Our Sustainable Business Policies
At Lift Education we are committed to becoming a sustainable business. Our involvement in a number of environmental education projects made us look inwards and examine our own company practices. We wanted to create an environmentally sustainable workplace and reduce the environmental impact of our business.
In 2007, we joined the Sustainable Business Network and later that year we were selected as finalists in the emerging sustainable business category. We have implemented sustainability and energy efficiency systems throughout our company.
Reducing waste
- We conduct as much business as possible electronically in order to minimise the use of paper. However, as a publishing company this is often not possible so we use sustainably sourced paper when we have to print material.
- We reuse our ink cartridges.
- We have a recycling station set up in our kitchen and everyone is actively encouraged to recycle as much as possible.
- We try to use second hand furniture to furnish our office.
- We have a paper recycling bin.
- We double side our printing.
Saving energy
- We work at minimising our electricity consumption. We make sure lights, computers, printers, photocopiers and heat pumps are turned off overnight.
- We have installed heat pumps rather than use individual heaters.
- We have our server set up so employees can access their computers while away from the office. This allows flexible working arrangements and employees can choose to work from home. This saves on overheads for our business and travel costs for employees.
- We have a large office and have rented space to two other small companies to enable us to use the space more efficiently.
- We encourage employees to walk or take a bus to meetings rather than taxis.
- We also try to avoid non-essential air travel.
Sustainable printing
- We try to use printers who work at offsetting their carbon emissions where possible, and invest in carbon balancing programmes.
- We use FSC certified printers.
- We use printers who meet the ISO14001 standard. This demonstrates that they have the right credentials for sustainability.
- We opt for vegetable-based inks where possible. This lowers the build up of volatile organic compounds (VOC).
- We try and use printers who use low alcohol printing technology, which reduces the VOC output.
