Introduction
Hugh James recognises that our day-to-day activities can impact on the environment in a number of ways. We are committed to minimising the potentially harmful effects of those activities wherever and whenever possible.
Our environmental policy establishes targets in sustainable environment improvement and ensures that we measure and monitor our performance regularly. Hugh James will maximise the opportunities for the provision of service and solutions which may help to reduce environmental impacts, and which provide significant environmental benefits.
We aim to regularly communicate our environmental objectives, action plans and achievements to our staff because we want every person in Hugh James to understand and implement the environmental policy in their daily work. We also aim to inform suppliers and clients of our environmental policy so we can raise environmental awareness and encourage them to reduce their impact.
Hugh James environmental activities
1. Recycling
- Paper/cardboard: We encourage staff to recycle as much as possible by providing recycling bins for cardboard and paper on each floor of the office. Where paper can be reused, we encourage staff to do so.
- Electronic equipment: Any IT equipment that has broken or become redundant we pay Maxitec remove the equipment. They then have young offenders repair and rebuild the equipment which then gets donated to charities. Any equipment that cannot be re-used gets sold on for a low cost for parts. We also have a scheme for broken mobile phones which get given to charity, who then sell the equipment and keep the money as a donation.
- Cartridges/toners: All printer cartridges are given back to the supplier for them to re-use. The toners are given to a local hospital for them to sell and keep the money as a donation.
- Mobile phones: All disused or broken mobile phones are donated to a major charity for them to sell and retain the money.
2. Travel
To minimise our carbon footprint, we encourage staff to use video and telephone conferencing where possible. If staff need to travel, we promote use of public transport and efficient timing of meetings to minimise the amount of travelling.
3. Office initiatives
Energy saving: all computers, photocopiers/printers and fax machines are set up to go into power saver mode when they are not used for a significant period of time. We also have a system in place that at 8 o’clock at night, automatically turns off all computers that are still running.