Issue 1 of Sustainable Times Magazine - look back at our first ever issue

1. Sustainable Furniture
How to Implement an Office
Recycling Scheme
Top Tips for Energy Efficiency
Ticking all the
right boxes
Samsung printers and
the environment
Page 16
The Rise of the
Webcommuter
Low Carbon Communications
PLUS
Win a Colour Laser Printer

2. 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

3. Contents
04 News
08 Analysis
10 Office Design
13 Sustainable Furniture
Welcome to the inaugural issue of Sustainable Times.
16 Cover Story
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.
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
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
No part of Sustainable Times can
be reproduced without prior written
permission of the publisher.
sagem_hp_advl Kingswood Media Ltd.
© 2008 11/8/08 14:52 Page 1
James Goulding
Editor
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
Sagem underlines energy star
compliant range of MFP Devices
Sagem Communications (Part of The Gores
group) is a major player in the field of
communications. Sagem specialize in the
following business & consumer product sectors:
MF printer & fax devices,
digital TV set-top boxes,
Dect phones, digital photo
frames, photo printers, mobile
communications & electronic
metering.
As one of the UK’s leading
providers of MFP Desktop printers to both the
public & private sector Sagem is proud to
announce 3 key environmental credentials for
the Sagem range of Print products.
• The entire Sagem MFP & Fax range is Energy
Star compliant: in short significant reductions
in electricity consumption have been achieved
for users when the machine is in both standby
mode and when in use.
• Sagem operates a Consumables recycling
scheme on all Sagem MFP’s; enabling
recycling of all Sagem consumable cartridges.
• Sagem Communications as a group are EST
approved ensuring all new products launched
will have an Energy Saving Trust
recommendation.
These key factors allow Sagem Communications
to continue to help businesses and consumers
lower their carbon footprints, saving users
money & resources without compromising
operation service and quality.
For more info on the full range of Sagem
Communications products & envirornmental
initiatives please contact +44 (0)1932 572900
or visit www.sagem-communications.com
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.

4. greenAgenda
Longer PC life is key to the success
of Government’s IT plans
Since it was founded
in 1998, Computer
Aid has provided more
than 125,000 PCs
to organisations in
developing countries.
Computer 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
London can meet carbon reduction targets
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 cooperation 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
04 sustainabletimes
Carbon-free delivery
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
0870 903 9500

5. greenBrief
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
Electric Service
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
www.binfo.co.uk
Rising energy costs to change purchasing habits
“37% said
they were
concerened
about their
company’s
energy
use…”
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 energyefficient 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
Make the switch to hosted
A 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.”
Server outsourcing can help businesses
www.genesis.co.uk 0844 847 9699
reduce their carbon footprint
The time for energy management is now
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 yearon-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
greenAgenda…
sustainabletimes 05

6. greenAgenda
M&S’s use of Fairtrade cotton is claimed
to have improved the lives of 1,500 Indian
farmers
Old phones don’t die
Old 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
New standard for carbon reductions
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
greenBrief
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-andoffset’ 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
Ethical agents needed
for global supply chains
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
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 Governmentfunded 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 585794
www.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.
0870 903 9500

7. 1992: KYOCERA PIONEERS SUSTAINABLE
OFFICE PRINTING.
AT LAST. GREEN CREDENTIALS WORTH
OUR COMPETITORS HAVE BEEN GOING GREEN
THE PAPER THEY’RE PRINTED ON.
EVER SINCE.
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.
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.uk
KYOCERA MITA Corporation – www.kyoceramita.com

8. 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.
Smart Thinking
Rising carbon emissions from the IT industry
will be offset by smarter use of technology,
enabling a 15% reduction in
CO2 emissions by 2020.
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
• C ownership will quadruple
P
to four billion devices and
emissions will double, with laptops
overtaking desktops as the main
source of global ICT emissions
(22 per cent);
• obile phone ownership will
m
almost double to nearly 5 billion
accounts, but emissions will only
grow by 4%; and
• roadband uptake will treble to
b
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 reductions
Even 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) mart industrial motor systems.
S
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.
08 sustainabletimes
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 (ATC). 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 socalled ‘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
0870 903 9500

