Social Enterprise Kent is working to reduce its impact on the environment and do its bit to help save this precious earth of ours and we want to share what we are doing with our clients and potential clients. We’ve tried to take on board the 3 themes of Reduce, Reuse and then Recycle. We hope that when you use the facilities at Kent Enterprise House some of these measures will be evident. We are always open to new ideas that will help us to do more.
Reducing energy used:
We have installed sensor lights into the building to ensure that electricity use is minimised. By encouraging staff to do the easy things like switching off their monitors if they leave it for more than 5 minutes, and turn off the PC if they are away from it for more than 20 minutes; we ask them to unplug rechargers when they are not in use and to make sure all electrical equipment is off at the end of the day.
We try to get the heating right in the office. We ask staff to save energy by bringing in extra clothing to the office in the winter. We have preset the air conditioning units for your comfort, set on a timer and at ambient working temperatures. Some individuals may prefer to wear extra clothing garments on occasions. Individual rooms have separate control panels which can be adjusted to suit.
Reducing paper used:
Our printers are set to double sided, and ask staff not to print materials unless it is absolutely necessary, and then only as many as required. Many mailings are received and go straight into the recycling bin, we are actively trying to get off mailing lists for publications and mail not required. We encourage staff to share publications and pass them round.
Reuse:
Any unwanted single sided copying or printing is put into the boxes by the printer/copier so they can be reused as scrap notepaper. We have pads of reused paper available for visitors. Lever arch files are continually reused until they fall apart – we just put a new label on the side. We try to repair, reuse and upgrade PCs and laptops wherever possible.
Recycle:
We recycle loads of things – but this is a last resort. We try to reduce and reuse first. We recycle paper, card, plastic and glass, batteries and toner cartridges. Organic vegetable and fruit leftover’s are collected and staff take this away for composting.
Shopping Ethically:
Social Enterprise Kent buys fair-trade, local and organic whenever possible. Our caterer’s environmental policy includes using British produce if possible, use china plates and platters and run their delivery vans on LPG.