Its Easy Being Green!

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9th October 2009

Friday September 25th was Green Awareness Day at VSG to support our recent environmental accreditation of ISO 14001.

To mark the occasion we asked for all staff members to introduce green into their dress down day outfits – the results of which can be seen below!

However, it’s not just about looking the part. At VSG we want everyone to embrace the Green principle on an ongoing basis and, to this end, we have introduced some environmental objectives for the year ending July 2010 that EVERYONE can easily achieve with just a little consideration and effort.

These are:-

1. Reduce energy use by 5%. The last person leaving a room can help by switching off the lights and the air conditioning. Also remember to switch off your computers and monitors in the evening.
2. Reduce the amount of water used by 5% by ensuring that all taps are turned off and not left dripping.
3. Reduce the amount of waste going to landfill by 2%. Please ensure that all waste that can be recycled is put into the correct recycling bins.
4. Reduce the amount of resources we use as a company by 10% (eg paper, toner etc) by thinking about what you print off. Do you really need to print it? Can it be printed double sided?

Our Green Awareness Day was organised to give our environmental policy a bit of a kick start and it certainly did that, thanks to the great efforts of Carolyn Murdin, our Recruitment and Quality Manager.

Outlining her plans for the day she said: “Instead of asking everyone to donate £1 to charity for dress down day, as we usually do, we asked people to save a Green £1. There were various ways these Green £ls could be achieved – for instance by walking to work instead of using the car, sharing a car with a colleague, or cycling to work. Not printing any emails off during the day could also earn them another Green £1.

“In addition we asked people to bring in any of their unwanted books, CDs and DVDs, clothes and textiles from home for our special Green Recycling Room. These items could be swapped for other offerings, recycled, or donated to the local charity shop, all of which earned valuable Green points”.



And if the Green Awareness Day is anything to go by, VSG staff will have no problem in meeting the objectives. According to MD, Keith Francis: “A very healthy 63 Green £s were saved on the day, which is a fantastic start to our campaign. Congratulations to Carolyn and everyone in the Green Team who helped make this such a success. Please remember that we all benefit in the long term, and this whole exercise should encourage us to examine our individual carbon footprints, not just here in the office, but throughout our lives”.