Sustainable Times Issue 7
According to Kyocera’s latest Sustainability survey, office
workers printed 40% fewer pages last year – the first fall
since the survey began in 2007. This is impressive, but not
unexpected: indeed, it’s more surprising that this is the first time a fall has been registered.
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Sustainable Times Issue 7
1. AUTUMN 2011
Protecting your
data and the
environment
The HP LTO Ultrium
Eco Case
Are concerns about electric
vehicles justified?
The smarter way to get
to work
Cloud computing under
the spotlight
Why Fairtrade is to
everyone’s taste
How to maximise the
return on your
investment in
sustainability
2. YOU’RE EFFICIENT
YOU’RE SMART
YOU’RE RELIABLE
YOU’RE GOING TO
MAKE ME MONEY
EFFICIENT Save time with the new Neopost DS-35 Folder Inserter.
It professionally and precisely folds, inserts and seals
1,350 items of mail in just 1 hour – 13 times more than a human,
so valuable staff can be free to concentrate on more productive and
profitable tasks.
SMART Simple works better, so the new DS-35 is so easy to set up
and use. With a full colour touch screen and a 15 preset programmable
memory, you can set up and save your most regular tasks then
simply ‘load and go’ at the touch of a button.
RELIABLE We’ve made reliability our number one priority. So we’ve
upgraded nearly half of the components in the new DS-35 for durability,
so the DS-35 delivers outstanding productivity, week in, week out.
MONEY MAKING By folding A4 mail into DL or C5 envelopes the DS-35
can let you enjoy the Royal Mail’s lowest rates - saving 16p on every
1st class item sent. More than capable of handling mailshots and
perfect for adding promotional materials to your regular mailings, the
DS-35 can also help boost sales and let you handle your marketing
in-house, making for really cost-effective communications.
THE DS-35 FOLDER INSERTER.
MAKE IT WORK FOR YOU.
For more information or to arrange a demonstration,
call 0800 731 1334 quoting DS35A or visit www.neopost.co.uk/ds35
S
4. greenAgenda Sustainable
Editor’s Choice Award
TerraCycle
National pen
recycling scheme
launched
BIC is taking over as sponsor of
TerraCycle’s schools-based pen
recycling scheme and extending it
to offices and schools nationwide,
creating the UK’s first national
scheme for recycling writing
instruments.
The BIC Writing Instruments Brigade
programme enables offices and schools
to collect any make or type of used
pen, marker or highlighter in designated
collection boxes that, when full, can be
returned to TerraCycle at no cost.
TerraCycle will recycle the pens into
watering cans, pen pots, waste bins, park
benches and other plastic items.
For each pen collected, BIC will
donate two points that can either be
turned into a 2p contribution to a school
or charity or be spent on a range of
charitable gifts.
TerraCycle runs separate collection
schemes for yoghurt pots, coffee refill
packs, baby wipes packaging, baby
food pouches, toothpaste tubes and
toothbrushes.
To take part in the BIC Writing
Instruments Brigade, please register at
www.terracycle.co.uk
Antalis McNaughton’s closed loop
paper recycling service has been highly
commended in the third annual European
Paper Recycling Awards organised by the
European Recovered Paper Council.
Full Cycle collects waste paper from customers’
premises and returns it to Arjo Wiggins mills in France
and Denmark where it is made into recycled brands,
such as Coccoon, Cyclus and Conqueror, that are then
sold back to customers.
Businesses pay to have the waste collected but earn
money back in the form of account credits for every tonne
of waste paper recycled.
Loans matched
to savings
The Carbon Trust and Siemens have
launched a scheme to provide UK
businesses with finance for green
equipment, such as low energy lighting,
energy-efficient motors, low carbon air
conditioning or biomass heating.
Open to any business, the Carbon
Trust/Siemens Energy Efficient Finance
Scheme aims to match monthly
payments to savings from lower energy
consumption.
The Carbon Trust will assess the likely
carbon, energy and cost savings of any
application for finance and Siemens
Financial Services will manage the
provision of funding. It expects to provide
£550 million between 2011 and 2014.
www.energyefficiencyfinancing.co.uk
This year’s European Paper
Recycling Award winners were:
n alwaste Recycling, a company
P
set up by Stora Enso Barcelona
and engineering firm Alucha to
develop a recycling solution for
‘plastic-aluminium laminates’ used
in drinks cartons;
www.fullcyclepaper.com
n TS for an online NIR
P
measurement system that
improves consistency and economy in de-inking plants
for recycled paper; and
n irmingham City Council and Smurfit Kappa Recycling for
B
increasing the amount of paper recovered from the waste
stream from 750 tonnes when they started working
together in 1993 to 40,000 tonnes per annum today.
www.paperforrecycling.eu www.fullcyclepaper.com
Green roofs save energy
and cash
Office workers break habits of a lifetime as
print volumes plummet
The number of pages printed by UK office workers has dropped by a massive 40%
in the last 12 months, from an average of 10,000 sheets per year to just 6,000
according to the latest annual environmental survey by Kyocera Mita. This is the
first time print volumes have fallen since the survey started in 2007.
Tracey Rawling Church, director of Brand and Reputation at Kyocera Mita, said:
“We’ve been hearing about the paperless office for decades, but this is the first
concrete evidence we’ve seen that shows office-based workers’ love affair with the
printed page is beginning to wane. There is far greater confidence in mobile technology
and electronic information, meaning that there is less demand for the comfort of a
piece of paper.”
Another factor might be a growing trend for automated systems such as mandatory
duplex (up 5% from 2010) and card-controlled access (up 8% from 2010).
www.kyoceramita.co.uk/survey2011
A separate survey by Lexmark has
found that almost three out of four
UK workers (73%) are printing fewer
emails than one year ago and half
(53%) are outputting less general
business and marketing material.
Four out of 10 businesses expect
to reduce expenditure on print by
between 5% and 20% in 2011.
04 sustainabletimes
So says environmental planning consultancy Atmos
Consulting, following its analysis of recent statistics
relating to roofs that are partially or completely covered
in vegetation planted in substrate over a waterproof
membrane.
It found that in addition to their environmental
contribution (e.g. providing habitat for wildlife, absorbing
pollution and reducing the risk of flooding), green roofs can
be expected to last 2.5 to 3.5 times longer than standard
roofs and insulate buildings to prevent heat loss in winter and
heat gain in the summer. According to one study, green roofs
can annually save 2 litres of fuel oil per square metre.
Roofs covered in rolls of sedum are the easiest to install
and maintain, says Atmos. Biodiversity/brown roofs with
flowers, ponds, wildlife towers and even trees have higher
development and maintenance costs and can be very heavy,
placing load-bearing requirements on building structures.
0870 903 9500
5. Office Depot saves paper
with new e-billing system
Office Depot has introduced an e-billing system that is
expected to save a stack of paper as high as 15 doubledecker buses each month. The contract stationer is looking
forward to an 80% reduction in the 3.5 million paper
invoices it sends to its 200,000 UK customers annually.
This is the latest in a series of waste reduction initiatives
introduced by the company globally. In the US, it has started
delivering office supplies in paper bags rather than cardboard
boxes padded with plastic pillows.
Over the next 12 months, the opt-in GreenerOffice
Delivery Service is expected to replace five million cardboard
boxes weighing 4.5 million pounds with about 0.9 million
pounds of paper. Office Depot claims that wood-based
resources saved are the equivalent of over 20,000 trees.
Juan Guerrero, Senior Vice President of Supply Chain for
Office Depot, said: “Customer feedback on our new delivery
service has been exceptional. Many customers were excited by
the convenience the program offers – no boxes to open, no air
pillows to deal with and no cardboard to dispose of.”
A spokesman for Office Depot in the UK said that there
were no plans to extend the scheme over here, but that the
company was considering the use of returnable tote boxes
for deliveries. It already uses Cargocycles for central London
deliveries, cutting its vehicle emissions in the area by 80%.
www.officedepot.co.uk
Neopost has introduced
an ‘eco’ signature to
highlight the steps
it has taken to make
its products more
sustainable and to draw customers’ attention to products
that exceed market standards for energy-efficiency and
CO2 emissions. By adopting an eco-design approach,
Neopost has slashed the amount of materials used to
make its Energy Star-certified mailing products by 44%.
Packaging has been reduced by 7% and is now 100%
cardboard. In addition, Neopost runs a free cartridge
recycling service and has raised the recyclability of
machines to an average of 78%. Energy-efficiency has
been enhanced with a sleep mode that cuts energy
consumption by up to 50%. www.neopost.co.uk
Data security and cost concerns are the
main obstacles to the greater re-use of
IT equipment, according to a study of
100 enterprises with more than 1000
employees by Vanson Bourne for IT re-use
charity Computer Aid International.
Only 14% of companies followed best practice by
sending all working computers for re-use and recycling
the remainder.
Of those that don’t send PCs for re-use, 63% cited
data protection concerns as a reason; 53% stated cost; and
24% suggested that contractual obligations to a leasing
company prevented them from doing so.
More than four out of 10 respondents (83%) said they
would re-use working equipment if factors such as data
protection and cost were addressed.
This represents a lost opportunity as PC turnover
remains high, with UK organisations on average replacing
base units every 3.7 years and monitors every 4 years.
www.computeraid.org
www.binfo.co.uk
New bridge a load
of old rubbish
The first recycled thermoplastic road
bridge outside the USA has been built
by Welsh company Vertech Limited
across the River Tweed at Easter
Dawyck in Peeblesshire. Forming part
of the John Buchan Way, the 90-foot
road bridge is made from 50 tonnes of
waste plastic that won’t rust; requires
no painting or regular maintenance;
and is 100% recyclable.
The project was undertaken in
partnership with Dawyck Estates,
specialist bridge designer Cass Hayward
LLP, Cardiff University’s School of
Engineering, Rutgers University’s AAMIPP
Department and Axion International,
with support from the Welsh Assembly
Government.
