Budget Paper Supplies’ Environmental Journey
Since becoming a member of Investors in the Environment (iiE), Budget Paper Supplies (BPS) has taken great measures to improve its environmental standing.
As specialist suppliers of display products and art supplies, the company needed to align itself with the requirements of its industry by becoming a more environmentally friendly supplier. BPS found that it was increasingly being asked for its environmental credentials by its customers and other trading partners, making it a stumbling block for future growth plans.
After considering other accreditation schemes such as ISO14000, BPS decided to find out more about what iiE had to offer, as the more inexpensive and manageable alternative.
When BPS first joined iiE, it received a comprehensive site audit which found that BPS was already fulfilling the majority of the criteria to be eligible for the Silver level certification, which it managed to achieve within its first year of the scheme in 2013.
In order to progress to the next level of the accreditation – Green level certification – BPS developed and fine-tuned its system further by making changes to the way it operated, in order to become more resource efficient and less wasteful, and thus lower its carbon footprint.
One of the first steps BPS took was investing heavily in solar energy, with a total installed capacity of 42Kwh, which has successfully reduced its electricity consumption and reliance on fossil fuels by almost 50%.
As a by-product of the business, BPS generates waste paper and card in the form of offcuts and trim. Aiming to adopt a lean approach in all areas of operation, the firm now recycles or reprocesses all of this material and has reduced its waste to landfill to less than 1% of its total waste.
To add to its achievements, BPS regularly takes part in iiE initiatives, with Zero Waste Week being one that it regularly supports. This has shown its employees what can be achieved, with sufficient focus, with Zero Waste Week being responsible for its recycling success and the reduction in waste to landfill.
The firm has promoted several other initiatives including facilities to harvest the rainwater from its warehouse roof, composting organic waste from the kitchen and encouraging staff to car share to reduce the costs associated with getting to work, with a 15% take-up so far. It has also introduced some environmental products into its range specifically manufactured from 100% recycled materials.
Richard Aldiss, General Manager & Environmental Coordinator, explains the benefit of the measures BPS has taken: ‘Saving money and saving time by saving waste will help save the environment – everybody wins!’
BPS’s success over the course of its membership with iiE was recognised through being awarded a Great Green Star for its efforts during 2015, an achievement of which the team are immensely proud of.