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Environmental Policy
Making A Difference…
Leads Direct takes its responsibility for the environment very seriously, and has had policies in place for many years – even before environmental responsibility and recycling were as popular and commonplace as they are today.
All our staff are informed about our policies on joining, and adhering to those policies is an important part of their contract of employment.
Consumption Reduction
Leads Direct has led the way for many years in reducing consumption in every possible way. A key part of our policy is our 100% electronic invoicing and ordering policy – all Invoices, Sales Orders, Confirmation, Purchase Orders and Remittance Advice notes are sent electronically saving thousands of sheets of paper, envelopes, printer ink, and the environmental damage caused by the delivery vans, planes, and trains used by the postal service.
Recycling:
Leads Direct Ltd is classed as a Large Producer of WEEE under the regulations, and is a member of the Comply Direct producer compliance scheme which ensures that we meet all the necessary regulations for Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment. Our scheme membership number is CD01/01129 and our Environment Agency Registration Reference is WEE/MM4084AAIf you are seeking information on how to recycle items purchased from Leads direct, please see our WEEE Recycling page for more information.
As a company Leads Direct takes many measures to assist with recycling because of the benefits it provides to the environment. Our policy is to recycle absolutely anything that can be recycled either ourselves or where that is not possible using local facilities.
- Packaging Materials: Wherever possible we use recycled packaging materials, and we even collect packaging from other small businesses in our area and re-use that to reduce the amount that goes to landfill and incineration. Packaging used to deliver goods to us is also used to send goods to our customers whenever possible. Recyclable materials that are not in good enough condition to be re-used are sent for recycling in line with our policies.
- Cardboard: We try to re-use boxes whenever we can, and as often as we can, but eventually they are no longer usable. Any boxes that cannot be re-used are flattened and sent for recycling. Even cardboard inserts and boxes from food eaten by our staff are collected and recycled.
- Glass: All glass bottles and jars are washed and sent for recycling.
- Metal, Cable Offcuts, etc.: When making custom cables small pieces of wire and solder are left over. These are collected along with metal cable reel cores, damaged components, and even food cans and staples extracted from packaging and paper products, and sent for recycling.
- Power Cells: Rechargeable cells are used whenever possible. Batteries and other failed power cells are routinely collected and taken to a special recycling centre for disposal. This prevents leakage and damage that would occur if they were sent for disposal with normal waste.
- Paper: Normal paper such as correspondence, junk mail, invoices, delivery notes and so on is shredded, newspapers and magazines boxed, and sent for recycling. Where possible this is done using facilities that provide charitable donations, for example to Great Ormond Street Childrens Hospital, in recognition of the effort.
- Email: For many reasons, one of which is the reduction in waste, we do not normally send paper invoices. Communications are, whenever possible, sent by email. This saves literally tons of paper each year.
- Containers: Plastic Bottles and Tins from the kitchens are compressed, plastic bags are sorted and packed. All are then recycled.
- Electronic Waste: Used computers and other electronic products are sent to authorised recycling centres for safe disposal.
- Fluorescent Tubes, Light Bulbs, Low Energy Bulbs: Wherever possible these are taken to authorised recycling centres for safe disposal.
Transport:
Our staff are actively encouraged to use bicycles or to walk whenever possible – at the time of writing half of Leads Direct staff regularly use the bicycle as their daily transport to work. When this is not possible we encourage the use of public transport. Leads Direct does not own any vehicles at the time of writing, but does use couriers and Royal Mail for delivery services and occasionally has to rent or borrow vehicles for stock movement or other business related tasks. This is unfortunately unavoidable, but we do encourage our shipping suppliers to be as economical as possible.
Only a tiny fraction of the waste we produce that cannot be recycled eventually goes for conventional disposal – we estimate significantly less than ten percent overall. Between November 2008 and January 2009 an average of just one black bin bag of waste per week was sent for disposal, with everything else being re-used or sent for recycling.
Power Consumption:
We encourage our staff to minimise power consumption wherever possible, and have moved to lower power devices whenever possible. For example, all staff use LCD displays instead of CRT as they have a much lower consumption level. All staff are instructed to switch off unused devices where possible. Low consumption lighting is fitted wherever it is safe and sensible to do so, and timers are used to automatically switch off any unattended devices when possible and practical.
If you need any further information please email our sales team or telephone one of our hotline numbers:
UK: Local Rate: 0345 193 0615 (many lines)
UK: STD: 01273 515247 (only one line)
International: +44 1273 510147