In 2012, Vertech plans to open a
manufacturing facility in North Wales
where it will make thermoplastic
composite materials that can be used by
the European construction sector instead
of plywood, MDF and laminates.
www.vertechcomposites.co.uk
CPD launches green
alternative to PET
and PLA
A new plant-based polymer that
requires less energy to produce and is
claimed to compost within weeks has
been developed by CPD, a supplier of
cleaning and hygiene products, and the
University of Sheffield.
Floreon is claimed to have a number
of advantages over PET petroleum-based
plastics and conventional bio-based PLA
plastics:
l t requires 62% less energy to make
i
than rival products that need to be
heated to 280-300 degrees centigrade
during manufacturing;
l ver 90% of Floreon comes from plant
o
materials with a patented PLA blend
made from 100% renewable corn;
l LA is a better recycled material than
P
PET as quality does not decline during
recycling enabling it to be recycled into
virgin plastic; and
l loreon biodegrades within just weeks,
F
even in home composting – not
just into very fine particles, but into
chemicals that exist in soil and can be
broken down by bacteria.
The first product to be made from
Floreon is a prototype water bottle
created by Sebastian Conran Associates
(SCA). Floreon bottles are claimed to be
tougher, easier to process and slightly
more heat resistant than those made
from conventional PLA.
www.cpd-plc.co.uk
Streamlined
deliveries
The Premier Paper Group has taken
delivery of its first pair of aerodynamically
designed ‘curving body’ trucks as part
of its commitment to reduce costs and
environmental impact. The 12 tonne DAF
LFs, supplied by Ryders, are fitted with
Bevan 21 bodies and are expected to
reduce fuel consumption by around 10%
with a corresponding reduction in carbon
emissions. Premier Paper expects to add
more of the trucks as older vehicles in its
96-strong fleet are replaced.
Editor’s Choice Award
Sustainable
Floreon
greenAgenda…
sustainabletimes 05
6. greenAgenda
Carbon Trust to provide independent verification of
carbon footprints
The Carbon Trust has launched a new service to
provide organisations with independent verification
that their corporate carbon footprints are accurate
and compliant with the GHG Protocol and Carbon
Disclosure Project (CDP).
The Footprint Verification service will help
organisations meet growing demand for robust carbon
emissions data in CSR annual reports and support the
disclosure of emissions to third party stakeholders, such
as shareholders and investors.
Harry Morrison, Director of Carbon Trust
Certification, said: “With the prospect of mandatory
carbon reporting on the horizon and increasing
pressure from shareholders for carbon disclosure, more
companies and organisations are seeking independent
assurance that their carbon footprint has been measured
robustly and accurately.”
He added: “The business case for measuring and
reducing carbon emissions stretches beyond internal
cost efficiency and improving environmental reputation.
Effective carbon management also offers significant
rewards for businesses seeking to secure their places on
enterprise supply chains, which nowadays increasingly
look to their suppliers to play an active role in cutting
emissions.”
Recent research by the Carbon Trust found that
50% of multinationals expect to select their suppliers
based upon carbon performance and that 58% of
multinationals will in the future pay a premium for low
carbon suppliers to reduce their overall corporate carbon
footprints.
The Footprint Verification service is a two-stage
process, consisting of a gap analysis to identify any
omissions or discrepancies in footprint data that need to
be rectified, and then full verification of corrected data.
In addition to verification services, the Carbon
Trust carries out the carbon footprinting of products
and services in compliance with PAS 2050 and the
international GHG Protocol Product Lifecycle Standard
developed by the World Resources Institute (WRI) and
World Business Council for Sustainable Development
(WBCSD).
Since 2008, the Carbon Trust has calculated the
carbon footprint of 5,000 products and services
including Walkers Crisps, Kingsmill and Silver Spoon.
www.carbontrustcertification.com
A smart choice
The Carbon Trust has launched
a new business to help UK
companies reduce their energy
costs and install greener, more
efficient technology. Carbon
Trust Implementation services
aims to provide UK companies
with objective advice on energy
efficiency and renewable energy
technologies; access to accredited
suppliers to deliver the work; and
help planning funding for projects.
The service is funded by a flat rate
commission from suppliers and is
free to customers.
www.carbontrust.co.uk/
implementation
Cover for green energy
Interxion, a provider of
carrier-neutral co-location
data centre services, has
announced that its data
centre on London’s Brick
Lane has signed up for
100% renewable energy
from SmartestEnergy, the
UK’s leading purchaser
and supplier of independently generated electricity. SmartestEnergy
sources all its power from 500 independent power producers, generating
electricity from wind, hydro and biomass, in addition to Good Quality
CHP (Combined Heat and Power). It currently purchases more than 10%
of all renewable electricity generated in the UK. www.interxion.com
The Footprint Verification logo is a
sign that an organisation’s carbon
footprint is accurate
Eco insurance provider Naturesave
has launched a new insurance
policy covering renewable energy
installations for schools, small
businesses and community
organisations. The Small Scale
Renewable Energy Scheme for solar
PV, wind and hydro turbines up to
750kw provides cover for equipment
and guaranteed protection for the
revenues they earn in the event of
mechanical breakdown or material
damage, as well as public liability.
www.naturesave.co.uk/
IN BRIEF
Dr Martin Blake, who as Head of Sustainability at the UK Royal Mail Group led a successful carbon reduction
strategy that cut Royal Mail’s annual energy bill by more than £30 million, has set up a new consultancy
specialising in corporate energy efficiency programmes. Carbon Zero Solutions (CZS) aims to reduce
customers’ electricity bills by 20-30%. www.carbonzerosolutions.com
Turning down workplace heating by just one degree could save over £35m a year in unnecessary energy bills.
This is just one of the energy-saving tips included in two Carbon Trust guides designed to help UK businesses
make a 30% reduction in the £450 million spent on heating workplaces. The Heating, ventilation and air
conditioning and Heating control guides can be downloaded from
www.carbontrust.co.uk/expertinenergy
Four former blue-chip CEOs and FTSE Directors with over 100 years’ experience in renewable energy have
formed a consultancy to advise individuals and businesses on product choices, system design, installation
and financing. EC Energy Solutions (ECES) can advise on all aspects of renewable energy, from basic
insulation to the installation of Solar PV or the incorporation of air-to-air or geothermal technology into a
heating and hot water system. www.ecenergysolutionsgroup.co.uk
06 sustainabletimes
BSI revises PAS 2050
The British Standards Institution (BSI)
has issued a revision to PAS 2050, a
standard used to calculate the carbon
footprint of goods and services.
The revision aligns PAS 2050’s
methodology with footprint methods
being developed overseas and was
developed in consultation with
international stakeholders, such as
The World Resources Institute/
The World Business Council for
Sustainable Development (WRI/
WBCSD), ISO and the European
Commission. Since it was introduced
in October 2008, PAS 2050 has been
downloaded more than 35,000 times.
www.bsigroup.com/PAS2050
0870 903 9500
7. APPEAL TO THE ECONOMIST AND THE
ECOLOGIST IN YOU
More efficient printing and copying can significantly reduce the use of
energy, paper and consumables, delivering real cost savings as well as
helping you hit your emissions reduction targets.
Find out more on 08457 103 104.
KYOCERA. COUNT ON US.
KYOCERA MITA UK Ltd – Phone: 08457 103 104 – www.kyoceramita.co.uk
8. greenAgenda
Green bottles break the mould
Following the successful trial of its
paper milk bottles in Asda stores
in the South-West of England,
GreenBottle is expanding its range
with the introduction of a paper
wine bottle that it is marketing to
supermarkets and wine producers.
The prototype is designed along
the same lines as the company’s milk
bottles i.e. with a tough paper casing
around a thin plastic bag containing
the liquid. When the bottle is empty,
the user tears off the paper for
composting or recycling and puts the
plastic bag in the household rubbish
or plastic recycling stream.
Green bottle inventor Martin
Myerscough says that a GreenBottle
uses less than one third of the plastic
of a conventional plastic milk bottle
and has just one tenth of the carbon
footprint of a glass wine bottle.
Myerscough adds that the results
of Asda’s six month trial indicate that
consumers understand the concept:
sales of milk sold in GreenBottles
more than tripled compared to
sales in conventional plastic bottles;
and 80% of consumers who tried
GreenBottles said they prefer them to
plastic ones.
GreenBottle, which sold its
100,000th paper milk bottle last
month, is close to unveiling new
machinery that will enable it to
create GreenBottles more cheaply
and in industrial quantities.
www.greenbottle.com
BT gets smart with its energy
consumption
BT aims to shave £13 million a year
off its energy bills and reduce its
carbon footprint by 5% or 60,000
tonnes by introducing a smart
energy management system across
its offices, telephone exchanges and
data centres.
In the 2010/11 financial year, BT
used 2,342GWh of energy running its
UK networks, data centres and offices,
equivalent to 0.7% of all the electricity
consumed in the UK.
BT is currently installing more
than 22,000 smart energy meters,
more than 1,500 building energy
management systems and an advanced
control network over broadband that
will enable it to monitor and control
more than 90% of its UK energy
consumption.
The integrated energy management
system will receive data from smart
meters, invoices and building energy
management and control systems,
enabling BT to monitor energy use and
identify where savings can be made.
For example, benchmarking Power
Usage Effectiveness (PUE) across BT
buildings will help BT identify the best
and worst performing locations and
implement actions to improve energy
efficiency.
In 2012, BT plans to implement
similar energy management systems
globally. BT has a commitment to
reduce its carbon intensity by 80%
by 2020 (compared to 1997 levels)
and to generate 25% of its UK energy
needs from renewable energy sources
by 2016.
CCS Director Peter Knapp with senior support engineer
Giles Falkingham and technical sales manager Nick Ryder.
