The HFM Strategy to Reduce the use of Unnecessary Consumables

Our main objective at HFM is to minimise the affect our business operations have on the environment, and if we can do this EconomoLogically, more the better.

Over the past few months we’ve been assessing how we can further improve on our environmental credentials and identified paper as a consumable which is in many cases, not necessary.

In order to assess whether paper is a source of pollution which can be reduced by us, I first did a bit of web searching.

I was surprised to find that some of the short term fixes we’ve employed in the past have produced little or no net benefit. One such fix was reducing the size of paper we use for web delivery receipts from A4 to A5. This seems like a good idea on the face of it. However, as we weren’t able to source recycled paper in A5, we were actually contributing more CO2 by using paper from virgin fibres, due to the production of recycled paper producing 38% less CO2 than brand new paper.

We’re massive advocates of the reduce or eradicate theory when thinking of unnecessary consumption. So, how to reduce our paper usage even further in the most effective way possible?

We employ lots of technology at HFM, so have electronic copies of almost everything we do. Accounting is now all done electronically. Procurement, which is a huge use of unnecessary paper is, after much pestering of one of our largest suppliers, now paper free. The holding company which own the importer in question, Fyffe’s, has finally moved to providing electronic copies of all invoices to us - proof indeed that changes can be made to big companies from much smaller businesses applying pressure! This in turn reduces their usage of paper, but also benefits us. By the end of an average week, we have usually accumulated over 1kg of paper which is good only for recycling. Recycling is of course a worthy place for unwanted paper to end up. Until you realise that most commercial waste contractors burn it. This form of recycling is classed as energy reclamation, so not an entirely wasted resource. But certainly not devoid of CO2 emissions.

Taking the UK government's conversion factors for carbon emissions, just 100,000 sheets of A4 paper has a carbon footprint of 6,000kg of CO2 and requires eight trees and 2,000kWh of energy to produce. The same paper after having been recycled seven times, produces 3,200kg of carbon over its lifetime.

When calculating the carbon footprint of a page printed with a laser printer, one page produces approximately 1g of CO2. (Calculated using the following formula: per kilowatt hour, 474g CO2, or 7.9g of CO2 per minute is produced. A laser printer that prints 10 pages per minute with 1.3KW causes 7.9g CO2 x 1.3KW = 10.27g CO2)

We use around 700 pages per week in line with our deliveries, so are responsible for nearly 43kg CO2 emissions per week, or 2200kg of CO2 per year from this frequently overlooked activity alone. (Calculated on the basis that one sheet of plain A4 paper is accountable for 60g CO2, then adding 1g CO2 to account for the printing process)

Over the course of a year, the above figure is equivalent to an average UK car travelling 10,000 miles! (based on average CO2 emissions per car in the UK being 138.4 grams per km (or 221.4 grams per mile), according to 2020 data from the Department for Transport.

Eradicate where possible

then Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

We like to challenge the norms at HFM, so we’ve set about devising a strategy to remove paper from our deliveries. All web orders have email confirmations to our customers, so if it was ever required, a copy is easily obtainable on an electronic device, assuming the recipient is technically able to do find it.

Of course, we’d rather not be overly prescriptive about whether our customers require a paper copy of the receipt with their order, so there will be an option at the checkout to have a paper copy included.

This is just one aspect of the continuous improvement of our environmental impact we are continually trying to achieve and we’re going to trial this over the next couple of months, so if your home delivery receipt is emailed to you as a pdf with scrawl from an Apple Pen on it, don’t be alarmed!

Thank you for reading.

Jason