By understanding and complying with environmental regulations, you can not only save the planet, but also cut costs in your organisation. Ellie Dart, senior communications officer at NetRegs.gov.uk, explains how.

Your workplace environment
Recent estimates say that UK businesses generate over a third of the UK’s CO2 emissions. So how are they doing it? Energy and waste seem to be the big issues, with even office-based businesses having an impact.

Energy
Did you know that office-based businesses are responsible for emitting 6.8 million tonnes of carbon a year? It’s the simple things that seem to be causing the problem. Leaving a photocopier on overnight uses enough energy to print 5,000 A4 sides of paper.

Most energy in the UK comes from non-renewable fossil fuels such as oil, coal and gas, which as we all know, are running out. Burning them contributes to increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and to global climate change.

As leading business entrepreneur (and Dragon), Duncan Bannatyne points out: “ We live in a world of finite resources, which will eventually disappear, unless we take action now to reverse the damage. We all share this responsibility, but innovative businesses can play a leading role in securing the future prosperity of our planet.”

He continues: “Demonstrating good green credentials is a key principle of smart business, providing financial advantage as well as environmental benefits”.

Reducing your business’ energy use, could save you money. If you reduce the temperature in your office by 1C, you could reduce your heating bills by 10%.

Waste
It’s not only energy that’s the problem. Waste is also a massive issue.

WEEE
About 1.8 million tonnes of electrical and electronic waste is generated every year, making it the fastest growing waste stream in the UK. Hardly a surprise when you consider how many mobile phones that you personally have probably owned since they became a mass media channel just 12 years ago.

If your business uses electrical and electronic equipment (such as mobile phones, computer monitors and printers), there are regulations that you must comply with known as the waste, electrical and electronic equipment regulations (WEEE), which aim to reduce the amount of this waste going to landfill.

Duty of Care
All businesses (no matter how small) have a legal duty of care to store, transport and dispose of business waste without causing harm to the environment. This involves ensuring that it is stored and transported securely and appropriately so that it does not escape; making sure that your waste is only transported and handled by people that are authorised to do so; and  completing waste transfer notes to document all waste you transfer.

In order to create less waste, it is recommended that businesses reduce, reuse and recycle it. This can help cut costs as well as reduce your impact on the environment. For example, the cost of landfill tax is currently £48 per tonne, but this will increase by £8 per year until April 2013. If you reduce the amount of waste you produce, your business could save 4-5% of it’s turnover by paying less landfill tax.

An SME focusing on waste disposal, Envar Ltd, has saved £624,000 in disposal costs by diverting waste from landfill sites.

Recycling
A further benefit of choosing to recycle over sending waste to landfill is the potential energy savings. Recycling two glass bottles saves enough energy to boil five cups of tea. But what exactly can you recycle?

This question becomes all the more difficult to answer when you realise that many waste types are considered hazardous. Did you know that fluorescent light tubes are hazardous waste?

Hazardous waste (or special waste as it is known in Scotland) is any waste that is harmful to human health or the environment. There are special controls for moving, transporting or disposing of hazardous/special waste, which means that it can’t go in with your general waste and is subject to different rules to most things you recycle.

Some people have found inventive ways to reuse their used fluorescent light tubes such as employing them as lightsabers (Star Wars style) on a Friday afternoon, but I haven’t yet met anyone who’s come up with a game that itoner cartridges (which are also a hazardous waste.) So it’s recommended that you dispose of hazardous waste appropriately, in line with the legislation, at sites that are authorised to accept it.

To help to develop your knowledge of what can and can’t be recycled, NetRegs.gov.uk, an environmental guidance website for small businesses, has developed a game called ‘bin it to win it’. At the end of the game, you will be able to download a quick and easy environmental checklist.

Ellie Dart is a senior communications officer at NetRegs.gov.uk.