Natural cooling
Internet service provider CCS has installed an
Eco Cooling air conditioning system as part of
a £150,000 investment in its new 4,800 server
capacity datacentre in Leeds. The air conditioning
system, part-funded with a £36,000 grant from
the Carbon Trust, harnesses the natural process of
evaporation and, unlike traditional air conditioning
systems, uses clean fresh air, which allows odours
and bacteria to be expelled naturally. In operation,
the coolers use just 240v of electricity, the same as
a domestic electric fire.
IN BRIEF
Saved by the cloud
Large UK companies that use cloud computing could, by
2020, achieve annual energy savings of £1.2 billion and
carbon reductions of 9.2 metric tons, equivalent to the
emissions of over 4 million passenger vehicles, the Carbon
Disclosure Project (CDP) claims. New analysis included as an
addendum to the report Cloud Computing: The IT Solution for
the 21st Century shows that if large UK companies accelerate
adoption of cloud computing from 10% to 70% of IT spend
by 2020, as forecast, they could reduce CO2 emissions
associated with their IT estate by 50%. The claim is based
on an analysis of 457 UK firms with revenues greater than
$1billion by Verdantix. www.cdproject.net
HP on top
HP tops the rankings in the latest Greenpeace Guide to
Greener Electronics, which rates 15 consumer electronic
companies across three areas: Energy, Greener Products and
Sustainable Operations. The 17th edition of the guide includes
new assessment criteria relating to renewable energy use;
supply chain carbon footprints; product lifecycle; conflict
minerals; and the sourcing of paper.
www.greenpeace.org/rankingguide
Waging war on pixels
BT consumes 0.7% of all the UK’s electricity
08 sustainabletimes
PretonSaver, which like Tonermiser (see page 20) can reduce
a printer’s use of toner by up to 50%, is being deployed
by Korea’s Hana Bank to cut annual consumables costs by
25%. The bank is deploying the Enterprise version in its
Seoul headquarters and more than 600 branches to control
the printing of customer transactions, external reports and
internal reference material. PretonSaver uses Preton’s Pixel
Optimizer technology to remove unnecessary pixels without
impacting print quality and configurable print rules and
policies to reduce paper consumption. www.preton.com
0870 903 9500
9. Under a cloud
Google datacentres may consume huge amounts of
power, but cloud computing is still a greener option
Huge increases in energy consumption
mean that global internet and social
networking firms need to adopt a
more strategic approach to energy
and carbon management, Verdantix
claims in a new report Carbon
Strategy Benchmark: Internet Sector
According to the US EPA, datacentre
energy consumption doubled between
2000 and 2006, and could have
doubled again by the end of 2011. The
Department of Energy estimates that
datacentres now consume as much as
3% of total US electricity.
Verdantix argues that a more
strategic approach is needed to tackle
challenges such as rising energy spend
caused by exploding datacentre use;
the impact of energy price volatility
on financial results; the likelihood of
mandatory carbon reporting; and public
criticism of sustainability commitments
by groups such as Greenpeace (see box)
and the Beijing-based Institute of Public
and Environmental Affairs.
Janet Lin, Verdantix Senior Manager in
New York, said: “To remain competitive,
the world’s largest internet and social
networking firms need to keep energy
costs under control and protect
the brand with transparent carbon
communications.
“Given their stellar growth rates, the
14 firms in this study cannot deliver
absolute reductions in carbon emissions
through energy efficiency. Instead
they should track performance against
intensity metrics such as Carbon Usage
Effectiveness in datacentres. Risks from
ignoring energy and carbon management
will grow over time – not shrink.”
The world’s largest
The report assesses the energy strategies
of the world’s 14 largest internet and
social networking firms including Akamai,
Amazon, Apple, eBay, Expedia, Facebook,
Google, Netflix, Priceline, Salesforce,
Yahoo! and Chinese players Alibaba,
Baidu and Tencent.
It identifies Akamai, Apple and
eBay as leaders in energy efficiency
enhancements and disclosure of carbon
emissions, but states that positive steps
are being made by Salesforce, which has
publicised GHG reductions from cloud
services, and Google, which recently
disclosed its carbon footprint.
www.binfo.co.uk
“
Google has
been carbon
neutral since
2007 and is
continuing to
increase the
proportion
of renewable
energy in its
grid...
Overall, the study exposes a
widespread lack of transparency in
the sector: just four firms – Akamai,
Apple, eBay and Google – disclose
GHG emissions from their datacentres
on a global basis; and none invest
in assurance from a recognised,
independent verifier of GHG emissions
data such as DNV, KPMG or PwC.
Clearly more efficient
Google, which recently disclosed the
energy consumption of its datacentres
for the first time, says that the massive
amount of energy used to power its
datacentres should not obscure the
improvements being made in efficiency
and the sourcing of clean energy: Google
has been carbon neutral since 2007 and
is continuing to increase the proportion
of renewable energy in its grid from 19%
in 2010 to a target of more than 35%.
More important than the overall
energy consumption figure, it says, is the
fact that in delivering all its services, the
company’s servers consume less energy,
per user, per month than leaving a light
on for 3 hours.
Google adds that the cloud services
it offers enable customers to reduce
their own energy consumption and
greenhouse gas emissions.
It recently compared the carbon
footprint of its Gmail cloud-based
email service with that of a locally
hosted email system in a
small business with 50
employees. The analysis
revealed an annual power
consumption per Gmail
user of 0.25W, working out
at 1.2kg of CO2 emissions
per user, per year. The
respective figures for a small
business with its own email
server are 30W and 103kg.
Earlier this year, Salesforce.com
released a study by WSP Environment
Energy showing that users of its
cloud computing services emit 95%
less carbon than companies running
equivalent software in on-premise
applications servers. It also concluded
that massively scalable, multi-tenant
cloud platforms are on average 64%
more carbon-efficient than ‘private
clouds’ typically run out of third-party
datacentres.
For Costas Galonis, chief technology
officer of Cirrus Stratus, this and not the
massive energy footprint of datacentres
is the real point.
“The sheer scale of Google – which
hit a million servers back in 2007 and
is currently fêted for processing around
24 petabytes of data every single
day – is beyond most IT manager’s
comprehension, as it is mine, but the
reality for Google and any organisation
that uses cloud computing resources is
that it both saves money and reduces
that organisation’s energy footprint,”
he said.
“Cloud computing offers
businesses and squeezed public sector
organisations, not just a number of
key advantages over conventional data
centres and allied IT storage platforms,
but a fundamentally greener, planetfriendly agenda.”
www.verdantix.com
www.salesforce.com/sustainability
Dirty data
In April Greenpeace released a report, How Dirty is Your Data?, in which it
criticised leading IT companies for failing to disclose their energy use and carbon
footprint; for being over-reliant on coal power; and for failing to consider the
availability of renewable power when choosing the location of its datacentres.
It identified Yahoo! and Google as leaders in these areas, pointing out that
Yahoo! had sited near sources of renewable energy and that Google is directly
purchasing clean power. Facebook was criticised for being excessively reliant on
coal power.
Following the publication of its report, Greenpeace started a campaign to
make Facebook ‘unfriend coal’ and embrace renewable power.
Since then, Facebook has announced that it is to build a new datacentre on a five-acre site in Luleå,
Sweden, with the option to source 100% of its electricity from renewable sources.
www.greenpeace.org/coolit
sustainabletimes 09
11. Sustainable printing
It has been well documented
that office technology
products have an
environmental footprint
and are the most visible
users of energy in the office
environment; for Toshiba,
offsetting this impact is high
on the business agenda.
Sustainability is tightly embedded
within all Toshiba manufacturing
processes and the environmental
impact of the design and manufacture
of its printer and multifunctional
products has greatly reduced in recent
years. Toshiba products are made in an
ISO14001 facility using the very latest
resource recovery techniques and all
exceed compliance criteria by design.
But research proves that the bulk of
the ‘damage’ is done while the device is
in use, so Toshiba actively works with its
customers to further reduce the carbon
footprint. This commitment extends
beyond the use of software and other
innovative techniques designed to help
customers reduce the impact of their
printing and copying. In 2009, Toshiba
introduced a pioneering initiative – the
Carbon Zero scheme.
The Carbon Zero scheme was initially
launched in the UK and Eire markets and
was expanded to cover most of Western
Europe by April 2010.
Separately, Toshiba assessed the
lifetime environmental impact of its
products in terms of carbon emissions.
The calculation covers all associated
emissions including procurement,
manufacturing and logistics to create
a definitive carbon footprint for each
device.
While there is no agreed international
standard for measuring the carbon
footprint of an MFP, the Toshiba
methodology works because the
data calculations used are based on
independent analysis which is in turn
independently audited by internationally
accredited organisations, ensuring that
the offset is total.
Carbon zero printing
The carbon footprint of the products is
offset via Gold Standard energy efficient
stove projects based in Sub-Saharan
Africa and Micro Hydro generation
projects in China that take place under
the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS).
Carbon offsetting allows for the
investment in projects that save the
emission of, or absorb, an equivalent
amount of CO2 to that of an MFP’s
footprint. Through this process, the
emissions are balanced to become
carbon zero, which allows for positive
printing and copying, with no negative
effect on the environment.
The African Energy Efficient Stove
project, which is run through the
independent organisation co2balance,
supplies domestic stoves that cut the
use of firewood by more than half. Each
cooker typically prevents three tonnes of
CO2 emissions every year – equivalent
to the emissions produced by an average
UK car doing 9,000 miles a year.
Four thousand Kenyan households
have already switched to this energy
efficient method of cooking thanks to
Toshiba carbon free MFPs and combined
with further innovations in the products
themselves it means that carbon savings
are made in the UK and in Africa
China.