9. advertorial
From The Ground Up
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
structure”. A result of this change
• ork towards a sustainability
W
was that Eurotek was one of the first
programme encompassing
companies in the office furniture
purchasing, waste streams, end
industry to be awarded the ISO
of life management, ethical
14001 Environmental Standard.
policies, community relations,
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:
• here practicable use materials,
W
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
had come from the factory floor.
components and designs to
of the UK’s leading manufacturers
They understood the systems and
minimise environmental effects
of quality office furniture. A culture
processes that had a negative impact
of products in production and
which has truly grown from the
on the workforce, local and wider
during their usage/final disposal
ground up.
environment. Executive Chairman
• aintain the Forestry
M
To find out more about Eurotek’s
Bob Lee explains; “we took the
Stewardship Council Chain of
office furniture ranges visit
initiative to make the environment
Custody for ranges of wood
www.eof.co.uk
our responsibility and it became
based products
ethics. To achieve this involved time,
materials, supplies, energy and
resources, investment and a massive
evaluate waste streams for their
To obtain a copy of Eurotek’s
“Our culture your environment”
brochure simply call
01243 828921 or email
change to our processes and our
reuse and recycling potential.
marketing@eof.co.uk
a core element of our business
www.binfo.co.uk
• im to minimise the use of all
A
sustainabletimes 09

10. The meeting room has 100% recyclable
doors made from FSC walnut timber.
Green light for
eco interiors
Morgan Lovell’s refurbished London
offices show that fit-outs can be
sustainable and cost-effective
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 sevenstorey 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.
10 sustainabletimes
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
0870 903 9500

11. 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.
Worktops in the kitchen are made from recycled plastic bottles.
The reception area features a re-used, refurbished reception desk, energyefficient LED lighting and Faenza ceramic clip tiles that remove the need for
adhesives or solvents.
Acoustic panels have decorative and
environmental benefits.
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.
www.binfo.co.uk
sustainabletimes 11

12. Collins
NEW Eco Diary Range
Printed on 100% recycled paper, the Eco
range features a selection of the most
popular Collins desk diary layouts for
those who are environmentally conscious.
New for 2009, this range also incorporates
a unique cover material, produced using
100% solvent free, water-based coatings.
For more information please call
0141 300 8500 or email
info@collins-debden.co.uk
rh ambio
black
edition
RH Ambio is a range of seating designed by Zenit Design Group.
Experience them at www.rhchairs.co.uk

13. On your marks…
Sustainable Times looks at what
furniture companies are doing to
improve the environmental
performance of their furniture
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.
KI’s Daylight chair is made
The programme is managed by
out of old car batteries.
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
www.binfo.co.uk
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.
accreditation or at the very least
PEFC accreditation.
Carbon footprints
In 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
Ambio uses
horse and pig
hair instead
of foam.
FSC
According 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
sustainabletimes 13

14. 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 Greenguard
Like 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 assessments
Allan Smith, vice president of Steelcase
International, advises buyers to be
rigorous in demanding evidence of a
manufacturer’s envionmental claims.
14 sustainabletimes
“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
On
your
marks…
Steelcase’s Think chair
was the first product
to receive MBDC
Cradle-to-Cradle
certification.
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 materials
Another company that sees a cradleto-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.”
0870 903 9500

16. 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 printing
Samsung 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
16 sustainabletimes
Greener by design
Anthony Penton, Head of Marketing for
Print, explains how Samsung is helping
its customers reduce the environmental
impact of office printing
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 A3
One 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
0870 903 9500

17. konicaminolta.co.uk
Environmental friendly products and
solutions from Konica Minolta
...save time, save cost,
save energy!
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‚
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‚
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‚
“World on Loan” service provides for re-cycling of empty toner containers
‚
Products that run a wide range of recycled papers without compromising on quality
‚
Service systems that generate a 15% reduction in engineer travel,
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We are reducing our carbon footprint;
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Recycling
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We are committed to continually improving
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stage in our product lifecycle, from raw
material/part procurement to manufacture,
transportation, sale, reuse/recycling and final
disposal.

18. Stop the waste
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.
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]
[1] The Carbon Trust
[2] racey RawlingT
Church, Kyocera
[3] ndy Vickers,
A
managing director
for Canon UK
Ireland
[4] Xerox
[5] Ricoh
[6] ark Karsey,
M
Business Manager,
Epson UK
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]
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
18 sustainabletimes
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 doublesided 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]
0870 903 9500

19. Green Thrifty
At London Remade’s recent Green Thrifty event, Ben Murray from
Carbon Smart suggested the following ‘no cost’ and ‘low cost’ initiatives.
NO COST
Switch off lights
Turn off/down heating
Stop dripping taps
Switch off office equipment
Don’t obstruct radiators
Stop draughts
LOW COST
Maintain equipment for peak performance
Fit presence detecting light controls
Fit time switches and thermostats
Use simple heating controls
Install door closing mechanisms
Fit draught proofing
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]
Eliminate solar
gain
Follow 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
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]
WIN A COLOUR
LASER PRINTER
Send 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 energysaving 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 energyefficient to manufacture.
The bizhub C10P
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
Konica Minolta’s compact bizhub C10P colour printer was named ‘Pick
of the Year’ and described as an “outstanding small workgroup multipass 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 enter
For 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: ___________________________________________________________
A to B
Satellite 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.
www.binfo.co.uk
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
sustainabletimes 19

