September 2021 was our first Sustainable September. You may have seen, we’ve been talking about it a bit…

With the month over we can’t bring ourselves to just go back to how things were, we want this to become a habit. We will always be looking for ways to be proactive in making sustainable changes in both our working and personal lives.

We want to share these ideas with you and will keep doing so on our social media channels. You can follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Linkedin to keep up-to-date with the changes that we make.

We are already seeing a big difference in the amount of waste and recycling we get rid of each week and the number of disposables we are purchasing.

Creating a Sustainable Workspace

We have introduced new measures to our office that will reduce our carbon footprint. Here is a summary of those we have implemented so far:

Going Paperless

We have shared our progress on taking our office paperless before, but it is an ongoing effort. It is hard to go 100% paperless when certain paperwork must be sent in the post, but with HMRC bringing Tax into the digital world in 2024, more and more of our clients are making the switch to paperless tax returns and accounting.

We encourage everyone to look for ways to reduce their paper use at work and at home. Over the past four years, we have reduced our paper usage from 10 reams every month to 10 every 6 months.

That’s the equivalent of 50,000 sheets of paper and around 6 trees saved every year!

To make up for the trees that we have used over the years, we are pledging to plant 6 trees a year to help the National Trust offset carbon in the atmosphere with their plant a tree fund.

Reducing Plastic

We may support businesses as they advance into modern accounting with Making Tax Digital, but we aren’t averse to moving backwards from single-use plastics.

Going back to glass milk bottles is a quick way to cut your carbon footprint. There are options to order and buy milk in glass bottles that can be returned and reused. We have been buying our milk from Rodda’s refill stations. You can find a station near you with their map!

Whyfield Beach Cleans

We are now equipped to host beach cleans at whatever chance we get.

On 22 September we hosted our first beach clean at Perranporth Beach. Our team were joined by friends, family, clients and even some of the West Cornwall Search and Rescue team.

With the Whyfield office now equipped with litter pickers, hi-vis jackets, biodegradable gloves and bin bags, our team can take off to the beach any day after work, ready to tackle littered beaches.

Look out for more organised beach cleans with us on our Facebook page. We welcome everybody to join us in the fight against disposables and single-use plastics.

Moving Forward

As a business, we know we have a responsibility to contribute to solving the climate crisis. Whether that’s by reducing our paper usage, encouraging our team to be more conscious of sustainable purchases or inviting our clients to join us on beach cleans.

Having a sustainability-focused business model can give you a lasting competitive advantage. Proving that you are committed to supporting the environment and tackling climate change will attract both new talent and customers to your business.

Having a strong sustainability strategy can even help to drive a business into new markets. The Government hope to create two million new green jobs across the UK by 2030. There is a market for sustainable jobs with more and more people training for them.

Working Toward Carbon Neutral

Now is the time to reduce carbon emissions and switch to renewable energy. We can all reach a point where we are at least offsetting the carbon emissions we have created.

Microsoft is a prime example of a business working toward its sustainability goals. They have pledged to be carbon negative by 2030. This means they want to do more than just create no emissions and have no carbon footprint. Microsoft wants to remove the amount of carbon that they have emitted as a business since it was founded in 1975.

What are you doing in your business to reduce your carbon footprint? Find us on social media and let us know!

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