Additional benefits
Crucially, the scheme doesn’t just
benefit the environment; it also helps
reduce the 1.6 million deaths each year
that the World Health Organisation
identifies as associated with smoke
inhalation. In fact, the WHO states that
cooking on an inefficient 3-stone fire is
the equivalent of smoking two packets
WWW.TOSHIBA.COM/DEALERS
THE TOSHIBA CARBON
ZERO SCHEME.
IT’S MORE THAN A GREENER
WAY TO DO BUSINESS.
IT’S A UNIQUE BENEFIT.
WWW.TOSHIBA.CO.UK/IMAGING
of cigarettes a day.
Equally, because the stoves that
Toshiba is funding would otherwise not
be installed, children and young people
who would be out collecting firewood
can now go to school.
The Toshiba Carbon Zero scheme
enables responsible organisations to
improve their sustainable business
practices in a positive way. It helps to
focus customers and employees on
resource management whilst providing
a proactive benefit to people in some of
the world’s least developed countries by
improving their health and welfare.
The scheme is providing tangible
benefits and so far has offset around
106,000 tonnes of CO2e (carbon dioxide
equivalent), as a result of providing
almost 2,000 fuel efficient cooking
stoves to Kenyan households.
The offsetting process enshrined
within Carbon Zero is provided to
customers free of charge. Toshiba
has absorbed the cost of the scheme
to demonstrate its commitment to
sustainability but also to ensure the
widest possible buy in from its clients.
www.toshiba.co.uk/imaging
The African Energy Efficient stoves
typically prevent three tonnes of CO2
emissions every year.
www.binfo.co.uk
sustainabletimes 11
12. Going green
is good
for business
Here, Jeremy Spencer,
Marketing Manager
Toshiba, answers
readers’ questions
around the latest green
innovations in office
equipment.
In the UK around 20,000 organisations from both the private
and public sectors are affected by government initiatives to
reduce carbon emissions and global warming such as the EU
Emissions Trading Scheme and the more recent Carbon Reduction
Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme (CRC).
Businesses want to deal with other businesses that maintain a high ethical
stance. As an example, the Co-Op has made a commitment to render its
operations carbon neutral by offsetting its carbon through a programme of
international projects. It is likely that organisations such as these will demand
a similarly responsible stance from their suppliers.
Q. hat are the latest trends and
W
innovations in green machines?
A. manufacturers are reducing power
All
consumption of their machines,
particularly when they are in sleep
mode. Some machines use as little as
1 Watt when in sleep mode. The use
of LED lamps instead of fluorescent
tubes is also a big breakthrough.
And there have also been some big
changes to machines’ paper drives
so that they can now more easily
handle recycled paper which, until
recently, was a problem for most
manufacturers.
Q. hat green credentials or
W
accreditations should I look out
for?
A. primary one is Energy Star. This
The
is the main accreditation in Europe
and USA and encompasses all the
best standards. Its strength is that it’s
not a static standard – it is revised
every 12-18 months and raises the
conformance levels continuously,
so in order to achieve the standard,
manufacturers are forced to innovate.
Q. ren’t green machines more
A
expensive?
A.
Independent research suggests that
70 per cent of people, when offered
a green alternative, will always take
it – providing the price differential
isn’t too large. It’s also a question of
responsibility – businesses generally
want to be able to demonstrate that
they are taking a responsible, green
approach. In the main, if prices are at
a sensible level and the green figures
substantiated, it’s a win-win option.
12 sustainabletimes
Q. hat are the latest working
W
methods that are encouraging
green use of machines – such as
powersave, cloud systems or other
working practices?
A.
Powersave is fine as long as machines
warm up quickly, otherwise people
will just turn that facility off.
However, new fusing technology
development has meant this is now
possible. Double sided printing is an
obvious answer. The tendency where
possible is more to read on screen
nowadays, rather than print out, and
many organisations are optimising
their web content so it is easier to
understand the content rather than
producing hardcopy. However, we
do appreciate that a lot of people
still like to print information out,
so in that case we would always
recommend double sided printing.
Q. ow can the use of consumables
H
or accessories improve the ecofunctions of equipment?
A. using non-manufacturers toner, the
If
machines will need to be serviced
more often, without a doubt, and are
likely to become more unreliable, so
more visits from the service engineer
(adding to your carbon footprint),
and it will become more expensive
to run. These ‘bad’ toners also require
more heat in order to fuse correctly
onto the page, so the machine
will have to operate at a higher
temperature.
In terms of accessories, duplex is
a must. In addition, having a quality
scan function allows organisations
to distribute more electronic
documents, again reducing the
number of printed pages. This
has a significant impact as almost
50 per cent of a document’s carbon
footprint comes from the paper,
recycled or not.
www.toshiba.co.uk/imaging
0870 903 9500
14. Order something a bit
for all the different
Tetley Decaf
Following a more health-conscious
lifestyle? Cut out the caffeine without
compromising on the taste.
Tetley Redbush
Naturally caffeine-free and as
thirst-quenchingly hydrating as
water, served with or without milk!
Tetley Green Tea with Lemon
Delicate green tea with the zesty freshness
of lemons in a blend that will make the
whole office sparkle.
Add a selection of Tetley tea to
your colleagues topped up with all the
Want to know where you can buy Tetley for your office?
www.tetley.co.uk
15. different from Tetley
folk in your office!
Tetley Fruit Herbal Teas
Our Starter Pack is a great way to
introduce your office to Tetley’s
delicious Fruit Herbal infusions.
Tetley 100s Non-Drip
Drawstring 250s Envelopes
One Cup Tea Bags
Tetley On The Go 300s Case
300 insulated cups, lids and tea bags
mean no spills, no washing up and a
cuppa that stays hot on your desk!
Our traditional black tea is bursting
with that great Tetley flavour!
Available in handy 100s Drawstring
and 250s Envelope packs.
every stationery order, and keep
flavours of the Nation’s Favourite brew!
Just email heather.griifith@tataglobalbeverages.com
That’s better. That’s Tetley.
That’s better. That’s Tetley.
17. Protection for your world
Although consumer video and audio tapes
increasingly seem like relics of a bygone
age, for businesses, tape storage is going
from strength to strength. What’s more,
HP LTO Ultrium Eco Cases keep vital
business data safe whilst reducing the
environmental impact of packaging.
Data growth is outpacing storage
capacity and companies of all
sizes are constantly challenged to
manage this growth in the most
cost-effective and environmentally
sensitive manner.
This is why tape retains a vital
role in HP’s storage portfolio. It
complements the faster read/write
performance of disk solutions with
numerous strengths of its own: low
TCO, huge capacity, minimal energy
and power costs, offline protection
from viruses and hacking and a 30-year
archival life for record retention.
In the second quarter of 2011, the
capacity of new cartridge shipments
was an astonishing 4,235 petabytes.1
To put this into perspective, that’s the
equivalent of 217 billion trees made
into paper and printed.2 Or, if you
want truly mind boggling, 1 quadrillion
pieces of paper printed double sided.3
In a stack 43 million miles high. And
this is just in one single quarter!
Clearly, the number of tape
cartridges needed to generate these
statistics will be a substantial figure
in its own right. Overall, the global
tape industry ships around 20 million
LTO Ultrium tape cartridges a year.
Traditionally, these have always been
shipped in polypropylene (PP) cases
to protect the cartridge in transit
and to enable it to remain free of
contaminants, even when stored for
long periods of time. But as Andrew
Dodd, Product Marketing Manager for
HP’s Storage Media business group
points out; this is a challenge when
looking at greener alternatives to
plastic cases.
“In lots of other industries,
companies are making great progress in
reducing the environmental footprint of
their packaging materials. For the tape
media business, this has historically
been regarded as more difficult because
the tape container is not just a brand
platform, it’s an integral part of keeping
the cartridge safe and secure once data
has been stored upon it.”
www.binfo.co.uk
“
The ECO case
reduces oil
consumption
by two thirds
So whilst the tape itself might be
relatively inexpensive, the mission
critical data it holds is exponentially
more valuable.
“Clearly, when you are shipping six
million plastic tape boxes a year, you
have to consider the environmental
footprint of that activity”, explains
Dodd. “But although tape itself is a
green storage technology, we realised
that customers would only support
sustainable packaging for the tape
cartridges if they believed that their
data would remain secure. Any
alternative had to be as good as the
traditional PP case.”
The LTO Ultrium Eco Case storage
media is HP’s answer to this challenge.
It’s made from 100% recycled pulp
to create a box that is lightweight yet
rigid and protects the cartridge from
shock, vibration and contamination
from dust or debris. The Eco Case is
bleach and chemical free and fully
biodegradable. Even the information
on the case is printed using organic
soya ink. When compared to the PP
container, the Eco Case reduces oil
consumption by two thirds and carbon
dioxide emissions by a half during the
manufacturing process.
“We’ve calculated that each LTO
Ultrium cartridge case made from
polypropylene uses approximately
one kilogram of oil to manufacture,”
says Andrew Dodd. “For our larger
customers, purchasing 1,000 cartridges
in Eco Cases would save enough oil
to drive a 1.1 litre diesel powered car
about 4,800 miles.4”
Crucially, however, the Eco Case
does not compromise protection
from shock, vibration and debris
contamination when compared to the
plastic case. Users will never put their
data at risk by using an Eco Case to
store and archive their data cartridge.
So job done? Well not quite yet.
“Whilst it would nice to have Eco
Case as the default for all our HP LTO
Ultrium tape shipments, the reality
is that customers are very risk-averse
when it comes to their data. We’ve
had a very positive response from our
resellers and the customers who have
migrated to Eco Case and hopefully,
as people become more aware of the
benefits of Eco Case, the product will
ship in greater and greater volumes.”
And he concludes with one final
statistic. So far in 2011, the capacity
on the tapes shipped inside the new
Eco Case is the equivalent of about a
month of output from the BBC’s iPlayer
service. Like a certain popular soap
drama, HP is hoping that the Eco Case
is a story that will run and run.
