty soon you’ll be kicking yourself if you forget to set the driver and revert to wasteful old habits – so set n-up, duplex as your default now.

And while you’re at it, why not reduce toner consumption by setting draft printing mode as the default, too – very few documents need to be of the best quality and it will make your consumables last up to 40% longer.

Free software toolsThat’s just a start. The software provided with many printers gives you scope to do much more.

Admin software will enable you to manage your printer fleet more efficiently and in some cases will even let you monitor and control printer use through quotas and restrictions by user and/or application – i.e. no printing of emails.

Many printer manufacturers, including HP, Lexmark and Epson, now provide free downloadable software that reduces the waste associated with printing internet

pages (all those extra sheets with nothing more than a thumbprint image or a URL).

Lexmark’s ToolBar V4 is a good example. It works with any make of printer and shrinks web pages to fit on a single page. Users can save ink/toner by removing colour and images from web pages and highlight and print specific areas of text.

Xerox is bundling a similar but more powerful tool with its Xerox Phaser 8560 and 8860 solid ink printers and MFPs. GreenPrint Enterprise analyses each page sent to the printer and automatically highlights and removes typical waste characteristics (e.g. pages with just a URL, banner ad or logo). It also allows users to remove pages, images or text with a single click before printing.

Another way of saving money is to print forms and stationery on demand and eliminate the waste associated with pre-printing and stockpiling material that may go out of date before it is used.

TallyGenicom recently broke new ground by announcing that it was bundling its TG Forms integrated forms solution with all professional laser printers; and HP is supplying HP Smart Template Printing free with some of its new LaserJets. This enables users to store multiple, ready-made templates in the printer’s memory so that they can print letterhead, invoices, postcards etc. as and when needed.

One of the benefits of today’s colour printers and MFPs is that they can be used to produce marketing material in-house, removing the expense and unnecessarily large print runs associated with outsourcing. A number of manufacturers, HP included, provide marketing templates online for users to download.

Oki is particularly strong in this area. Its Template manager software and www.askoki.co.uk website provide users with a wide range of templates and in-house marketing tools. It recently expanded its offering with the launch of v-studio, which makes available royalty-free images and business design tools that can help you produce professional looking documents in-house.

Printers are essential to the smooth running of any business. By choosing them carefully and using them intelligently, you can prevent unnecessary waste and expense and improve your marketing and presentation.

30 sustainabletimes 0870 903 9500

Frie

nd o

r fo

e?

Printers are a source of considerable waste, but by using them wisely and making use of free software tools businesses can reduce the downsides considerably.

Oki provides its customers with templates and images that can be used to create professional looking marketing material

www.samsung.com/uk/printer

MultiXpress CLX-8380ND

MultiXpress CLX-8380ND

Introducing the all new MultiXpress CLX-8380ND, Samsung’s latest A4 colour MFD raises the industrial standard to greater heights. It outperforms others with its many advanced functions and reliability.

mono // colour // multi-function

imagine colour efficiency for your business

5804 clx_8380 A4 AD_pink.indd 1 18/7/08 16:45:10

333333