Is it important for security/business continuity suppliers to be portrayed as environmentally friendly or do you think that being seen to be ‘green’ is really just a marketing gimmick in our sector that can be put on the back burner while there is less money around? asks Martin Woollam of contractor Carlisle Security.
In my view it is not important to be portrayed as green, it is important to be and act green! I think it is fair to say that we face real issues where the environment is concerned and we all need to play our part or at the very least evaluate our impact on the planet. Just recently we have conducted a full review of our fleet and as a result we have made some significant changes. Why? Because we want to look good? No. Because we want our clients to see we are being environmentally friendly? No. Because it makes good business sense.
A fleet review may seem a relatively harmless process but at the end of it we had managed to reduce our CO2 emissions by 20 per cent. Mainly by sending back vehicles that we didn’t really need, or swapping to more environmentally friendly engines for high mileage vehicles. Therefore we have saved money by reviewing such simple items and looking at things from an environmental perspective. This means that rather than putting it on the back burner while there is less money around we have saved money in the short term and invested in a greener fleet for medium to longer-term benefits – thus creating money, if you like.
God knows our industry generates enough paper to sink a battleship thus I feel it is our duty to look how we perform and operate. The use of technology and digital storage methods too is on our agenda to embrace over the next 12 months to reduce paper wastage and increase efficiency for front line personnel. How much time do we waste filling in paperwork, filing and posting etc? It needn’t be that way. I actually think that “green” or “environmentally friendly” should become part of our daily lives. It challenges our views and methods of service delivery, which surely is a good thing. If it makes things safer and more economically viable then even better. Stripping away the visions tree hugging, we can make a difference, we can contribute to improving the environment and it doesn’t have to cost the earth!
