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Bright Ideas That Reduce Carbon Footprint
January 2008Mailing industries are under scrutiny from the Environment Minister, Joan Ruddock so if there's no real alternative to paper billing, what can organisations do to reduce their carbon footprint?
OTM, the customer communications specialist used by organisations to manage their transactional mail, prints the equivalent of 1.1 million sides of A4 per day and outputs 500,000 mail packs per day. As such, it's a company fully aware of its environmental responsibilities.
Not only has OTM received an Award for its energy-saving achievements, it now recycles 97 per cent of all its waste.
OTM has been implementing energy savings campaigns for three years now. Its first initiative achieved an overall reduction in consumption of seven per cent, against a background of increased production.
In 2006, a more ambitious project involved the installation of state-of-the-art lighting at the company's Leicester factory. New light fittings use less energy, have sensors that react to motion and natural light and provide a better working environment.
Energy usage overall is carefully monitored and the objective for 2008 is to reduce emissions. As part of this, the company has instigated a daily close-down procedure.
"OTM Security Guards carry out a close-down procedure each evening," says Gill Rees, who oversees the company's environmental projects. "They ensure lights, copiers and office air-conditioning units are all switched off at the end of the day."
OTM has no company vehicles and promotes ways to reduce business mileage through use of public transport, alternative fuels and car sharing (employees can add their postcode to a central database). Both OTM sites, in Leicester and Swindon, are well-served by public transport with information on services available at Reception. Lockers and showers are provided free of charge for cyclists and walkers.
When it comes to business, OTM is fully aware that it's operating in an industry that creates waste. Careful streaming of waste and the introduction of operational procedures has resulted in a reduction in waste of more than 80 per cent.
Targeting paper waste in 2007 achieved an initial reduction of more than 11 per cent whilst the company's electronic and archive retrieval solutions offer businesses the means to become paper-free.
Toners, print cartridges and packaging materials are returned for re-use and paper is sourced from environmentally-aware suppliers.
OTM has been awarded 'The Best Contribution by a Business Award' in the Green Life Awards by the Leicester Environment Partnership.