20. Isn't it time you left a green impression?
Reduce your costs and your environmental
impact with a “Risk-Free Remanufactured
Rental” copier from IKON!
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 environmental impact with a
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call 0800 90.40.90 or email: ukinfo@ikon.com
www.ikon.co.uk

21. Implementing an office recycling scheme could not be
easier, so why are one in two businesses either not doing it
or doing it wrong? James Goulding reports
Do it right
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.
www.binfo.co.uk
Implementation
Implementing 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-mingled
Separated schemes are still the most
common type of scheme, though comingled 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 21

22. Lightening the
load
Reducing
your carbon
footprint
through
recycling
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!
22 sustainabletimes
Opportunity knocks
Businesses 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 closedloop 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
• udit – establish your baseline by
a
reviewing current practices and what
materials make up your waste. Seek
input from staff through surveys and
other engagement activites.
• egulation compliance is essential
r
– 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.
• oard involvement – seek leadership
b
from your board and senior
management at the outset.
• ake it easy – place recycling
m
bins conveniently next to printers
and photocopiers and in other
communal areas.
• ommunications – make people aware
c
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.
• onitoring and feedback – set
m
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.
0870 903 9500

23. Once again,
we’ like to tell you
d
what we don’t do.
Source: www.ethical-company-organisation.org
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 visit
www.brothergreen.co.uk or call 0845 6060 626
www.binfo.co.uk
sustainabletimes 23

24. A shining light
Luxo 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.
What’s
New…
Luxo
award
GREENinitiative
Sustainable TIMES
SUMMER 08
Sun screen
A 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/
Sustainable to the
core
Arup 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
A good impression
Last 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
Cut off point
PC 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
Duraweld
GREENinitiative
The ring of
change
award
Duraweld has reduced
the size of the packaging
needed to transport A4
polypropylene binders by supplying
them flat-packed rather than preassembled. 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 TIMES
SUMMER 08
0870 903 9500

25. Green gauges
Carbon 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 colourcoded 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
Marketing spin
Times Square’s first solar and windpowered 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
It powers
down when you do
Businesses 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.
Pentel
GREENinitiative
award
Sustainable TIMES
SUMMER 08
What’s
New…
www.binfo.co.uk
Recycology more
Pentel 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
sustainabletimes 25

26. Taking action
to tackle
climate change
Sharon Corrigan of The
CarbonNeutral Company
explains how businesses
can reduce their carbon
footprint
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 measures
From your footprint, you can prioritise
how to reduce your emissions and set
targets for doing so. Typical actions
might be to:
• et targets to change travel
S
patterns e.g. encourage car sharing
or switch from air to rail for
domestic and staff meetings;
• se video-conferencing facilities
U
when you don’t need face-to-face
meetings;
• hange your energy supplier to a
C
greener alternative
Step Three: Reduce emissions
through carbon offset
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 fourstep process is something that all
businesses can follow:
26 sustainabletimes
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. you use third parties to
Do
calculate emissions reductions
from client activities ?
2. assumptions used to make
Are
calculations clear and in line
with national or international
standards? For instance, do you
publish a Protocol or code of
practice?
3. you use third party verifiers for
Do
emissions reductions projects?
4. you sell all types of carbon
Do
credits?
5. Do you have a global reach?
6. you have a rigorous system
Do
for contracting and retiring carbon
credits?
7. o you submit your own business
D
to independent audit and/or
professional review?
8. o you publicly publish all the
D
emission reduction projects you
have contracted?
9. you guarantee the delivery
Do
of every tonne of carbon offset
purchased?
10. o you provide robust evidence
D
that the CO2 reductions promised
are delivered?
Step Four: Communicate
Finally, 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.
0870 903 9500

27. Home and
away
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.”
www.binfo.co.uk
The Solution
practices.
Samsung 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.
James Goulding
reports
“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 working
The Samsung
OfficeServ 7000
is helping The
CarbonNeutral
Company
adopt more
sustainable
working
Joe Bai: This project
was all about
meeting our needs
as a global company.
A 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 preconfigured 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 future
www.samsung.com
The 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.
sustainabletimes 27

28. Distance no object
Why we are all webcommuters now.
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
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.
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.
View from the top
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
28 sustainabletimes
want 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 oneway 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
0870 903 9500

29. 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.

30. Friend or foe?
Oki provides its customers with templates and images that can be used to
create professional looking marketing material
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.
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.
30 sustainabletimes
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 tools
That’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 royaltyfree 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.
0870 903 9500

31. imagine colour efficiency
for your business
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.
MultiXpress
CLX-8380ND
mono // colour // multi-function
www.samsung.com/uk/printer

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