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Confused by legislation? Join us for breakfast and learn more

23/09/2011 By Ben Leave a Comment

Navigating your way through environmental legislation can be tricky, especially with all the recent changes.

Please join the Hackbridge Green Business Network for breakfast at The Grange restaurant on Thursday 20th October 8-8:45am to find out more.

We are fortunate to have John Mitchell, head of Blake Lapthorn solicitors' Business Regulatory team, who will:

  • Update you on changes to waste, water and packaging law
  • Examine what the Carbon Reduction Commitment means to you
  • Review future changes and advise on how to prepare your business for the future

Please RSVP to Ben or call 020 8404 4897

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    Green Business Network learns about Sutton Council procurement

    15/07/2011 By Ben Leave a Comment

    A few weeks ago the fourth Green Business Network workshop focussed on Sutton Council procurement. Businesses in attendance heard from Sutton's Head of Procurement Mark Brewer on what and how the council procures its products and services, giving helpful hints and tips to the network. Mark's presentation is below for anyone that missed it. Future workshops will be advertised here

    Sutton procurement presentation

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    Saving energy on your computer

    13/06/2011 By Ben 1 Comment

    We've been busy helping the Hackbridge Green Business Network save energy and money in their offices and wanted to share our top tips with you.

    1. Use the standby function on your PC for meetings and lunch, and switch off your monitor

    Why? When your computer is on (even if you turn your monitor off) it consumes 65 to 250 watts/hour.  When it is on standby it only uses 1-6 watts/hour.  This is a reduction in energy use of around 98%!  If you do this every day just at lunch time it would save 30kg carbon dioxide per year per person.

    Switching off your monitor when you go to lunch or for a meeting and when you go home saves even more as it uses 20W when it is on even if the computer is off! Together, that's the equivalent to boiling 200 kettles!

    How?

    1. Press the shut down button on the start menu, then select standby from the drop down menu.
    2. When you press the power button on your hard drive it will then resume your computer in the same state as you left it, i.e. with all your applications open.  

    2. Turn your PC off at the plug when you go home at night

    Why? Even when your PC is turned off it consumes 5 watts per hour if it is still on at the plug.  Mostly we are not using our computers for 15 hours of the day.  So switching it off at the plug will reduce our energy consumption by 615Wh per week each. This would save 15kg of carbon dioxide per year – equivalent to boiling 100 kettles!

    3. Put your laptop in projector mode if being used with a screen

    If you use a laptop as your main computer and plug it into a screen, make sure the laptop is set to be a projector so that you are not powering 2 screens.  Do this by pressing Fn and F5 together.

    Click here for a top tips poster to stick up as a reminder.

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    Hackbridge businesses hear about winning local building work

    03/06/2011 By Ben Leave a Comment

    Members of the Hackbridge Green Business Network met 2 weeks ago at BedZED to hear from local developer and social landlord Affinity Sutton on their tendering process and up-coming local opportunities.

    Whilst it was recognised that most of the businesses in attendance were a size that would unlikely be a direct supplier to Affinity Sutton (more likely to be a second tier supplier), we discussed the process, opportunities and barriers to local businesses winning this work.

    Affinity Sutton are an affordable housing provider with more than 55,000 homes, building around 1,000 new homes per year and turning over £240 million. Their main operations are in London and the home counties, and are currently doing an 800 home makeover of Durand Close Estate in Carshalton and a number of 1/2 bedroom apartments in Carshalton (The Lavenders). They are also working on a low-carbon retrofit project Futurefit.

    Bob Beaumont of Affinity Sutton signposted businesses to the following tendering website:

    • Large contracts: Public sector contracts worth over around £100,000 are advertised on OJEU (Official Journal of the European Union). This is published every day with approximately 14,000 invitations to tender published each year from the UK.
    • Housing contracts: www.procurementforhousing.co.uk
    • Business Link’s free contract finder: www.contractsfinder.businesslink.gov.uk/

    Other insights from Affinity Sutton

    • Unfortunately, it does comes down to price – try and be as competitive as you can
    • A strong environmental policy or corporate social responsibility (CSR) will stand you in good stead
    • Adequate insurance cover is required for all tenders, and you need to ensure you have sufficient Public Liability Insurance policy

    How can we help?

    • We can help you improve your CSR or write a sustainability policy to improve your chances
    • We may be able to help you with an application if you are struggling to use the website or need help ‘selling yourself’.

    Join the Hackbridge Green Business Network for support on this and other ways to go green and strengthen your business.

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    Get swishing!

