18 April 2024
Minimising your suppliers can be an intimidating change, but facing it head-on doesn’t just contribute to a greener future – it also ensures your business’ ability to survive within it.
Through current media output and our own self-awareness we are more mindful that our natural environment and our most precious inheritance is under threat. This is an opportunity for organisations to look at their long-term approach in helping protect our world whilst taking steps to make a positive contribution to maintaining our natural environment.
Sustainability and technology
In traditional terms, digital technology and environmental sustainability seem mutually exclusive. Yet, the variables that drive them are unrelated. One is driven by technological changes and the other is a combination of climate and environmental instability. They cannot operate in isolation as without digital technology such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Virtual Reality (VR) it is hard for companies to generate, capture and analyse data. The implications of what we can do with this data are critical in identifying a sustainable agenda.
It is clear that printing remains an important part of many business processes and despite the advancements in digital communications, we are still a long way off from a true paperless office. At Apogee we continually look for ways to advance and aid organisations efforts to work towards reducing their print output and for some, the ultimate goal of a ‘paperless’ office.
The choices we make as an organisation and our mind-set towards finding technological advancements is deep-rooted in our own corporate policies. We make sure that all of our choices are in line with our environmental and Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR) policies. We are continually developing these to help our own organisations initiatives and in turn help our clients work towards a more sustainable environment whilst reducing their carbon footprint.
Working towards a cleaner safer world
We take pride in our world and value our home environment. The UK has some of the most wide-ranging landscapes and places of beauty, which nurtures and supports all forms of wildlife. As a country, we draw our most precious resources from the planet – food, water, our energy – for our growth. It is critical that we continue to discover methods that will support our clients CSR policies and help them make the next generation flourish whilst being conscious of our environment.
We hope that through our clients we can send the message that Apogee is an influence to bear in pursuit of a cleaner and safer world. We are leading the way in printing advancements with ‘follow me’ printing, Apogee’s Cloud Print (ACP) and our latest offering Apogee’s Remote Management Application (ARMA) along with our new partnership with PrintReleaf.ARMA technology is used to accurately measure client’s paper consumption, which integrates with the PrintReleaf platform to provide a live dashboard of our client’s reforestation. Combined together they create a live and measurable re-balancing of printing impact through reforestation projects in some of the most degraded regions around the world.
We consider ourselves to be setting an example for others to follow and we use this influence to help our clients make more sustainable choices. Significant progress has been made within Apogee’s service offerings and we continue to make tactical choices that showcase our commitment. We are dedicated to making the most of emerging technologies such as digital eco systems like ARMA, which with technical and internet advancements allows us to connect to clients printing devices and manage the consumables and services and in turn, reducing the footprint from service engineers and toner wastage.In 2019, Apogee led the way with Cloud Print. This technology moves away from the traditional pull print infrastructure and can solve many fundamental print pains. The technology allows organisations to reconfigure the print environment and reduce the reliance on servers and making better use of office space. Apogee’s Cloud Print (ACP) service adds immense value to our clients wanting to minimise costs and reduce the maintenance and ownership associated with managing multiple servers. ACP encourages organisations to unburden their IT department, whilst enabling downsizing and a centralised support and deployment leading to better control of usage and costs – resulting in a lessened impact on the environment.
Making Progress
We have already made progress in establishing a baseline for performance, waste and energy for 2019/2020 and we have by retained ISO 9001 Quality Management and 14001 Environmental Management accreditation.
Apogee have joined forces with HP’s Planet Partners Programme (PPP). The initiative aligns with Apogee’s objective to become more sustainable and introduce ‘greener’ ways of working and it is a key part of our Environmental Management System, certified to ISO14001.
We continue to comply with the UK’s government Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) and partnered with a new energy broker in Smarter Energy.
Through successfully achieving accreditation like the Contractors Health and Safety Assessment Scheme (CHAS), we are aiming to drive a more sustainable future for the industry.
Our goals for 2020
All of Apogee’s environmental and sustainability objectives are factored into every aspect of the business for both short and long-term gains. As we uphold our support for ‘superheroes’ to maintain compliance standards and champion sustainability including encouraging clients to sign up for the PrintReleaf reforestation program. For example, all senior managers will be making a personal commitment to reduce our environmental impact. Procurement of goods and services in Apogee is sustainably driven, ensuring that potential impacts are minimised, if not eliminated before they enter the business.
For 2020, our main focus is to:
Reduce direct environmental impacts from our operations by implementing the recommendations from the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) and moving up the waste hierarchy through partnership with progressive partners and smart procurement
Reduce indirect environmental impacts within our value chain and create positive social and economic impacts through carbon insetting programs and use of smart technology
Collaborate and engage with our stakeholders to address common issues of concern for mutual benefit
Maintain our accreditation to ISO 14001:2015
Review business standards in line with changes in legislation and industry best practice
In addition, 2020 will see Apogee create a network of sustainability champions called ‘Superheroes’ who will help maintain and embed business standards to improve compliance and environmental performance.
To this end, our internal programmes will focus on:
Alternative fuel vehicles
Comprehensive energy use reduction
Waste elimination
Resource recovery through reuse and recycling
Ownership through collaboration and engagement with stakeholders.
Advocates for continuous improvements
We are committed to adopting and maintaining a framework of corporate policies, processes and controls for the effective management and delivery of all our solutions including the environmental aspects arising from the same.
Apogee will champion sustainability development across the organisation through its managed print and outsourced services, digital documents solutions, digital print and reprographics and forensic technology solutions to lead and innovate where we can with new and improved technical solutions for our organisation internally and externally to enable all to meet their CSR goals.
Forensic Technology and E-Disclosure (FTE) technology we help our clients with innovative and emerging solutions that continue to gain capabilities with the potential to increase the speed and efficiency of how they work, lessening the burden on the need for manual processes.
The importance of these developing technologies, which help with forensic searches and e-discovery, cannot be overlooked when considering the environment and we will continue to find ways to help clients develop a more consistent sustainable approach to their work.
We will report on progress annually and refresh the plan periodically to make sure that our actions continue to target the right improvements and make a real difference towards our world.
What can we all do to help?
Advances in technology are making the step towards digital transformation even easier to use electronic documents without printing them but changing behaviour can be a difficult task. Making some small changes to the way employees print can help contribute to reducing not only the organisations impact, but also world impact.
Even making the smallest of decisions such as choosing to read your document online can affect the environment a lot more than you expect. The choice to drive or cycle to work, the bags we use to carry groceries, the fuel we burn to keep warm or the transport we use to get around add up to a big impact on the environment. Organisations can start by encouraging employees and championing the change throughout the business, promote, and share best practices. These changes in our daily decisions can make a tangible and immediate difference.
We must tread more lightly on our planet, use its resources more wisely and reduce the waste we generate. We must continue to look at ways to reduce our contribution to pollution and broaden our recycling. We all have much more still to do in order to protect our efforts into changing our environment for the better.
If you would like to know more on Apogee’s CSR policies or how we can help your organisation become more sustainable in its operations., please contact one of the team by filling out the contact form below.