To find out more about Eco Case,
please go to www.hp.com/uk/ecocase.
To download a limited edition
Eco Case poster and fact sheet, please
go to http://www.hpstoragemedia.com/
EcoCasePoster/.
Sources:
1. Santa Clara Consulting Group, Quarterly Backup
Tracker Q2 CY11
2. University of California at Berkeley, School of
Information Management and Systems
3. US Federal Bureau of Investigation
4. Hewlett-Packard
sustainabletimes 17
18. Energy Saving is for Life,
Not Just for Christmas
Ian Penfold explains how low-e window film
brings year-round savings in energy costs.
For many UK businesses, the ENDS
Sustainable Business 2011 report
makes for uncomfortable reading.
Amid findings that carbon emissions,
energy intensity and electricity
have all increased over the last
twelve months, the report concludes
that UK business is ‘nowhere near’
its target of an 80% reduction in
greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
Judging by practises currently
exhibited by companies across the
country, this is not a surprising find.
It was revealed earlier this year that
businesses seem to be significantly
underestimating the financial benefit of
saving energy. This helps to explain why
the Carbon Trust found UK businesses
are still wasting an astonishing £1.6
billion a year on energy bills.
The energy consumed by UK
businesses contributes around 38% of
the country’s total carbon emissions,
and with better business practices a
large chunk of this could be avoided. In
a time of slow economic growth, these
savings would be a major step towards
businesses becoming more efficient,
more productive and more profitable.
So why does energy efficiency
remain such a low priority for so many
organisations? In many cases, changing
the attitudes and behaviour of staff is
seen as too costly, too time consuming
or too difficult. But the advice being
given on the most appropriate and
cost-efficient steps to take also needs
to be called into question. At this time
of year, most of that advice surrounds
the topic of insulation.
The Hot Topic
With winter looming, conserving heat
should be high on the agenda for UK
businesses. But surprisingly, despite a
wave of government-backed schemes
including the Renewable Heat Initiative
and the Green Deal, there remains
no funding incentive for companies
looking to invest in insulation
measures. Any organisation that truly
sets energy efficiency as a priority will
have to bite the bullet and cover the
costs themselves.
18 sustainabletimes
Whilst cavity wall insulation is a
positive step to take, and helps to
prevent heat loss to a certain extent,
businesses appear to be ignoring
another surface that takes up a
huge percentage of their wall space:
windows.
The outside walls of an office
often consist more of glass windows
than they do anything else. This fact
becomes important when the relative
U value of each surface is taken into
account.
U-Value? U-what?
The U-value of a material defines the
level of heat that can be transmitted
through it. In other words, the higher
the U-value, the more affected your
building will be by changes in the
weather. In most buildings, you only
have to reach out and touch the
surface of your windows to know that
an untreated glass surface has a far
higher U-value than an un-insulated
wall. Therefore in terms of insulation,
windows should be seen as the number
one priority for energy-conscious
companies this winter.
The most logical step, many believe,
is to install low-emissivity (low-e)
glazing. By absorbing a significant
amount of energy created by heating
“
Why does
energy efficiency
remain such
a low priority
for so many
organisations?
systems inside the building, low-e
glazing is extremely effective at
preventing heat loss and keeping
energy bills down as a result. However,
low-e glazing requires a set of new
windows to be installed, a very
expensive and un-environmental
investment that will make a significant
impact on financial and energy ROI.
Fortunately, it isn’t the only option
that facilities managers can choose
from. A new product has emerged onto
the market that gives existing windows
a superior performance to low-e
glazing, and at a fraction of the cost
of replacement windows. Yet despite
the major difference it can make to
business energy performance, low-e
window film may currently mean very
little to you.
Savings All Year Round
Window film is a retrofit product so
can be applied to existing windows.
This eliminates the need for a ‘rip
and replace’ upgrade that requires
old windows to be thrown away,
contributing to landfill and harming
your company’s environmental
responsibility. This is not just an easier
option; it’s also around 80% cheaper,
and by reflecting 63% of interior
heat back into the room, there’s no
compromise on performance either.
Additionally, with window film the
promise of energy saving extends
beyond the winter months, allowing
for reduced consumption when the sun
comes out, too.
Unlike most low-e glazing, low-e
window film is able to keep the office
warm in the winter and also cool in
the summer. By blocking a significant
amount of solar heat from entering
the building when temperatures are
high, interiors remain at a stable
temperature and the need for air
conditioning is reduced. Coupled with
its insulation benefits, the result is year
round comfort and a greatly reduced
energy burden no matter what season
it is. This can only be positive news for
a business’ efficiency targets and, more
importantly, its bottom line.
For businesses that are jaded with
the mainstream energy-saving options
currently being made available to
them, it’s time to bring lesser-known
alternatives out from the cold, and
start turning our carbon emissions
targets into reality.
Ian Penfold is Architectural Manager
at Solar Gard UK. 01905 640 400
uksales@saint-gobain.com
www.solargard.co.uk
0870 903 9500
19. Lighter weight,
more eco-efficient.
Discovery: another perspective on looking after the environment. We take a low
grammage paper made from a high quality, high bulking wood (Eucalyptus globulus),
made in Europe’s most modern equipment, and you get a paper using up to 37%
less wood and producing up to 13% less waste. Not to mention jam-free performance.
Discovery – the real eco-efficient paper.
New
packaging
Satisfaction
guaranteed.
Europe’s best selling 75g.m-2 paper
discovery-paper.com
Spicers Show 7/8 December (Everything for the Office Show: EFTOS) voucher promotion and free paper for the first 15 visitors to the stand on each show day.
20. what’s new...
Greener deliveries
News that Amazon is planning to
establish locker banks in major
shopping centres comes as no
surprise to logistics company
ByBox. It pioneered the deliveryto-locker concept in the UK more
than a decade ago, initially for field
service customers and then in 2009
for consumers, with the launch of
myByBox. Its network of 18,000 drop
boxes in 1,350 locations across the
UK overcomes the hit and miss nature
of conventional home deliveries, by
enabling deliveries to be made at any
time of day or night to a ByBox locker
nominated by the customer. The
ability to consolidate deliveries into
single drop-points is claimed to result
in an average of 0.1 miles driven per
delivery compared to 0.5 miles with a
conventional model.
www.bybox.com
Editor’s Choice Award
Sustainable
TONERmiser
Less is more
TONERmiser from NewField IT is
a great way to make your printer
consumables last longer and in
doing so significantly reduce
print costs. A more economical
and, NewField would say, better
alternative to printers’ built-in
draft printing modes, it uses
patented technology to preserve
print quality while reducing
the amount of toner used by
as much as 50%. TONERmiser
can be administered centrally
and applied automatically or
it can be selected by the user
on a per job basis, with the
ability to adjust savings via the
TONERmiser slidebar.
www.tonermiser.com
Free water on tap – and online
A campaign to improve access to free drinking water and reduce the public’s
consumption of bottled water has been launched by entrepreneur Guy Jeremiah,
inventor of the Aquatina collapsible pocket water bottle. The Find-a-Fountain
project will record all publicly accessible drinking water fountains via an interactive
website that will allow people to search for their nearest free water supply and
update it with details of unlisted fountains. Maps on the website also include data
provided by tapwater.org, a not-for-profit organisation that shows the location of
indoor taps where you can refill your Aquatina water bottle for free.
www.findafountain.org www.aquatina.com
Past and
present
If you can’t recycle wrapping
paper, what about re-using
it? Just in time for Christmas,
Oxfam has launched an
exclusive new range of memo
pads, notebooks and sketchpads
made from reclaimed wrapping
paper. They cost from £3.99.
www.oxfam.org.uk/shop
20 sustainabletimes
On the move
To mark the launch of its Galaxy Tab 1.0, Samsung UK
commissioned bike manufacturer 14 Bike Co to create
a custom-made road bike with detachable carbon fibre
tablet holder. The hand-built steel frame pedal bike
reflects the Galaxy Tab’s colour scheme with black paint
on one side and white on the other. www.14bikeco.com
0870 903 9500
21. Recycled mouse
The Canon X MARK I MOUSE Slim
combines the functions of a wireless laser
mouse, personal calculator and numeric
keypad for a PC. Environmental credentials
include a smaller body size than its
predecessor, a part-recycled case and auto
power-off after a set period of inactivity.
Printer envy
From PCs to the cloud
Citrix’s new virtual desktop solution, VDI-in-a-Box 5, aims to help
smaller businesses move from the PC to the cloud era by delivering
centrally managed virtual desktops and apps as a service to any user,
on any device, in any location. Purpose-built for SMBs, it has a simple
all-in-one architecture that is claimed to eliminate over 60% of VDI
costs – including management servers and shared storage (SANs)
– by creating a grid of off-the-shelf servers with direct-attached
storage. Citrix VDI-in-a-Box 5 deploys on a single server and includes
everything Windows administrators need to deliver centrallymanaged virtual desktops – for less than the cost of new PCs.
A free trial is available at www.citrix.com/vdi-in-a-box/try-it.
You’ll become the envy of your friends with HP’s stylish
new all-in-one for the home and executive offices. The HP
ENVY 110 e-All-in-One printer features all the flexibility and
convenience you could hope for, including wireless printing
from any device, direct web access, a wide choice of printrelated apps and automatic two-sided printing. It is also one
of very few PVC-free printers on the market, giving it added
appeal for eco-conscious buyers. www.hp.co.uk
Turns print jobs green
If you want to promote responsible printing
without alienating staff, GreenPrint Advisor
from GreenPrint Technologies could be
just what you are looking for. This clever
piece of software redirects print jobs from
inefficient printers to the most economical
ones in as sympathetic and unobtrusive
Kick and ride
SwiftyONE, a folding kick scooter
for adults, could save commuters as
much as £3,000 a year, according to
Manchester-based inventor Jason
Iftakhar who co-designed the scooter
with his wide Camilla.
