Green Credentials
Going Green
At Age UK Faversham & Sittingbourne we take the environment seriously, it is our goal to do all we can to become a Carbon Neutral Organisation. Below are some of the initiatives we are currently running daily.
Cauli Box
In 2020 we switched from disposable hot food containers to Cauli Boxes for our F&S Food Hot Meal Service. Cauli boxes work in a loop system, the packaging is used, collected, washed, and repeatedly re-used. The reuse system minimises waste and energy. The durable Cauli Boxes can be used about 400 times and, as a result, limits the production of new materials. By using Cauli Boxes we achieve each use the following:
- Reduce CO2 Emissions by 237.5g
- Save 9.75litres of water consumption.
- Decrease Energy consumption by 2.35MJ
- Once a Cauli Box reaches the end of its life it Bio-Degrades.
LED Lighting
In 2021 we changed all of our lighting to LED (at our Faversham site) , plus each light was placed on a sensor so that when a room was left the light would automatically switch off. Lighting accounts for 15% of all electricity bills. Changing from a normal bulb to a LED bulb saves on average £3 per year. A LED bulb will last on average 15,000 hours versus a normal bulbs 2,000 hours. By making this sweeping change we have reduced our CO2 emissions by a further 285kg per year.
Electric Charging Points & Vehicles
In 2020 we installed 2 electric vehicle charging points and in the past to years have increased our electric fleet to 2 vans for hot meal deliveries and a minibus. The financial saving made equates to on average £3,127 per vehicle per year. The CO2 used in the production of the vehicles is paid back within 2 years. Each vehicle on average saves 1.5 million grams of CO2 per year, that is the equivalent to flying a jet plane of passengers from London to Barcelona and back four times.
Paper/Cardboard Waste
We live by the rule of the three R’s. Reduce, Reuse and Recycle for several years now. According to Recycle now the UK produces 12.5 million tonnes of wastepaper & cardboard of which on 67% is recycled. We ensure we do our part by having all printers print double sided, wastepaper that is blank on the back is used for note taking etc, confidential documents are shredded and ALL waste paper and cardboard is sent for recycling. By recycling we save 70% less energy and water than paper or cardboard produced from virgin material. On average we save the equivalent of 17 trees or 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space.
Dual Flush Toilets
All our toilets, client or staff have a dual flush function. This allows a saving on average of 67% in water use per via toilet flushing. An average single flush toilet will use 16 litres of water compared to a dual flush toilet which uses 3 litres of water per half flush and 5 litres of water per full flush.