    14/04/2011 By Ben Leave a Comment

    Local Sutton charity, BioRegional are looking at how to reduce waste this month and last week carried out a waste audit to see what we produce and where it should all go. To raise awareness, today is No Impact Day in the office. We have been set the challenge of producing no waste to landfill for 24 hours!

    For a bit of fun we have all sifted through our wardrobes and come to work in an outfit we haven't worn for over a year and brought some unwanted clothes for swishing. This is a clothes swap between friends where you hang items on ladders, coat stands and airers, have a viewing time before the free shop opened at lunchtime. A great way to pick up a new summer outfit for free!

    Why not hold your own swishing party at work or home, and see if you can create zero waste to landfill for a day? Let us know how you get on!

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

      

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    FREE Greening Business Workshop

    26/01/2011 By Ben Leave a Comment

    Tuesday 15th February brings a great opportunity to share a drink with other local businesses and find out more about the fantastic Greening businesses in Hackbridge project, as well as joining the new Hackbridge Green Business Network.

    Join us at the Grange on London Road from 6pm, at the first in a series of workshops aimed to help strengthen your business and cut your bills as the recession continues to take hold. We will talk about:

    • Why going green makes financial sense
    • How it applies to your business
    • What other local businesses are already doing to start saving money

    We are also looking to give away the last few remaining FREE audits to local businesses, offering 12 hours of free one-to-one support from sustainability experts BioRegional. We are already reducing the environmental footprints of various local businesses, saving them money at the same time through small actions in their energy, water, waste, materials and transport usage.

    We want to do the same for you – so if you want to take advantage of this free service, please contact Matt.Sullivan@bioregional.com or ring 020 8404 4238. Please note we can only offer this service to businesses with under 250 employees in the region around Hackbridge. 

    We hope to see you at The Grange at 6pm on Tuesday 15th February!

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    Keeping Hackbridge businesses warm

    16/12/2010 By Ben Leave a Comment

    I’ve just returned from a fascinating morning spent surveying businesses for cavity wall insulation. Whilst fascinating might not be how most people would describe cavity wall insulation, we're always excited to find a cavity to fill and even more excited to find it's already full.

    As part of the audits we are doing on the ‘Greening businesses in Hackbridge project’, we are looking for ways to save both carbon emissions AND money – insulation being the perfect example. Usually with a fast payback of within 1-2 years, it is a quick win:win for any building built before 1994 that hasn’t yet had its cavities filled. Accompanying a surveyor from Ecologistics, I gained lots of knowledge on what signs to look for to indicate a filled cavity – you can sometimes physically see the insulation by shining a torch through air bricks, or you can see the holes filled with fresh mortar where insulation was blown in. Out of four businesses visited, we founds that two had unfilled cavities so it was a successful morning’s work. The surveyor has gone away to put together quotes showing costs and payback of the work. If you are interested in having a free environmental audit and joining our Greening Businesses in Hackbridge network, head over to the Green Business Network page.

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    Case study: Local butcher going green!

    02/12/2010 By Ben Leave a Comment

    D. Parkers and Son (aka ‘Sausage Masters’) are proving to be one of our pioneers in the ‘Greening businesses in Hackbridge’ project.

    The Greening businesses in Hackbridge project aims to help local businesses become more environmentally sustainable. Going out and meeting businesses is a great experience and we are starting to form a network of enthusiastic businesses going green. Here is a case study of one local business called Sausage Masters:

    This traditional family butcher, operating since 1931 and now in its fourth generation, sells high quality meat and dairy from its friendly shop as well as supplying lots of local schools and nursing homes. To start with and perhaps most importantly, all of their meat and dairy produce is procured locally – reducing food miles and supporting British farmers.

    However that is only part of the story – Manager Daniel Parker is keen to reduce the impacts of all areas of the business. To date, he has installed a high pressure hot water tank, is in the process of upgrading refrigeration to the most efficient models and we are together looking into establishing an Environmental Management System.

    We are using the remainder of their audit time to look into reducing their packaging and researching biofuel for running their delivery vehicles. We are also developing a network of businesses that create food waste to convert to fertiliser in a local BioDigestor in Mitcham – please contact us if you are interested.

     

    About Greening Businesses in Hackbridge Project

    The project, called Greening Businesses in Hackbridge, is run by the London Borough of Sutton and funded by money from Europe, via the European Regional Development Fund and the London Development Agency. It is part of a bigger drive to boost enterprise in London by plugging small and medium-sized businesses into the opportunities that being a green business can offer.

    For more information, visit the Hackbridge Green Business Network page: http://www.oneplanetsutton.org/projects/gbn/

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