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The sustainability council is bearing fruit!
Just before Easter, we put together a sustainability council at Norske Backer AS,which consists of colleagues from various of our departments. There are opportunities here for everyone to come up with proposals for measures that we can implement in the company – whether the proposals come from others outside the council or through the members themselves.
Before the summer, we had a meeting, where I was told that they wanted a better arrangement for source sorting in the factory. The hope was that it would be easier to be able to sort correctly and avoid everything going into the residual waste bins.
After some discussion and assessment, we found that the best solution would be to set up a recycling station in the middle of the factory, and removed all the other residual waste bins that we didn’t have to have in certain departments.
The recycling station is now ready, and we have received bins for cardboard and paper, plastic, residual waste, and food waste at the station. All other waste cans have been removed, to avoid these being used for unsorted waste. The recycling stations are marked with large and clear signs, which should be visible from almost everywhere in the factory.
This is just one of the exciting measures I can announce that are in the works!
We are also making progress in our action plan!
In March, I set up an action plan for 2023. This is a detailed plan with concrete measures that we will investigate and, at best, implement here throughout the year. The measures are distributed among different employees based on their areas of responsibility, and with deadlines for when we will investigate and possibly implement the measures.
Some of the measures do not require investigation, only action, and were implemented immediately. These included closing doors, turning off PCs completely and turning off lights when we go out during the day, or reducing the temperature rather than opening windows, etc. Other measures require more investigation to ensure that it is feasible. This includes, among other things, solar panels, electric car chargers and upgrading machinery.
And I can happily say that we have implemented both some major and minor measures!
We have installed ten electric car chargers, where it will be more profitable for employees to charge their cars than at stations.
As mentioned earlier, we have set up recycling stations in the mechanical department and in the factory.
We have received clarification on the solar panel and are waiting for approval and installation! I will update as soon as this is in place.
We have ordered in thermos bottles for all employees, to reduce the use of disposable cups and glasses for water, while at the same time every employee gets fresh and cold water that stays cool for longer!
I look forward to further updating on our work and progress with the action plan!
Regards from Oda
Oda Beate Lerheim
Sustainability and marketing coordinator
+47 418 47 763
oda.lerheim@norskebacker.no
