Tread Lightly is a series of initiatives designed to reduce our impact on the environment. We've made a commitment to make some big changes to the way we work, with the ultimate aim of reducing our carbon emissions by 25% between now and 2012.
To actually make this happen we have conducted a company wide audit, focussing on areas across the business where we can make improvements. These improvements range from the cups we use to serve you coffee on-board, the way we communicate with you, to how we wash our trains.
From this we've come up with a 10 point plan of clear, measurable actions. The plan is based on three principles: reducing usage wherever possible, sourcing supplies responsibly, and recycling what is used or produced. It includes:
- Reducing paper usage by switching to e-tickets and bar code ticketing downloaded to mobile phones; undertaking direct marketing via email and web-based information; and where paper is unavoidable, sourcing from sustainable forests or recycled paper, and recycling all used paper
- Separating, sorting and recycling all on-board waste, including food waste, by the most appropriate methods
- Ensuring on-board disposable items (e.g. cups, plates, napkins) are either biodegradable (made from maize extract) or fully recyclable
- Replacing train air-conditioning refrigerants with the less environmentally damaging chemical R134a by 2008 - seven years before the EU deadline
- Refurbishing or de-branding and recycling used staff uniforms
- Sourcing on-train food from local sources in UK, France or Belgium wherever available, including organic suppliers, or Fairtrade for overseas supplies
- Ensuring that lighting, heating and mechanical plant at stations, depots and offices are as energy efficient as possible; developing a 'switch-off' culture; and sourcing electricity from greener sources of energy
- Reusing water from train-washing at the new Temple Mills maintenance depot, and investing in rainwater collection to further reduce consumption
- Sorting and recycling waste from stations, offices and the Temple Mills maintenance depot, with the goal of zero disposal to landfill; and with 80 per cent of waste to be recycled by 2009
- Helping travellers reduce CO2 emissions when accessing Eurostar services by providing journey planner information and ticket sales for public transport options, and developing new travel initiatives and partnerships
We will continue to set fresh targets across our operations and will report on these annually, so you can check on our progress. This is just the start of our journey and we believe that everyone has a part to play, so we're proud to be able to help you tread lightly.