He said: “If commuters drive and pay
for parking at the train station, they
could be paying around £3 per day to
park their car. That’s £15 per week or
about £3,000 a year. SwiftyONE could
save them this!”
And don’t make the mistake of
thinking that the £450 scooter is
anything like the small, bumpy scooters
beloved by children.
“SwiftyONE has large 16inch
pneumatic wheels, allowing users to
cruise around with ease and at surprising
speed,” explained Jason. “The responsive
steering and low rolling resistance makes
a really fun ride, and the fact that it
www.binfo.co.uk
a fashion as possible. The software
categorises all printers in an organisation
as red, yellow or green. If a user tries to
print to a red or yellow printer when a
green one is available, a message pops up
recommending an alternative device and
the savings that can be made. The user can
then continue or switch printer with just
one click. www.printgreener.com
A great Discovery
can be folded down to take onto any
bus, train and folded flat against a wall
or under your desk, is another winning
feature.”
www.swiftyscooters.com
If you have tried 75 or 70gsm printer paper
in the past and found it lacked thickness,
stiffness and opacity, then you probably didn’t
choose Portucel Soporcel’s FSC-certified
Discovery brand. Launched in 1995, and
now the best-selling 75gsm office paper
in Europe, Discovery offers
better quality than some
80gsm grades thanks to
the short, thick fibres of the
Eucalyptus globulus tree.
Portucel Soporcel claims to
be able to produce 48% more
reams of 75gsm paper from
the same quantity of wood
as a competitor 80gsm paper
– and 58% more reams of
70gsm Discovery.
www.portucelsoporcel.com
sustainabletimes 21
22. Smarter commuting
has a lower carbon footprint, makes
boring solo journeys more sociable
and can even reduce stress.
There are many schemes in the UK.
Find out more at
www.jbgb.com, www.liftshare.com
and www.gocarshare.com.
As the railways become a ‘rich man’s toy’ what are
the alternatives for the hoi polloi
Train travel has boomed, as
commuters have become more ecoconscious and driving more difficult
and expensive. Figures published by
the Association of Train Operating
Companies (ATOC) show that over
the financial year 2010/11 a total of
1.34bn journeys were made on the
railways. Passenger numbers grew
by 4.8% in the first three months of
2011, taking growth over the entire
financial year to 6.6%.
From an environmental perspective,
travelling by train is the next best thing
to walking or cycling, producing 60g of
CO2 emissions per passenger kilometre,
compared to 89g by bus and 133g
for the average car. However, it still
accounts for a tiny proportion of the
daily commute.
Analysis from the Office for
National Statistics shows that outside
London, most people (71%) drive to
work, with 10% walking, 7% catching a
bus, 5% getting a train and 3% cycling.
Within London, 35% of those who work
in London drive, and half of all workers
take public transport: 20% train, 18%
Tube and 12% bus.
The Government’s announcement
that it is changing the formula for
calculating fare increases, from the rate
of inflation according to the Retail Price
Index (RPI) plus 1%, to RPI plus 3%
means that train travel’s share could
become even smaller.
With July’s RPI remaining unchanged
at 5%, season ticket holders are looking
at a hike in fares of 8% in the New
Year. And because this figure only has
to be an average, passengers on some
routes could face even higher increases.
Transport Secretary Philip Hammond
responded by saying that the railways
have become a ‘rich man’s toy’.
If that is the case and train travel
becomes unaffordable what are the
alternatives for those who can’t walk to
work? And what can be done to lessen
the environmental impact of journeys?
The Car
People who revert to car travel can
reduce the financial and environmental
consequences of their decision by being
a bit smarter about their choices:
1. Choose a car with a smaller engine
or lower carbon dioxide emissions,
as these qualify for environmental
discounts on road tax and, in some
cities, on parking permits. Find out
more at www.direct.gov.uk.
2. Drive smarter. The Energy Saving
Trust says that driving more carefully
can cut fuel bills by £250 per driver,
per year and that the first 15,000
drivers to complete its smarter
driving training course achieved
an average 15% reduction in fuel
consumption and CO2 emissions.
Find out more at
www.energysavingtrust.org.uk.
3. Join a car club. Car clubs remove
the need to own a car and replace an
average of 24.5 private cars per club.
Members typically pay an annual
membership fee to an operator who
provides and maintains a fleet of
vehicles in their area, plus a per mile/
per hour usage fee. If you drive less
than 6,000 miles per year, a car club
could save you up to £3,500 a year.
Find out more at
www.carplus.org.uk.
4. Car share. Sharing your car with
one or more passengers has many
benefits: it saves money on petrol,
“
...season ticket
holders are
looking at a
hike in fares
of 8% in the
New Year.
On your bike
Cycling to work is a cheap, green and
healthy alternative to shorter car
journeys, yet only one in every 100
journeys in the UK is by bike, compared
with 27 in the Netherlands and 18
in Germany. Many people are put off
cycling by fear of traffic and a lack of
changing facilities in their workplace,
but attitudes are changing.
1. he Cycle to Work Guarantee
T
Scheme. The Department for
Transport’s voluntary scheme
encourages employers to make their
business more bike-friendly though
the provision of changing facilities,
bike parking spaces and the tax-free
loan of cycles. Find out more at
www.dft.gov.uk,
www.cyclescheme.co.uk,
www.cycletoworkguarantee.org.uk.
2. ike buddies. Conquer your fear
B
and get back into the cycling habit
by finding a bike buddy to share all
or part of your journey. A number
of services exist to match you up
with others going on the same route,
including www.bikebudi.liftshare.com
and www.thecyclingcommuter.com.
Just because you can’t afford to
travel by rail, doesn’t mean you can’t
be green.Today, there are plenty of
alternatives that can save you money
and shrink your carbon footprint.
H2 Bike Run is a new commuter club for people who cycle or run
to work in the West End of London. Located in Dufours Street,
Soho, it provides commuters with bike parking spaces, servicing
and repairs, luxury changing facilities and a gym. It is even open
to users of Boris Bikes, the bike hire scheme operated by TFL,
who can make use of the club’s showers for an introductory price
of £2.50. TfL is aiming to increase the cycling rate in London by
400% by 2025. www.h2bikerun.co.uk
Advice for Business
The National Business Travel Network (NBTN) is a dedicated business-tobusiness network promoting sustainable travel and flexible working. NBTN
enables companies to share best practice and promotes the financial,
environmental and social benefits of reducing the negative impacts of workrelated travel. Its website has loads of guidance, advice and resources for
businesses to download. www.nbtn.org.uk
22 sustainabletimes
0870 903 9500
23. MultiCopy
Great Brand
Great Point of Sale Appeal
Established and instantly recognisable; MultiCopy has an excellent reputation.
The attractive green wrapper of MultiCopy Original is not only
eye catching but clearly communicates a green commitment to
the environment.
Great Range
MultiCopy comes in a wide range of grammages and sizes.
There are also options, in the MultiCopy range, that have been
specifically developed for optimum performance on colour
inkjet and colour laser machines.
Great Paper
MultiCopy deserves its reputation as a reliable paper and runs
through machines effortlessly. When it comes to making great
paper, attention to detail is the key; each sheet of MultiCopy is
precision cut and then vacuum cleaned before being packed.
Great For Frogs
MultiCopy has a great environmental story to tell. Nordic Swan,
EU flower, FSC, ISO14001 and EMAS are the certificates that
are testament to the environmental credentials of MultiCopy.
Now available
in 100 sheet
retail packs !
But the story goes on…
l Carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels used in the manufacture of MultiCopy are 0kg per tonne.
l The energy used to produce MultiCopy is primarily generated from renewable biofuel (waste
products from the mills pulping process)
l Excess heat from the mill is used to heat around 3,000 homes and civic buildings in
surrounding towns.
l All other emissions are kept to the absolute minimum and the process is totally chlorine free (TCF)
Great for the environment – and frogs
To claim your free MultiCopy frog (while stocks
last) and for more information on the MultiCopy
range, environmental details or point of sale
support; please contact us at multi@paper.co.uk
24. Olivetti products deliver
real energy savings and
environmental responsibility
Olivetti has noticed a fundamental shift in
procurement managers’ priorities as businesses
seek to reduce the environmental impact of
their activities. As Olivetti product manager
Wayne Snell says, “The phone calls I receive are
no longer about features and functionality, but
more about energy consumption, noise levels
and our recycling policy.” Here, Wayne explains
how Olivetti has addressed these concerns by
ensuring that its products exceed the highest
standards for energy efficiency.
Energy efficiency is an absolute
requirement for our customers and
a key part of Olivetti’s commitment
to the environment. All Olivetti
products have been specifically
designed to reduce the amount of
energy they use and comply with
leading energy-efficiency standards
including Energy Star.
The Energy Star label was
established in a bid to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions and other
pollutants caused by the inefficient
use of energy and to make it easy for
consumers to identify and purchase
energy efficient products that offer
savings on energy bills without
sacrificing performance, features and
comfort.
Olivetti’s range of Energy Staraccredited colour multifunctional
products (MFPs) offers up to 60 per
cent lower energy consumption than
the benchmark set for their respective
speed class by Energy Star. Over a
five-year period, customers who choose
Olivetti devices over some competitor
models could save several hundred
pounds in energy costs per machine
(dependent on energy supplier and
tariff). In fleet environments, this could
add up to a significant sum indeed!
A reduction in warm-up times and
first print-out times over the last few
years has meant that office products
don’t consume unnecessary electrical
resources while users wait for the
machines to become ready. Typically,
warm-up times have improved from
around eight minutes in 2004, for a
large colour copier, to less than 45
seconds today. First page out times
have fallen from an average of 20
seconds to six seconds or under.
Lower TEC values
Olivetti aims to ensure that every
newly developed Olivetti MFP
doesn’t just comply with the latest
environmental regulations, but exceeds
them.
