A newly formed team is on a mission to help Ashe reduce its environmental impacts and fight the battle against climate change.

Led by Jim (James) Bisco, Ashe’s head of sustainability, the team meets monthly to discuss progress on the company’s journey towards net zero and to champion sustainability initiatives across the Group.

With Ashe’s carbon reduction plan and sustainability roadmap about to be published, the team are volunteers, representing all departments including business support, administration, site teams and the board. They come together – with a common purpose – to spread the word with colleagues and the supply chain, about the importance of making changes in our behaviours to minimise our carbon emissions and help us meet our sustainability targets.

The team has a dedicated newsletter to help communicate its activities and any new initiatives being adopted. They are also developing a Green Team Charter to help focus their activities and drive forward their mission.

Contracts manager Ben Wandless volunteered straight away when he heard about the team’s formation. He’s been an advocate for pushing the green agenda for a while and is pretty conscious about sustainability at home. As a new father, he has a very important reason for getting involved:

“At home, we do what we can to limit our impacts. We use reusable nappies and eco-friendly cleaning products, and we even have a wormery to recycle our food waste, but it’s really easy to overlook some wasteful habits that are harming our environment.

Ben wants to be as sustainable as possible at work too, where he can use his influence to make a difference on a larger scale. He said:

“As a contracts manager, it’s in my nature to question things to get a good result, so as a Green Team member, I’m keen to make sure that we aren’t victim to greenwashing and some of the bogus claims some manufacturers make about the eco benefits of their products.”

Ben’s acutely aware that although Ashe has implemented many sustainable practices at head office, there are 21 sites that all must play their part in reducing the company’s carbon footprint.

“On site, I remind people that it’s wasteful to leave doors open when the heating is on, and I’ve been encouraging switching off trace heating during the warmer months when it’s very unlikely that pipes will freeze in site accommodation. We’re monitoring our energy use so that we don’t have any machines on standby or idling unnecessarily. I’ve also been reminding people to drink tap water rather than buying plastic bottles.”

He concludes: “When I was 18, I visited the Great Barrier Reef, and I’m frightened to go back to see how much it has deteriorated since then. We’ve just had a baby and I really want the next generation to be able to enjoy our planet. It’s so important to fight climate change so I encourage anyone else who might be interested, to get involved with us on the Green Team.”

The team is currently working on designing sustainability information for sites and offices, promoting WEEE recycling and championing sustainability values throughout the business.