Building sustainable workplaces
For businesses, adopting more eco-friendly practices while remaining cost-effective is a tricky balancing act.
Yet with a plastic packaging tax imminent, it’s more essential than ever that your company makes sustainable choices. So let’s explore how your business can go greener in 2022.
What’s the plastic packaging tax?
As part of the UK’s commitment to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050, the government is introducing a tax on plastic packaging.
From 1st April 2022, businesses which import or manufacture 10 tonnes or more of plastic packaging in a year will have to pay extra. The rate will be £200 per tonne, and it applies only to packaging that contains less than 30% of recycled content.
There are some exceptions, for medical products for example. So find out if your business needs to register for the tax at the government website.
The sustainability agenda
Of course, plastic packaging and recycling are not the only sustainability concerns for businesses. Energy efficiency, transport emissions, water usage, raw materials – the areas where your company might need to make changes are wide-ranging.
And that can be part of the problem: you don’t know where to start!
Plus, you may well have other worries, too. A December 2021 survey for NatWest found that the proportion of SMEs which said that improving sustainability was a high priority had dropped from 44% to 41% in a year. For large companies, it had risen from 57% to 60%.
For SMEs, Covid-19 and the rising costs of energy and raw materials were taking precedence over climate change and the environment.
However, as NatWest’s head of business banking Andrew Harrison points out, these factors might not be exclusive.
He said: “It’s been a challenging 18 months for UK SMEs, and not surprising therefore that the climate agenda has slipped back on the agenda for some small businesses.
“But it’s important that SMEs know that sustainability measures can boost their recovery, and even fuel their growth, for example through increasing efficiency, lowering energy bills and by future-proofing their operations.”
Improving sustainability in the workplace
And for many businesses, the new tax tallies with their sustainable beliefs.
At DMG, our eco-friendly principles are woven into our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy, and have helped us gain industry-standard ISO 14001 accreditation.
It means that by the end of 2022, our warehouses will be zero waste to landfill. We’re reducing single-use plastics by 10%, and introducing eco-friendly packaging.
We’re also rolling out energy-saving measures reducing our consumption by 30%; replacing our delivery fleet with greener, more efficient vehicles; and only working with suppliers who can prove good environmental and ethical trading standards.
By offering smart supplier consolidation – one single point of sourcing for a multitude of products and services – we can reduce the number of deliveries taking place and cut down on carbon output.
So if you’re keen to boost the sustainability of your supply chain, take a look at what we can offer.
DMG sustainable product ranges
Among our many eco-friendly product lines are chlorine-free copier paper from the Woodland Trust, produced using energy from waste material which involves no carbon dioxide.
We also offer numerous biodegradable office products, including plastic cutlery that’s perfect for business lunches. And for storage and filing, check out our recycled plastic boxes and desktop products.
DMG can help your workplace go greener, so get in touch today.
