Go Green - Case Study - Eurotech Exports Ltd

WHEN A GREENING BUSINESS OFFICER COMES CALLING

When Lynn Wake, Quality & Personnel Manager of Eurotech, received an unexpected knock at the door from a Greening Business Officer, it came at an opportune time. With no formal environmental policy in place, Lynn had been targeted by her environmentally focused MD to get ideas and take things forward, and along came Lee Sexton, Greening Business Officer for Go Green from southlondon.biz – a service funded by the London Development Agency – bringing with her a plethora of ideas and recommendations to help Eurotech in their quest to go green.

Eurotech Export Ltd are a distributor of electronic and associated components based in Croydon, with 16 long-serving employees, Lynn herself having served 22 years. The greening assessment, carried out by Lee, had very real benefits beyond just the recommendations in the action plan. “As Lee went around the office, she pulled in other staff members to ask questions which got them enthusiastic about the initiative,” said Lynn, “on a very practical level she demonstrated very tangibly that the ethos is embedded in the company. She was only here for an hour but the action plan has masses of ideas for us to consider – we already thought we were doing pretty well, but there are lots of opportunities for us to do more.”

Eurotech have implemented intelligent plugs which ensures that all individual workstations are turned off at night and not left on standby – when computers are turned off, power is automatically switched off from the peripherals so saving energy. They’ve also installed ‘savaflushes’ into the toilets to reduce water consumption and are looking at putting ‘presence detectors’ into the kitchen and toilets to control the lighting in areas of low usage. In addition to the practical implementing of these things, Lee also provided Eurotech with other contacts and directed them to other services, such as Seltrans, which would help them develop strategies to adopt which would limit their environmental impact in terms of travel, transport, etc. “Lee came back for the meeting with Seltrans and that has really inspired some opportunities to address our travel and transport. We were able to put in a shower through matched funding to encourage cycling to/from work, and we have applied for a grant for a fold-up bike for staff to use at lunchtime.”

Spurred on by the Go Green action plan, an environmental policy for the company is now being developed and Eurotech are working towards a Silver award from Envibe, having already qualified for Bronze. “Achieving the Bronze, and having the sticker to prove it, is like a pat on the back” said Lynn, “and is evidence of our belief, as well as a great motivator to go for the Silver and then for the Gold.”

“We are a small company but with big systems, and we have a very well established Quality Management system, ISO9001 and Investors in People and the Go Green initiatives all fit in to form part of this staple along with our Environmental and Health and Safety Policies.”

“I would recommend the service to any business, and particularly Lee for being especially informative and enthusiastic with tons of ideas,” added Lynn, “we now have suggestions to follow up such as the eco-kettle, recyclable cartridges, we have alternatives to bubble wrap, recyclable bulbs and lots of simple ideas to improve our green ethos on a daily, measurable basis.”

The Go Green service is available to businesses in the five London boroughs of Merton, Kingston, Sutton, Croydon and Wandsworth, focusing on businesses that have not sought support from publicly funded business agencies in the past. Businesses like Eurotech can apply for small grants to help them implement appropriate solutions.

For more information on the ‘Go Green’ programme please contact Helen Clark Bell at southlondon.biz on 0208 947 0055, email gogreen@southlondon.biz

To find out more about Eurotech Export, visit http://www.eurotech.co.uk/