Green Memo

I strive to live and work as sustainably as possible and as such have the below in place for Sharp and Sassy.

Electricity & Heating of Premises

Electricity provider is currently Energia and the energy is from 100% renewable sources, meaning all electronic devices e.g. computer, monitor, printer etc will not create a carbon footprint when in use.

Unfortunately, heating is oil burner, however the boiler is grade A for efficiency.

When devices are battery operated, rechargeable batteries are used e.g. computer mouse, keyboard, graphics pad etc. Disposable batteries are more expensive in the long run and just add to landfill, can leak and become toxic to nature.

Electronic Devices

If a device breaks, I will do the following

• Attempt to fix the issue
• If it isn't possible, look for a suitable refurbished replacement
• As a last resort, buy new replacement from a company with good sustainability goals

If the device works but not in a good enough capacity for the business, I would

• donate to a local charity or organisation who will be able to use it
• If that isn't possible, give to a company who can recycle the parts

Printing

Paper & Card

Paper and card is sourced with the FSC certification (https://fsc.org/en) ensuring that it is sourced sustainability, workers are protected and received fair pay and animals are protected as well as plants.

Ink

• Ink is used in the most sustainable way as my printer has individual colour cartridges so I just replace a colour when it is empty.
• When printing draft and test pages, I do things like removing the black squares from around the crosswords to reduce the ink wastage.

Wastage

First and foremost my goal is to ensure as little wastage as possible. However this is not always possible so the following protocols are in place for wasted stock:

• Donating any subpar items e.g. paper got creased, ink blotches/smudges to local charities, organisations and individuals who will still get use out of them. If you would like to sign up to be on this list, even an individual, please contact me
• Sometimes it is not possible to donate, e.g ripped paper from a paper jam, this will be either shredded and used as packaging or recycled as a last resort.
• The company I purchase from has a return policy to recycle the ink cartridges.

The first goal is to reduce the amount of waste as much as possible, then donate anything usable, and if there is no possible use, recycle it.

The few things that will not be possible to recycle, will go to a zero landfill waste disposal company that converts bin waste into energy.

Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.