A good example is the TEC (Typical
Electricity Consumption) value used
for the Energy Star certificate. The TEC
value is measured in KW/h per week
and is based on ‘real-life’ patterns
of copying, printing, scanning and
faxing in a typical office environment,
including fluctuations throughout the
day. This gives a very accurate measure
of a device’s energy consumption.
For instance, the Olivetti d-Color
MF651 has a TEC value of just 7.15,
which is over 70 per cent lower than
the standard average rating of 24KW/h.
This information is available in the
public domain to allow users to make
an informed choice and there are
various software tools available to
calculate the rating of each machine
Innovative technologies
Olivetti machines are also designed to
achieve a quieter working environment
– to be seen and not heard. Many hardworking gears within Olivetti devices
have been replaced by much smoother
running drive belts; and solenoids
within the engines have had dampers
added to cushion their action and
reduce sound emissions when in use.
In addition, the document feeder and
24 sustainabletimes
0870 903 9500
25. via the internet or on CD to reduce
printing; and all models are able
to handle 100 per cent recycled
paper, further reducing a customer’s
environmental footprint without
affecting output quality or warranty.
Today, manufacturers have to
prove their worth in more than output
capability. The environment needs to
be cared for and the responsibility for
that rests with producers. By supplying
products that exceed industry
standards for energy efficiency and
resource utilisation, Olivetti is reducing
our environmental impact and that of
our customers.
www.olivetti.co.uk
finishers for the d-Color MF551 and
d-Color MF651 operate more quietly
than their predecessors.
Olivetti goes a long way to ensuring
our products conform to stringent
environmental directives. In particular,
long-life drums and developers in
copiers and printers are highly reliable
and productive, reducing service
intervals, maintenance costs and user
downtime. Low cost, high yield toner
cartridges deliver more pages for less
money and when the toner runs out
all that needs changing is an easy-toreplace cartridge and not the drum, as
these are now separate units.
Technologies employed to achieve
low energy consumption include the
use of polymerised toner, which has a
considerably lower fusing temperature
when compared to conventional
pulverised toners. As the fusing process
accounts for approximately 60 per
cent of the total power consumption,
the adoption of polymerised toner can
secure considerable energy savings
for the customer. In addition, the
production of the polymerised toner
itself delivers a 40 per cent reduction
in CO2 compared to the former
pulverisation process.
Olivetti’s colour high speed devices
such as the Olivetti d-Color MF451,
d-Color MF551 and d-Color MF651,
also utilise state-of-the-art Induction
Fusing technology which delivers heat
both quickly and efficiently during the
fusing process. Customers who enjoy
the benefits of using induction hobs at
home for their cooking will understand
just how quick and efficient this
technology can be. In fact, these high
speed MFPs are ready for action from
cold in just 45 seconds, and can be
ready to print from sleep mode in just
12 seconds!
www.binfo.co.uk
Power save mode
All Olivetti d-Color MFPs offer
power saving modes to reduce
energy consumption in idle phases.
These modes activate automatically
depending on the time setting
programmed by the customer’s
administrator. The MFP system will
restart automatically from sleep mode
when the user operates a key on the
control panel or a print job is incoming.
To maximise energy savings, incoming
faxes will not restart the machine but
are stored in secured memory until the
machine is restarted by another action.
Low Power and Sleep Mode can also
be controlled by a daily, weekly and
date-based timer. The administrator
can set a start and end time for regular
business days and programme a
machine to shut down completely on
weekends and holidays.
In Sleep Mode, our fastest machine,
the d-Color MF651, draws only 12W
of power.
Environmental care policy
Olivetti applies its environmental care
policy across its entire product range.
All Olivetti products adhere to global
standards of responsible packaging,
which is recycled and recyclable, and
are manufactured according to the ISO
14001 standard.
The latest range of A4 MFPs has
been designed to comply with the new
RoHS regulations. The biggest change
is that cold-cathode fluorescent lights
used for scanning have been replaced
by energy saving LED lights. This has an
impact on a business’ monthly power
bill and contributes to a TEC value
that’s around 8 per cent lower than
previous models.
User documentation for setting
up the machines can be downloaded
Eco-friendly calculators
Olivetti’s eco-friendly range of professional
calculators is available with antiseptic
keypads that help to prevent the spread of
harmful bacteria or micro-organisms to users.
The calculators deliver impressive quality,
performance and reliability levels; improved
energy efficiency; and are made from recycled
and easily recyclable materials. To help save
energy, the calculators automatically switch off
their displays after three minutes of inactivity,
retaining current calculations in their memory.
sustainabletimes 25
26. When it comes to
saving energy,
Olivetti’s d�Color MF
Range is a breath of
fresh air!
Olivetti is able to show its customers real and tangible energy saving benefits due to
innovative technologies, such as polymerised toner, requiring less fusing temperature, and
induction fusing which is both super fast and more energy efficient.
Olivetti’s range of A3 d-Color MF machines undergo stringent environmental tests and have been proven
to use between 50% to 70% less energy than the highly prized Energy Star standard.
In fact, the Olivetti d-Color MF651 uses just 50% of the energy that some of its competitors do, for
printing the same weekly volume! This translates to significant energy savings per machine over the
install period.
In addition, the carbon reduction, due to this reduced energy use, is equivalent to the annual amount
absorbed by 67 trees*.
Imagine, the total savings when replacing your fleet of equipment!
For more details contact us now on:
01908 547980
or email: c.gordge@olivetti.com
*Comparison of typical energy consumption using Energy Star Database
26 sustainabletimes
0870 903 9500
27. advertorial
Document Management and
Digital Postal System for
use with the Cloud
The new entry-level Olitouch System is a key part of
Olivetti’s ongoing strategy to launch a most diverse
range of products and services to complement and
expand upon its core business equipment market.
Featuring Olivetti’s proprietary
software and touch screen
technology, The OliTouch System
enables the scanning, storing and
retrieval of up to 20,000 documents,
which is ideal for SME customers.
Plug and play
The OliTouch System is able to receive
scanned images from most networked
or locally connected MFPs or scanners
and it comes preconfigured with index
fields for around 20 commonly used
types of document covering most
aspects of business filing. These include,
Invoice, Incoming and Outgoing Mail,
Purchase Order, etc. This eliminates the
lengthy set up, installation and training
costs that are usually associated with
document filing systems and means
you can be efficiently storing and
retrieving documents within minutes.
Organise your file
Once the document has been scanned
into the system, the whole page is
displayed on the screen as an OCR
document. The operator then simply
selects the type of document that they
wish to file and the appropriate index
fields will also be displayed.
Some data for index fields, such
as date and invoice number could be
automatically filled in as the Semantic
Analyser
of the OCR
engine is
able to
recognise
them on the
document.
To enter data
into the other
index fields the
operator simply touches
the index field then touches the text
on the screen to transfer it. This will
eliminate typing errors that could
otherwise occur.
It is also possible to group
together documents in virtual folders.
For example, you may wish to set
up a folder containing all of your
correspondence with a customer. Once
a folder has been created, all newly
scanned and saved documents for that
customer will be automatically routed
to the folder.
Document retrieval
Document retrieval is via a web
browser interface and documents
can be retrieved either while at the
OliTouch Terminal or from any PC
on your intranet. The documents can
be retrieved by either searching the
index data or by typing in any word
contained within the document. The
web browser will then display a hit
list containing brief details of each
document. This format will be very
familiar to anyone already using a web
browser for searching the internet.
Hybrid Mail Service
From the system, users will be
able to view and print their stored
documents. It is even possible to
access the optional Hybrid Mail
Service. The system can be linked
to an international mailing house,
with outlets in every country, which
will print the document, place it in
an envelope and post it to the users
www.binfo.co.uk
chosen destination. This system is run
on a credit-per-document basis with
the user buying credits in advance.
Use in the Cloud
The software is delivered pre-installed
into the touch screen and is based on a
licence per machine price, rather than
per user. Typically, the software allows
documents to be stored and accessed
on a local network but it can also
be switched to the Cloud, where the
system is automatically stored, backedup and supported at no additional cost,
until more than 10,000 are stored and
then there is a nominal charge for this
service.
By saving to the Cloud, users can
access their documents from anywhere
in the world. The search engine acts as
a web browser so all documents can be
searched for in a Google-style listing
and accessed from the screen in the
same way. Many users from the same
company can link into the cloud and
treat the OliTouch System as one very
big filing cabinet.
The OliTouch System is just one
of many exciting new products, that
Olivetti will launch over the next few
months and links very conveniently
into any office environment where
a multifunctional printer/scanner/
copier is located. The opportunities for
connectivity and productivity are so
diverse but the ease and simplicity of
these systems are outstanding.
www.olivetti.co.uk
sustainabletimes 27
28. Down on the range
Are concerns about the
driving range of electric
vehicles misplaced?
Consumers across the globe expect
electric vehicles (EVs) to be able to
go further, on less charge time, for a
lower price than car manufacturers
are currently able to offer, according
to a report from the Deloitte Touche
Tohmatsu Limited (DTTL) Global
Manufacturing Industry group.
The report, Unplugged: Electric vehicle
realities versus consumer expectations,
surveyed 13,000 consumers in 17
countries in the Americas, Asia and
Europe and found that the driving range
and charge times of pure EVs continue to
fall short of consumer expectations. As a
result, DTTL believes that fewer than 2%
of consumers will have adopted battery
electric vehicles by 2020.
Siegfried Frick, an automotive partner
with Deloitte Germany, said: “Consumers
expect EVs to be able to go an average of
320 kilometres, but current technology
permits most EVs to cover an average
of only 160 kilometres between charges.
There is a divide between consumers’
expectations of EVs and the actual
technologies that are available in the
market today.”
