1% Better Changes in Chipping Norton
As part of our 1% Better Every Day Mission we are endeavouring to reduce our carbon emissions and find more sustainable solutions. Whilst our efforts are focused on construction solutions, we also challenge ourselves to be more sustainable in our day to day lives. Our offices are already a ‘green’ place to be, however, there is always room for improvement.
This weekend we installed hand dryers in our Chipping Norton Offices. Office Manager Emily researched the options available to ensure they were the right decision for our team. We wanted to replace disposable hand towels to reduce waste but did not want the dryers to cause disruption. Emily settled on ‘The Quazar’ by Airdri. The Quazar is ultra-slim and one of the quietest dryers on the market, meaning it won’t bother our team while they work. Most importantly they are super-efficient with a drying time of only 17 seconds.
Whilst using disposable hand towels was hygienic and convenient, we were very aware of environmental implications. We had researched the most eco-friendly options, choosing products that were chlorine free and sourced only from FSC Certified Forests. We also chose towels that used a percentage of recycled fibres. Emily found that sourcing the most eco-friendly option was becoming increasingly difficult, and costs were rising drastically. Our chosen product had risen in cost from £24.85 a box in November to £73.85 a box.
The new hand dryers will not only reduce the need for hand towels on site, but they will also be run using the renewable energy generated from our office’s solar panels. Finance Manager Kim has crunched the numbers for us and found that by using the electricity generated from the PV Panels, we will have paid back the cost of the dryers in under four years. By that point we will have saved approximately 30,000 hand towels. With a tonne of paper towels requiring on average 17 trees and 75,000 litres of water it is definitely a saving worth making.
A few paper towels for a small team may not seem like much but it quickly adds up and that’s what our 1% Better Every Day Mission is all about, small changes that add up to a big difference. A huge thank you to Garrett Electrical Services who were so helpful in not only sourcing the hand dryers but also fitting them for us on a Sunday (very tidily!) to keep office disruption to a minimum.