With age comes responsibility

Sharing Experience: David Dodds

With age comes responsibility

I’m not just saying this for the sake of fulfilling an editorial brief about altruism. The fact is that everyone at Sackers strives to improve continuously, for the benefit of the social and business communities in which we operate.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) might start with senior management, but it needs all employees to embrace it to succeed. When they get treated well themselves and see how the company goes the extra mile in their community, staff are pleased and proud to play their part in helping others.

We’re in a fortunate position to be able to support many initiatives, with those obviously following an environmental theme. For example, we recently answered the call to help with a large litter pick, donating a skip and sorting the waste for recycling at our plant, and we often donate skips as raffle prizes.

We regularly enjoy showing local school children around the facility to understand more about recycling and its benefits. We then offer a free skip for unwanted metal items to the school so families can offload their unwanted items. The total weight is then calculated, and the value is paid to the school, to help fund its projects.

Add the work we do to support local community groups and sports teams, and we think we’re striking a good balance when it comes to taking responsibility and educating the public about recycling.

On the road to carbon neutrality

Commercial waste management contracts are an important part of our business, and last year, we recycled 19,270 tonnes of commercial waste. Along with our metal recycling, we have a key role in supporting other businesses’ social and environmental responsibilities, so we offer free waste audits.

It would be strange if we didn’t put the same environmental demands upon ourselves. With that in mind, we decided to make Sackers carbon neutral by 2040, a full ten years before the Government’s 2050 net-zero target.

It’s a long journey, but we are already well on our way. We have solar panels installed and plans for more. We have a carbon committee consisting of managers from our transport, engineering, HR, H&S and procurement teams. Their decisions will impact our carbon emissions, and this collective responsibility focuses everyone’s minds.

Sackers is actively engaged in implementing the three-scope carbon reduction elements towards net-zero:

1. Cutting emissions from our operations and vehicle fleet.
2. Taking responsibility for our indirect emissions, like buying carbon zero electricity.
3. Requiring a carbon-reducing approach from our own supply chain, just as our bigger clients (local authorities, for example) demand it of us.

If your company is on the same road to reducing its carbon footprint, please get in touch with us to see how we can help with your scope three in waste services.