As Craig Giffi, DTTL Global
Automotive sector leader explains, this
extends to charge times too. “Most of
the consumers surveyed expect an EV
to recharge its battery in two hours or
less. Only a small majority viewed up to
eight hours – the actual time it can take
to recharge the typical electric vehicle
battery in vehicles today using a level 2
charger – as acceptable,” he said.
The driving range of EVs is a common
complaint, but are car users right to put
so much emphasis on it?
Early findings from Europe’s largest
trial of ultra-low carbon emission
vehicles, launched in the UK by the
Technology Strategy Board in December
2009, aren’t definitive. The trial involving
340 vehicles, 110,000 journeys, 680,000
miles and 20,000 battery recharges
has been largely positive, with 83% of
participants stating that the vehicles
met their daily needs. Yet, range remains
an issue.
Private drivers and fleet drivers said
the range they required for daily trips
was 92.12 and 120.64 miles respectively,
which might explain why after three
months, two thirds of private drivers
were still more concerned about reaching
their destination with an EV than their
normal car (down from 100% at the start
of the trial).
One of the eight consortia involved,
CABLED (Coventry and Birmingham Low
Emission Demonstrators), has already
analysed 12 months’ worth of data from
25 Mitsubishi i-MiEVs and 20 smart
fortwo electric drives and found that over
time drivers travelled longer journeys,
indicating increased confidence in
vehicles’ range.
Even so, most journeys (77%) lasted
less than 20 minutes and the majority
used less than 2kWh of power (around
12% of the charge). Only 2% used more
than 50% of the battery, so in almost all
instances a return journey could be made
without the need for recharging.
Brian Price from Aston University,
which analysed data obtained from each
vehicle’s on-board telemetry, said: “The
battery range of electric vehicles (EVs)
more than covers most users’ needs, with
most drivers finishing their daily journeys
with over 40% charge remaining. Typical
users only need to recharge every 2-3
days and choose the convenience of
a home charge overnight or at their
The all-electric Renault Fluence Z.E. four-door saloon is due to be
launched in the UK in mid-2012. It has a range between charges of 50125 miles depending on driving style, terrain and weather conditions,
and is best suited to stop-go urban driving as it consumes almost no
energy when stationery at traffic lights and will recover energy under
deceleration.
28 sustainabletimes
place of work over 85% of the time.
Public charging points provided as part
of the trial are proving popular, but are
less necessary than originally thought,
as users gain confidence in the range
capability of the vehicles.”
Swap and Go
SustainableTIMES recently
visited Paris to see Renault’s
new Z.E. Electric Live concept
in their flagship showroom on
the Champs Elysées.
The exhibition began
with a collection of everyday
objects modified with tiny
2-stroke engines – a shaver
with an exhaust pipe, a
kitchen whisk with a tiny
cylinder head and a chip and
pin machine with a filler cap and minuscule petrol can for
refilling – magically brought to life in an accompanying video.
The message was clear: why use a dirty, noisy engine when
an electric alternative is so much cleaner and more convenient.
Few would argue the point over shavers and whisks, but it’s
an entirely different matter when it comes to electric vehicles
(see main story): many would argue that the petrol engine still
has a monopoly on convenience.
Even if you only ever drive your car a few miles to and from
work, you still want the freedom to make longer journeys,
without worrying about running out of power or having to make
lengthy stops to recharge.
One solution being considered by Renault is to give
drivers the option of swapping a run-down battery for a
fully charged one. In this scenario, a driver would pull into
a ‘Battery Switching’ station; park up in a designated bay;
release the suitcase-sized car battery; and insert a fully charged
replacement. According to Renault, the whole process takes 3-5
minutes, i.e. no longer than it takes to fill a car with petrol today.
This is an attractive solution, especially for fleet operators,
but is currently only being planned in Israel, Australia and
Denmark. www.renault-ze.com
Renault claims the purchase price will be competitive with a diesel
car once the Government’s £5,000 Plug-In Car Grant (PiCG) is taken into
account (£22,850 - £5,000 = £17,850); and that users will benefit from
energy costs that are 5-10 times lower than a petrol/diesel car (approx.
£3 for 115 miles).
However, savings are much, much lower when you take into account
the cost of the compulsory battery hire (inc. breakdown cover), which for
an annual mileage of 9,000 adds an extra 11p per mile to running costs
(based on a monthly hire agreement of £81 over 3 years).
Users face an additional cost of £799 if they install the recommended
Chargemaster wall-mounted charging point, offering a 6-8 hour
recharge time. The Fluence Z.E. can be connected directly to a
240V home supply, with a charge time of 10-12 hours, but
Renault suggests this only be done occasionally.
Other PiCG eligible EVs are the Chevrolet Volt (early
2012); Citroen CZero; Mitsubishi i-MiEV; Nissan Leaf;
Peugeot iOn; Smart fortwo electric drive; Tata Vista (TBC);
Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid (early 2012); and the Vauxhall
Ampera (early 2012).
0870 903 9500
29. Everyone’s cup of tea
Sales of ethical products continue to
rise despite the economic climate
Mars Drinks had a
stated aim to source
30% of its products
from sustainable
sources by 2010
No one who spends any time in
supermarkets can have failed to notice
the boom in ethically sourced coffees,
teas, sugars, bananas and chocolates
carrying Fairtrade and/or Rainforest
Alliance certification.
Last year, UK sales of Fairtrade
products rose by 40% to an estimated
retail value of £1.17bn compared
with £836m in 2009; and the number
of producer groups selling into the UK
Fairtrade market increased from 496
to 560.
In a GlobalScan survey for Fairtrade,
40% of UK consumers said they would
prefer to buy Fairtrade tea if a Fairtrade
option were available and 39% would
prefer to buy Fairtrade coffee.
The Rainforest Alliance also made
ground, with a 31% increase in sales of
Rainforest Alliance-certified coffee; a 53%
increase in the production of Rainforest
Alliance tea; and a 319% increase in the
production of Rainforest Alliance cocoa.
Overall, 768 new companies
registered to buy and sell goods grown on
Rainforest Alliance-certified farms, 24%
more than in 2009, bringing the total
number to 2,416.
A common goal
Fairtrade and the Rainforest Alliance
may have different priorities, but
they both aim to make the world’s
production systems and value chains
more sustainable. Both are members of
the ISEAL Alliance, the global association
for social and environmental standards,
that also numbers the Forest Stewardship
Council (FSC) and the Marine
Stewardship Council among its members.
Fairtrade’s main aim is to tackle
poverty and empower growers in the
world’s poorest countries by stipulating
a minimum price that must be paid
to producers plus an additional sum,
the Fairtrade Premium, to invest in
community projects. Separate Fairtrade
standards exist for smallholders working
together in democratic structures, such as
co-operatives, and for producers that use
hired labour who must meet minimum
www.binfo.co.uk
Nestle Professional
is meeting rising
demand for Fairtrade
products with its
Nescafe Partners
Blend range
standards of worker welfare.
The Rainforest Alliance, easily
recognised by its Green Frog logo, is
primarily a conservation organisation
committed to protecting tropical
forests from clearance for agriculture or
intensive forestry. It encourages farms
(large and small) and co-operatives
to manage their land in a sustainable
manner by addressing the three pillars of
sustainability – environmental protection,
social equity and economic viability.
In order to achieve Rainforest
Alliance certification, farms must
meet standards set by the Sustainable
Agriculture Network. So far, Rainforest
Alliance certification has been achieved
by 250,000 organisations and 25 types
of crop covering more than one million
hectares in 30 countries.
Multiple certifications
Many producers have dual Fairtrade
and Rainforest Alliance certification –
some organic products, like Sodexo’s
Aspretto filter and espresso coffee and
Café Nueva’s Triplo instant coffee, are
accredited by the Soil Association, giving
them triple-certified status.
Multi-certified products are likely
to become more common as different
schemes work together to advance the
agenda of fairness in the tea, coffee
and cocoa industries. Earlier this year
Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance/Sustainable
Agriculture Network and another scheme
– UTZ Certified – announced that they
were co-operating to reduce the level
of complexity and cost for farmers by
developing tools that would enable them
to adhere to multiple standards.
In addition, industry body the
Ethical Tea Partnership (ETP) has signed
agreements with the Rainforest Alliance
and Fairtrade Labelling Organisation
(FLO) to reduce duplication of
monitoring and auditing activities so that
it becomes easier for ETP members to
work towards both standards.
Ethical vending
Increased support for ethically produced
products extends to the vending industry,
where there is an ever wider choice of
sustainable drink options. Growth is
being driven throughout the supply
chain by both commercial and CSR
considerations. Indeed, the two have
By 2016 all Tetley tea bags and loose leaf
tea products will use Rainforest Alliancecertified tea
become increasingly hard to separate as
sales of certified products have grown.
Last year sales of Fairtrade coffee
increased 16% in volume to just over
14,000 tonnes; and sales of Fairtrade tea
grew 5% by volume.
A survey of 2,700 shoppers in
Britain, France, Germany and Spain by
international food and grocery analysts
IGD revealed that half of consumers
expect to buy more ethical food and
drink in the future, including food
produced locally, to high animal welfare
standards or according to Fairtrade
principles. Three out of 10 shoppers in the
UK (31%) said that they expect to buy
more Fairtrade products.
For business buyers, choosing certified
products for the workplace cafeteria or
vending machine is a small price to pay
for the PR benefits that can come from
ethical consumption.
Four out of five consumers questioned
by GlobeScan, as part of a survey for
Fairtrade International, said that they
expect companies they deal with to help
in reducing poverty through the way they
do business; and 80% had a desire for
companies to contribute to community
development programmes – up from
73% in 2010.
Offering Fairtrade and/or Rainforest
Alliance drinks is an easy and affordable
way to demonstrate your organisation’s
commitment to such aims.
PG Tips is fully
Rainforest
Alliancecertified
sustainabletimes 29
