NEWS
ENVIRONMENT AGENCY LAUNCHES FREE SYSTEM TO STREAMLINE WASTE REPORTING PROCESS
A
free online system that will save UK businesses time and money by transforming the way they record the waste they produce is launched today by a partnership of waste industry and government bodies led by the Environment Agency. Electronic duty of care – or ‘edoc’ – is expected to save organisations across the country a combined total of c£8m a year by providing a modern electronic alternative to burdensome paperwork . All UK businesses are required to produce waste transfer notes, which describe their waste and who they pass it on to. edoc aims to replace the current paper-based system, which requires around 50 million waste transfer notes to be stored in filing cabinets across the UK. These need to be kept for a minimum of two years – and around 23 million are produced every year. edoc was designed and built by IPL, a consultancy and IT solutions provider, and enables businesses to create, share, review, edit, sign and store waste transfer notes via a secure and easy-to-use online portal, eradicating the need for paper copies, and improving the quality of audit and reporting data by providing an overview of who has performed what action on a given waste transfer note. The system will help businesses keep on top of their waste
transfer notes by sending email alerts to users when they need to review, edit or sign one off. As well as the online portal, edoc has been built to enable businesses to link it with their existing waste management systems directly.
The data being collected will also enable national governments to build a comprehensive view of the waste being produced by UK businesses, saving a potential £1m a year of public money spent on business waste surveys. Mat Crocker, Head of Illegals and Waste at the Environment
Agency, said: “For businesses to make the switch from paper to edoc, it was critical that we develop a system that is easy to adopt. IPL’s agile approach to development has been key to this. It allowed us to roll out edoc in a staged way, gathering feedback from an extensive group of potential end users as we went. As a result, we’ve been able to enhance the design and functionality of the system based on real user experience. The end product is a truly user-focused system, something we could not have achieved with a more conventional approach to software development.” edoc is available at
www.edoconline.co.uk
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ARMSTRONG LAUNCHES ONLINE CEILINGS CPD Leading interior solutions provider Armstrong Ceilings is believed to have become the first in its sector to launch an online RIBA CPD. Available through
www.ribacpd.com, Suspended ceilings and the environment has been designed to provide architects with an improved understanding of how suspended ceilings can help reduce our impact on the environment.
The 44-minute CPD meets the RIBA Core Curriculum criteria of climate (sustainable architecture), designing and building it (design, construction, technology and engineering) and knowledge level (general awareness). It explains how suspended ceilings have evolved to meet today’s environmental issues in terms of sustainability and user comfort/well-being, the important role they play in creating a sustainable indoor environment.
Sustainability factors include the measures employed by ceiling manufacturers to reduce their impact on the environment through product development, production, packaging and distribution, recycling schemes and a focus on life cycles. User comfort/well-being factors include aesthetics (integration of services such
6 PUBLIC SECTOR SUSTAINABILITY • VOLUME 4 ISSUE 2
as lighting, sprinklers, motion sensors and smoke detectors, and light reflectance to minimise dependence on artificial light), acoustics, fire resistance, hygiene and indoor air quality, Viewers of this latest of almost a dozen RIBA- approved Armstrong CPDs are awarded an hour’s credit after correctly answering five multiple-choice questions. Armstrong’s new online CPD can be viewed at
www.armstrong.com/ commclgeu/eu1/uk/gb/
RIBA_seminars.html.
BSRIA AND ECA WORKING TOGETHER TO KEEP LIGHTS ON! Ofgem has sounded serious warning bells about UK’s generating margin falling from about 14% to sub 4% levels around 2016.
Major investment is needed
in the electricity network and the new wave of nuclear power stations recently announced will not come online until at least 2020. The debate over alternative fuels still needs to be had. BSRIA is pleased to be working alongside the Electrical Contractors Association (ECA). The forthcoming event at Central Hall in London looks at the scale of the problem of reduced electricity supply capacity at peak times in the coming years. They look to identify solutions that can be adopted in order to reduce risk and also the support needed to allow them to provide the maximum provision during challenging times. Booking information can be found here:
http://www.bsria.co.uk/ goto/lightson
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