ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY POLICY

MISSION STATEMENT
BK GRAIN HANDLING ENGINEERS accepts that it has a responsibility to the environment beyond legal and regulatory requirements. We are committed to reducing our environmental impact and continually improving our environmental performance as an integral part of our business strategy and operating methods, with regular review points. We measured our Carbon Footprint in 2018 and again in 2019 (6months), the estimated yearly figure will show a reduction in tCO2e levels of more than 10%. We will endeavor to continue reducing this by 10 % a year by various identified means until we become a carbon-neutral business. We will also encourage customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders to do the same.

RESPONSIBILITY
Caroline Bird, accounts, and Stuart Dennis, general manager, are responsible for ensuring that this Environmental Policy is implemented. However, all employees have a responsibility in their area to ensure the aims and objectives of the policy are met.

POLICY AIMS
We will:

• Comply with and exceed all relevant regulatory requirements.
• Continually improve and monitor environmental performance.
• Continually improve and reduce environmental impacts.
• Incorporate environmental factors into business decisions.
• Increase employee awareness and training.

PAPER

• Order pads have been changed from 3 sheets to 2 sheets and we hope to also complete an online order pad for online/ telephone ordering this year, thus reducing paper use.
• Continue to minimize the use of paper in the office
• Reduce packaging as much as possible by talking to suppliers.
• We now purchase only FSC approved paper products.
• Re-use and recycle all paper, waste paper is shredded, and we are continuing to source a local animal sanctuary to use it as animal bedding.
• Move to E-billing & E-payments where possible, this has begun with some suppliers and customers moving to e-billing and will continue.
• Move to engineers submitting online reports, job sheets, and risk assessments, this has not been implemented yet but will be looked at further this year.

ENERGY AND WATER

• Our Carbon Footprint has reduced from 116tCO2e in 2018 to Est 101tCO2e (2019 first 6m figures are 50.56tCO2e) by the 10% as targeted and we will endeavor to keep reducing this by 10% a year. In 2020 this looks as if it has increased due to the impact of COVID and more vans going to the site.
• We have continued changing old lights for LED versions as they fail. We now have 90% of our light fittings changed to LED. This program will continue until we are 100% LED.
• Lights and electrical equipment will be switched off when not in use.
• Heating and air-conditioning will be adjusted with energy consumption in mind.
• Water usage has been monitored and we have increased consumption in 2018, compared with 2017, and in the first half of 2020, it has remained static, compared with 2018. We will continue to try to reduce this consumption by only purchasing water-saving appliances when replacing existing equipment, no equipment has been changed in 2018 or 2019, or 2020.
• The energy consumption and efficiency of new products will be considered as part of our purchasing policy.
• All building materials purchased will be environmentally friendly and all old ones will be recycled where possible. Our new energy contract is now purchased from Positive Energy which guarantee’s 100% renewable energy sources as of 18th December 2020

OFFICE SUPPLIES

• Continue to evaluate the environmental impact of any new products we intend to purchase.
• Favor more environmentally friendly & efficient products wherever possible.
• Re-use and recycle everything we are able to, including toner cartridges, batteries, etc.
• We have stopped buying single-use plastic cups for the drinks machine, and for shows that we attend. We will continue to monitor this closely to ensure that we do not use single-use plastic.
• We are ceasing to use plastic filing sleeves and will not replace them.
• The water cooler bottles are plastic, but we have a guarantee from the supplier that the bottles have always been reused.
• We are now sourcing milk for the office in bottles rather than plastic supermarket milk.
• We now only use tea bags that are 100% recyclable.

TRANSPORTATION

• We have reduced the need to travel, restricting to necessary trips only.
• Promote the use of travel alternatives such as email, phone, and video conferencing, Stuart has reduced his weekly trip to London to fortnightly and having an online call every 2 weeks.
• We have monitored driving behavior and are currently still discussing ways of offering incentives to company drivers to drive more responsibly via our web fleet account.
• We now pre-plan work on distance from employees’ homes, rather than unnecessary trips to our yard, to reduce mileage and only take one van to the site where possible.
• We have not looked at new green vehicles for future purchasing but have reduced our fleet by 2 vans. We ensure all current vehicles are well maintained and tyre pressures checked regularly.
• Once vehicles are due to be replaced, we will continue to look at the most fuel-economic vehicles with the lowest pollution rates.

MAINTENANCE & CLEANING

• We have changed our cleaning contract company and they now use only environmentally friendly products.

• We only use licensed and appropriate organizations to dispose of waste and always get a waste transfer document.

• We have set up a WEEE contract to recycle all used electrical/electronic equipment, some have already been recycled and we now hold a box that will be recycled once full.

CONSTRUCTION PRODUCTS SOURCED

• We only buy products that are needed and ensure all products are checked for sustainability
• We now have designated recycling bins in every office and the workshop which is emptied into the recycling bin, these are well used by all staff.
• All steel products are already CE-approved materials, but we now use a supplier (AJN Steelwork) who supply mainly British steel rather than foreign imported, again all-steel deliveries are unwrapped. 
• All construction projects are now designed and built with Sustainability in mind as well as waste, although we have always had to reduce waste under the Site Waste Management Regulations.
• All companies used to procure construction materials will be checked for their sustainability credentials before purchasing products from them.

MONITORING & IMPROVEMENT
We will continue to:

• Comply with and exceed all relevant regulatory requirements
• Continually improve and monitor environmental performance
• Improve and reduce environmental impacts
• Incorporate environmental factors into business decisions.
• Increase employee awareness through training.
• Review this policy and previous months’ energy, water, and fuel consumptions at our monthly Sustainability meetings, which are now open to all who wish to attend.

CULTURE
We will continue to:

• Involve staff in the continuing implementation of this policy, for greater commitment and improved performance.
• Update this policy at least once annually in consultation with staff and other stakeholders where necessary.
• Provide staff with relevant environmental training.
• Work with suppliers, contractors and sub-contractors to improve their environmental performance.
• Use local labour and materials where available to reduce CO2 and help the community.
• Check our supply chains to ensure they are compliant with the Modern Slavery Act 2015.
• Ensure that we evaluate the Social Impact of any work or decisions carried out.
• Continually monitor our carbon footprint to ensure we are on target to reduce our emissions by 10% a year.

REVIEW
This statement has been drawn up on the 30th of August 2020 and will be reviewed at the monthly meetings. The next major review will be carried out no later than 01st December 2021, when we should have all available data to complete the 2021 Carbon Footprint calculations. The review date will be brought forward if there are any major changes to our business practices or staff, or this policy is deemed un-workable at any point. It will be continually monitored during this period to ensure that we are on target and that changes are being implemented.