In the week that Sir Nicholas Stern's report has highlighted the economic implications of global warming, it seems appropriate to consider what we at LloydLaw do to minimise our impact on the environment.
As lawyers, we use a lot of paper and we do print out a lot of documents including reports, emails and drafts. Until now, we haven't been using paper that comes from a renewable source and we are looking into ways of ensuring that as much paper as possible comes from renewable sources. All our waste paper, including junk mail (of which we receive too much) is shredded and along with newspapers and any packaging that comes into the office it gets recycled. The London Borough of Southwark operates an efficient scheme for businesses.
We are tenants in our offices which does restrict what we can do to some extent, but we do try and minimise our use of the air conditioning, the lights and the lift (we are on the third floor).
Penny and I both cycle to work most days and when we don't cycle we travel in using public transport. We do not impose any obligations on our staff, although almost without exception, anyone who has worked for us has used public transport.
We always recycle the consumables we use (e.g. printer cartridges) and in replacing computers and photocopiers we always look for the most environmentally effective way of disposing of equipment. Ideally, we would like to find a use for any equipment we dispose of, although that is difficult with computers. The hard drives of all computers contain confidential information, and whilst it may be overcautious, we believe that the only effective way to dispose of a hard drive is to destroy it. Simply wiping it clean is not sufficient. Screens are different and if we cannot find a useful way of recycling them, we try and dispose of them ensuring that the glass is left intact.
I flew to a meeting in Aberdeen in August 2005 and Penny recently (September 2006) flew to Edinburgh for a meeting. Those are the only flights either of us has taken for work purposes in the last three years. If we needed to travel more in our business we would have to consider the impact of air travel on our carbon footprint.
Incidentally, when we travel around London we almost always use public transport rather than taxis, and where possible we walk.
We are continually reviewing our approach to our business and its impact on both society and the environment and we will continue to do do.
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