How to reduce your business’s carbon footprint.
Many organisations have a focus on helping to balance the financial needs of their business with the pressing needs of the world around them. As a major recycling business, Restore Datashred has a vested interest in helping all their customers see the benefits for us all in adopting low-carbon business activities across all aspects of organisational life, right up to the final drop onto the shredding blade.
Here, Restore Datashred offer some hints and tips for ‘going green’.
1. Make sustainability a priority
A business with an ESG strategy will undoubtedly include several points surrounding sustainability a key pillar of trying to protect the environment. Within this pillar, reducing the amount of carbon released into the atmosphere, either through lower emission-producing processes or through not disturbing carbon sinks such as forests, is the goal.
Sharing, re-using, repairing, and recycling existing materials and products for as long as possible forms part of these lower emissions processes as this extends the lifecycle of products and means virgin resources – wood, water, energy, oil, and so on – are not depleted so rapidly.
Recycling is projected to save 1 billion tonnes of CO2 emissions by 2030.
Recycling offsets all CO2 emissions generated by the aviation industry each year.
Recycled materials supply 40% of the world’s raw material needs.*
*Based on the Bureau of International Recycling study
As we said before, Restore Datashred is a major recycling business, turning your confidentially shredded materials – approximately 80% paper, and 20% other materials – into recycled, re-purposed products. The practice of sustainable shredding and re-use of raw materials is part of a push towards a green, circular economy that, together, might be achieved:
Consuming less, and better, by transitioning to electric and alternative-fuel vehicles, renewable energy, deploying energy-saving measures, using recycled products only, walking, cycling, and using public transport…
Creating change by changing your organisation’s mindset. One of the easiest wins is to change perspectives on waste by regarding all materials as a resource (that’s the sharing, re-using, repairing, and recycling bit…)
2. Consider the environmental impact of paper shredding
With Restore Datashred it’s a positive impact. Their business is committed to sustainable shredding and sending nothing, (that’s 0%) to landfill. Not only do they guarantee that they send 100% of the paper shreds to UK paper mills for recycling into paper products. They can do that up to seven times over before the paper pulp retains no strength. But Restore Datashred also offer a closed-loop buy-back system. One of their customers buys medical-grade tissue from the paper mill that is supplied with shreds from that very same customer. This is a literal example of the circular economy.
In addition, 20% of materials that are textiles, plastics, and digital media, are also securely shredded. And sent for re-use (new textiles, energy-production, etc), not simply thrown into a hole in the ground.
3. Discover the benefits of recycling shredded paper
In 2022, recycling 100% of their paper shreds represents the following savings made on the environment’s and their customers’ behalf:
- 1,047,591 trees not needing to be felled
- 258,816,600 Kilowatts of energy
- 1,971,936,000 litres of water
- 36,973,800 kilos of CO2 not emitted
These are some strong statistics to take back to your business and stakeholders. And all are captured in personalised figures in your organisation’s online monthly environmental report (see below).
4. Check out their eco-friendly practices
Like you, they have their own ‘Restoring our World’ ESG strategy, aiming for Net Zero by 2035, that guides all their business activity. In the background to all the environmental benefits paper shredding brings to your business, they are quietly working at introducing alternative-fuelled vehicles to their large fleet, using e-forklifts in warehouses, working in partnership with PlanetMark™ to help them set and adhere to energy and fuel targets, planting trees and working with local and international communities to help improve lives. These steps all add up to reduced CO2 emissions and more sustainable collections for their customers.
5. Reduce paper use
We know that, for many industry sectors, working paperless is still a pipedream. But you are, at least, paper-free in your dealings with them when you use their freshly updated and upgraded online customer portal, Shred Smart. By logging in whenever and wherever you need to you can do the following, without a piece of paper passing across your desk.
- You can book collections
- Contact their customer service team with any queries
- Find out about and sign up for new services
- Keep track of your invoices and statements
- Pay
- View your payment history and, if you have a regular service, your allocation
- Check your service schedule and accompanying compliance documents, including all certificates of destruction
- Set up access for managers and users within your business, as appropriate
- Remind yourself of their insurance certification and accreditations
- Last but not least, watch the environmental ‘savings’ tick up on your personalised monthly ecological report, which provides statistics on energy, water, CO2, and tree savings, along with recycling (sustainable shredding) all valuable data to feedback to your company’s ESG stakeholders.
Earn your ‘green cred’ with Restore Datashred!
Don’t be green with envy at other businesses’ sustainable credentials, get in touch with one of their knowledgeable, professional customer service team. They will explain how having all your obsolete paper documents securely shredded could be one of the quickest ways of enhancing your ‘green cred’ yet. Find out more about sustainable shredding by calling 0800 376 4422 or by contacting Restore Datashred.