Environmental Charter
Sustainability Institute / Finance / Subscriptions / Policy on Advertisements / Publication Schedule / Information for Contributors / Issue one / Issue two / Outlets
Environmental Charter
The Sustainability Magazine is completely committed to minimising its environmental impact on the planet. As far as we can ascertain, all paper used in the magazine is produced from sustainable forestry or from paper wastes recycled with a minimal use of chlorine. The inks used in the magazine are plant based. Some volatile organic compounds are used in the printing process by our printers (Cambrian Printers), but they too have a strict environmental policy and carry out environmental audits on a regular basis.
Now we are back in Sandyhill, our office is once again powered entirely from off-grid electricity derived from on-site wind and solar PV installations. The office receives some heat from passive solar and can avail of off-grid electricity for heating if needed.
With the exception of one laptop which we were obliged to buy new, the office computers were donated or purchased second hand and the monitors obtained from Freecycle. Most of the other office equipment has been obtained second hand.
Where possible, waste products are recycled. The majority of our paper and cardboard wastes are recycled on site.
All efforts are made to reduce the carbon footprint of transport used in the production and distribution of the magazine. This means using buses and trains where possible, completely avoiding air travel, and minimising the use of single occupant vehicles.
Our long term aspiration is to produce a zero carbon magazine. This will be achieved by the planting of long-term sustainably managed woodland. Our initial target will be one hectare of woodland planted per annum. Approximately 1-1.6 tonnes of paper are used in producing each issue of Sustainability.
The total carbon dioxide equivalent emissions (this is the total greenhouse gas emissions expressed as an equivalent amount in carbon dioxide) created per annum by the production of the magazine, excluding those which originate from the timber products used for heating the office but including transport fuel used in distribution, has been estimated at approximately 2 tonnes, or slightly less than half what the average household creates each year in the process of keeping their house warm.
While we fully accept it will take a number of years to grow sufficient trees
to absorb this volume of carbon dioxide, and that this will do nothing - in real terms - to offset our current carbon footprint, we also hope that our readers
take on board some of our many suggestions to reduce their own environmental
impact. In turn, we hope they will influence the behaviour of others. It is reasonable
to expect our initial carbon investment will be a good one for the planet!
We are constantly reviewing procedures with the aim of reducing our environmental
impact further, and are open to suggestions as to how we might achieve
this. One new strategy is to to use the postal service as much as possible for distribution purposes, and to minimise the use of our own vehicle.
How you can help
We use an enormous amount of A4 paper in the Sustainability office, the majority of which is old letterheaded paper which we intercepted on its way to the local 'recycling' facility. We simply cut off the old letterhead.
It may come as surprise to many people that a very high percentage of Ireland's 'recycled' waste is simply sent overseas for someone else to deal with. Even paper and cardboard is exported for 'recycling'.
Many offices and Government departments regularly change their letterheads, with the result that tens or even hundreds of thousands of sheets of old letterheaded paper is then redundant.
Rather than add to the shiploads of stuff Ireland is effectively dumping abroad, why not divert some of it our way? Anonymous donation gratefully accepted. Please note all paper must be of good enough quality to go through a printer.
We are also badly in need of some replacement office equipment; in particular a large screen monitor to use with layout work. If your office is upgrading, and has old equipment which might be useful to us, please get in touch.
