Environmental Policy

INTRODUCTION

It is our policy at The Travel Bureau to comply with all the relevant environmental legislation and to strive to continually improve our performance to minimise our effect upon the environment. Our staff staff are asked to respect this policy.

AIMS/OBJECTIVES

We continually aim to improve our environmental policy by:

  • saving power – ensuring all office equipment is powered down and light switches set to off when not required;
  • energy saving boiler for heating water;
  • energy saving water heater installed for drinkable hot water;
  • energy efficient hand dryers rather than linen/paper towels;
  • reducing waste through re-use and recycling in line with UK legislation for WEEE;
  • using recycled paper where practical and cartridges and toners which can be recycled;
  • recycling of plastic bottles and cans;
  • receiving and responding to customer enquiries via e-mail, receiving and storing customer purchase order in electronic format thus reducing paper usage and costs;
  • implementation of a ‘file free’ policy, increasing efficiency and productivity and drastically reducing paper usage;
  • where use of paper is unavoidable, we aim to recycle and reuse;
  • sending documents, invoices, statements, tickets and general information, where possible, electronically cutting down on need for non essential packaging;
  • noise pollution reduction with document printers located in a separate area of the office so as to impact as little as possible on the staff;
  • no smoking policy on the premises;
  • carrying out fire risk assessment, smoke alarms are installed and maintained. All staff are made aware of the procedure and how to react in the event of a fire
  • educating, training and motivating staff and customers to work in an environmentally responsible manner and to play a full part in developing new ideas and initiatives;
  • communicating openly with staff regarding environmental policies and best practice and co-operating with our customers to develop and promote environmentally sound practices;
  • promoting responsible travel – with carbon emission comparisons and reporting, we enable our customers to make an informed decision on the mode of transport and the direct impact their own travel has upon the environment;
  • adopting a green travel policy which promotes the use of more sustainable modes of transport by Travel Bureau employees travelling on company business;
  • encouraging eco friendly working practices and encouraging others to have awareness and regard for environmental issues;
  • developing eco friendly holidays
  • use of the ‘Go Green’ Fuel card

THE TRAVEL BUREAU AS A SERVICE PROVIDER

In carrying out our activities and obligations as a service provider of travel arrangements to our customers, we recognise that modes of transport in most forms have a direct impact on our environment. In fact ‘getting there’ is not, in itself, the whole picture as additional services such as car rental and hotel accommodation all impact on local environmental issues. Thankfully, due to direct and indirect pressures made by travellers, the majority of our suppliers recognise that to retain customer loyalty and play their part in reducing ‘pollution’ they must strive to implement environmental friendly polices. Suppliers all do this in different ways but hopefully with the same results.

AIRLINES

Two key issues identified for the airline industry are:

  • The local environmental impact of aircraft noise and emissions around airports;
  • The global climate change effect of carbon dioxide and other aircraft emissions.

They strive to impact on these issues by concentrating on four key elements:

  • Reductions at source – quieter more efficient aircraft;
  • Operational procedures;
  • Operational restrictions;
  • Land use planning.

Via The Travel Bureau website www.travelbureaugosforth.co.uk, we offer a link enabling our customers to calculate the carbon emissions they have contributed to the atmosphere due to flight travel. Suggestions are offered to offset these omissions and become ‘carbon neutral’.

HOTELS

Power saving switches that are only activated when guests are in rooms; Re using laundry items where practical e.g. guest towels; Using water efficiently by installing water saving features; Subject to local conditions, using renewable energy sources.

CAR RENTAL

  • Modern fleets with resultant low sulphur emissions and better fuel consumption;
  • Range of smaller engine models;
  • Unleaded fuel models;
  • Complying with local country strict environmental legislation.

TRAIN OPERATING COMPANIES

  • Modern fleets with bio-diesel fuels

When making rail reservations via our online rail booking system, business travellers can calculate and compare the carbon cost of alternative modes of transport. Post trip reporting enables travel managers to track carbon dioxide emissions and ultimately neutralize their impact through carbon offsetting.

WASTE ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT (WEEE)

The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Regulations aim to reduce the amount of this waste going to landfill and improve recovery and recycling rates. The Travel Bureau must comply with the regulations that are in force as we have a legal ‘duty of care’ to ensure there are no problems associated with such disposal.

We will ensure that we will only use registered waste carrier and disposal businesses and retain the relevant certificates and transfer notes and have identified 2 companies within our immediate locality that can arrange to collect and recycle. These are:

  1. Tank Cleaning Services Ltd, Nest Road, Felling, Gateshead, NE10 0ES Tel – 0191 438 6936
  2. Hughes Waste Management Ltd, Old Stone Road, East Cramlington, Northumberland, NE23 6XW Tel – 01670 734087

With regards to our computers, these will be collected by our 24/7 IT support technicians and returned to their premises. If possible, they will clean the hard drive in accordance with Data Protection and rebuild. If the hard drive is damaged and therefore retrieval of data is not possible, the electronic equipment will be collected by qualified personnel and transferred to a waste disposal unit.

RESPONSIBILITY

The responsibility for the implementation, monitoring and development of these guidelines lies with the Board of Directors.

REVIEW

We will be managing the review and revision of our environmental objectives over the coming year whilst assessing the potential implementation of an externally audited Environmental Management System.

This has been recently changed from an annual review due to the fast moving and ever changing nature of environmental research and guidelines.

Changes to legislation are complied with.

Updated May 2008 (to include WEEE)