Empowering the BVA green team

Why did you want to get involved in the BVA green team?

Where I’ve worked previously, I was involved in similar groups, and with Facilities overseeing so many aspects of sustainability (waste, recycling, energy) it made perfect sense to be involved when the green group formed.

Is sustainability particularly important to you personally?

Absolutely, both at work and home. Being the Facilities Manager I’m involved in many aspects of sustainability within the building. We work closely with some recycling companies who are always a phone call away should we have any queries.

At home we recycle as much as possible. My 2 kids are in primary school and learn a great deal about the planet and how important sustainability is. As a family we participate in community litter picks twice a year, which focus on the Chessel Bay Nature Reserve near our home.

What does the green team do?

The group meet quarterly to discuss ideas and improvements across a wide range of environmental and sustainable topics. We put together in-depth communications for all staff, including the monthly green calendar, 6 monthly all staff update and presentations in staff workshops.

The group consists of staff from lots of different depts, and it is great way to come up with so many informative and creative ideas.

How did you work towards bronze accreditation?

We started off by meeting with IIE on site, and they outlined their vision and what is required at each different stage of accreditation. From there we were able to start planning our path to Bronze, working through the detailed member pack issued by IIE.

Over the next 8 months we work hard on producing an environmental policy, establishing the green team and ensuring we had a comprehensive recycling system in place. In addition to this we listed the resources we needed to monitor (gas, water, electricity & recycling) and ensure quarterly readings of the utilities we taken and logged. These readings would form part of the audit sheet to be completed with IIE.

We also needed to demonstrate examples of environmental projects (Food Procurement Policy & use of fair-trade projects in kitchens and for meetings), and examples of staff communication (6 monthly green team updates, presenting in staff workshops and circulating monthly recycling reports).

How did you go about gaining silver accreditation?

Work towards silver level accreditation started soon after our bronze audit. Having the steppingstones in place from bronze allowed us to build upon many of the items and expand upon them. We needed to monitor 2 additional resources and opted for general waste & food recycling).

Two more involved aspects of silver level included producing a carbon footprint calculator for the building and a travel policy for BVA.

In addition to this we set targets for improved energy efficiency and demonstrated progress throughout the year. We also included examples of further environmental projects, such as tree planting and use of sustainable office products (catering, cleaning & general stationery), and started to prepare agendas and circulate minutes of the green team meetings.

We felt it was important to go for silver as it was a logical step and building upon all the great work we had implemented over the previous year. It would also demonstrate our commitment to improving our standards and reaching our goals as an organisation around sustainability.

How difficult was it to do?

It certainly took a lot of effort and determination to achieved both bronze and silver. It can seem a little daunting at the start, but IIE offered lots of support and guidance to make the process easier. Silver was more time consuming as we had to highlight areas we had improved upon and start to produce reports and various documents. Overall though it was rewarding, as you start to see how much progress the organisation has made over the year.

What was the hardest part?

I’d probably say the start of the process, as although we had a number of factors already set-up (recycling streams etc) to actually achieve accreditation you have to follow the members pack from IIE. The pandemic also slowed progress down but did not derail us from meeting the audit deadline or achieving bronze.

Was having the support of other green team members helpful?

Absolutely, the accreditation would not have been possible without everyone playing a part and contributing. As much as I’m the person who goes through the audit with IIE and presents all our data and information, there is so much input from the entire group that allows me to do this.

Were colleagues supportive?

Yes, across BVA people were offering support and fully engaged in the process. From contributing ideas in staff workshops to lovely comments following the monthly green calendar or all staff updates. The green team definitely appreciate all the support.

The senior management team are also completely supportive. There is a member of SMT in the green group which is fantastic, and I produce quarterly updates for all of SMT.

How did it feel when you found out BVA had got silver accreditation?

Proud, happy and somewhat relieved! You never know for certain if you’ve done enough to move from bronze to silver, so to find out we had was certainly a mixture of emotions. Just being involved makes you proud, and to achieve bronze and silver is something all of BVA should be proud of.

What’s next?

Next up is doing our very best to move from silver to green level. Plenty of hard work ahead, but the green group will enjoy the challenge and see where it takes us.

For more sustainability focused blogs, resources and ideas, check out our #GreenTeamVet campaign page.