Glasgow Business . 37
www.glasgowchamberofcommerce.com
WHY ‘GREEN’ CAN MEAN BIG SAVINGS
If you think an Environmental Management System (EMS) is complicated or for big organisations, think again. Even SMEs can see big savings while helping the planet
W
ind turbines and solar panels have become the poster
technologies for the environmental movement. It’s what you first picture in your mind when someone suggests ‘going green’. But when it comes to
companies reducing their impact on the environment, the first thought should be of something much more common. Something you may use every day, or if not, can be found with just a few clicks – a spreadsheet. Because when it comes to doing what’s right for the environment, you are oſten doing what’s right for the botom line. But this piece of soſtware is
much more than a symbol of how you can make savings – it could also be the crucial tool in managing a company’s everyday green activities as part of an Environmental Management System (EMS). An EMS allows companies to
identify what their environmental impacts are and how to reduce them. And despite the grandness of the name, an EMS can actually be quite straightforward.
“Many people may think that
an EMS is complicated and only applicable to corporates, but they can be really simple, and don’t require expensive specialist soſtware. For SMEs, we have developed and run systems based on Word and Excel documents, or it can be paper based,” explained Geraldine Boylan, Director, Environment, Health & Safety for Mabbet, the environmental, engineering, health and safety, and sustainability consultancy. “Te important thing is that you formalise a logical structure and process. Tis should also be led by an environmental policy which is signed off by top management. Te environmental policy will then become a public document that you can include in tenders, share with clients or to pass to your supply chain.”
“The important thing is that you formalise a logical structure and process”
Given an EMS needn’t be
complicated nor require a big capital outlay, it needn’t be the preserve of the big organisation. SMEs can make big savings as well. According to Boylan: “A good rule of thumb is that if you are spending £40,000 a year on resources, such as energy, water and wastewater, you could be making significant savings with an environmental management system.”
VISIBILITY
Te first task of any businesses wanting to unlock savings by reducing their spend on things like utilities or materials is to first understand how much they are paying for them. “Particularly for finance people, it’s important to breakdown overhead costs, rather than just rolling it all into one line item,” Boylan explained. Understanding your spend
will also give you the ability to beter prioritise your efforts, which is oſten about starting with the ‘quick wins’.
NO COST/LOW COST OPTIONS
For most businesses, the route to beter environmental performance, and saving money, should begin with focusing on the no-cost/ low-cost actions, particularly on reducing energy consumption. “Even simple things like
checking that timer switches are working correctly and set to the correct times, and that you’ve not leſt the heating to come on during the height of summer,” Boylan explained. “And making sure staff switch off equipment and lights when they are not in use.” Paper usage should be another
focus. For example, international legal firm Murgitroyd recently discovered that it could save £5,400 a year on paper costs at its Glasgow office alone. Te firm had sought help from the government service Resource Efficient Scotland to improve its practices and reduce paper use. Aſter undertaking an audit of the firm and benchmarking it against other law practices,
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