B-Green | An Environmental Initiative
Environmental issues are addressed in the policies and strategies of the Burlodge organization and highlighted in the statements enclosed to the ISO 9001:2008 Quality System Certification which the Company maintains.
The company adopted a new initiative in 2008 called B-Green. In this company wide policy, Burlodge sets two main strategic priorities in place – first to improve its offices across the globe to become environmentally conscious and second to improve its manufacturing practices to reduce our overall carbon footprint and improve sustainability.
With our B-Green Office Stratgey, Burlodge recognizes the importance of conserving energy usage and minimizing the consumption of natural resources toward reducing the potential for global climate change. We are therefore committed to taking steps in all our offices to minimize the consumption of natural resources and energy when economically practical. The practice of running a service oriented business can be paper intensive. The production and disposal of paper consumes an extraordinary amount of energy and generates significant quantities of green house gas emissions. The life cycle of a ton of paper, from production to disposal in a landfill, results in the generation of about 11 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2)-green house gas emissions. Consequently, as part of our policy, we will continue to take simple and effective “best management” practice to improve our office paper management as economically feasible. Our operations also consume a significant quantity of energy resources. Energy consumption can account for more than 50% of green house gas emissions in the communities were our offices reside. We are therefore committed to improving our energy efficiency by taking simple steps such as turning off computers not in use to retrofitting our light fixtures to use energy efficient bulbs. Transportation is also a large source of green house gas emissions. The companies will continue to encourage employees to use public transportation where available. In addition, as our company vehicles come to the end of their leases we will renew leases with energy efficient and environmentally friendly vehicles.
The objectives of the ‘Green Office Initiative’ are
- To increase awareness of the staff on benefits and needs for ‘greening’ our performance;
- To communicate regularly (one every six months) results of our ‘green’ performance and provide update on the ‘greening’ practices in the office;
- To establish clear office management for ‘greening actions’;
- To increase reducing and saving of used resources (mainly of paper, energy, water);
- To maintain and improve current recycling system(s);
- To identify and apply ‘green procurement’ where possible;
- To create and utilize a monitoring and evaluation system; and
- To help improve the management of the hard copies of publications produced and received, so as to reduce paper wastage and free up shelving and storage space; and
- To identify and reduce Burlodge’s ‘carbon footprint’
With respect to our B-Green initiative at the Production Facility in Italy, the productive arm of the Burlodge organization is also in the process of qualifying for the ISO 14001:2004 environmental management Certification.
Burlodge strives to identify the environmental aspects of its products throughout their life cycle and to balance them against other factors, such as the intended use, performance, safety and health, cost, quality and regulatory requirements. The process of integrating environmental aspects into product design and development is a continuous effort, triggered also by the demand of Norms and Regulations which are deployed in the destination markets or are in the pre release stage.
Burlodge is active part of the Committees involved in suggesting the best practices and regulations guidelines within the EU (European Union) regulamentary bodies, with particular reference to energy efficiency performances legislation.
Burlodge guidelines for the design of environmentally sound products can be summarized as follows
- life cycle aspects – use of energy;
- minimize heat emissions and cooling requirements for the environment of installations;
- chemical emissions from materials and substances;
- energy efficiency;
- product lifetime extension;
- minimize use of consumables;
- noise emissions;
- material usage efficiency;
- end of life disassembly and materials reclaiming and recycling;
- hazardous substances avoidance;
- allergenic substances avoidance;
- strict usage of materials suitable for food contact in the relevant product areas
- product packaging.
On top of the product mandatory and voluntary Certifications
- “CE” marking for the European Union and associated Countries,
- “ETL” Marking for Safety – based on UL Norms - and Sanitation - based on NSF Norms - for the USA and Canada,
- CB Certification for other Countries like Japan (Denan Act) and Saudi Arabia (ICCP Saso),
- TUV-GS marking for a range of products for European Countries,
