Three Scottish organisations that are driving change by working towards transforming waste into valuable resources by 2030

Through the initiative, organisations collaboratively work towards transforming waste into valuable resources and creating intelligent waste management solutions.

Amanda Mackenzie OBE, chief executive of Business in the Community, says: “In 2030, we want to be able to look back and say 2019 was the year that businesses started to seriously challenge the way they use their resources.

“Through our Waste to Wealth Commitment, we are already seeing Scottish businesses stepping up. There is not a single business in the country which can afford to look the other way and together we can create an impressive impact.”

Trustify

Trustify is the latest company to join more than 40 organisations in committing to BITC’s Waste to Wealth scheme.

The Central Scotland-based managed security service provider was established in 2015 by a management team with more than 20 years’ experience in cyber security services.

Steve Boland, the firm’s chief operating officer, says: “At Trustify, we look at the world through the lens of environmental sustainability. To a large extent it is important because, on a personal level, we are all very passionate about the environment and climate change. Therefore we are all very committed to trying to do everything that we can as individuals and as a business to try and help.”

Boland believes that advancing the cause is all about taking small steps, such as not using plastic cups or single-use bottles. Rather than this daily waste, Trustify ensures that everyone on the firm has reusable drinks containers.

The company also prides itself on renting only green office spaces across its Edinburgh, Glasgow, London, Milan and Los Angeles sites, all of which are easily accessible for staff members to commute to by the simple act of walking.

Each location is also 100 per cent paperless, thanks to Trustify’s Smail secure e-mail service, which provides audited, smart document exchange.

Boland adds: “We believe, as a company, that one of the biggest things that we can do is help others make that change, which is why we are really proud of our secure e-mail service.

“For those companies in the finance sector or the legal sector, where it is still very much practice to send large amounts of paper around the country to get people’s physical signatures, we believe that Smail enables them to move much more towards a paperless environment, even for secure document exchange.”

Trustify’s mantra, “Secure everything, always” pours into its beliefs for working towards a sustained natural environment, and by signing up to the Waste to Wealth Commitment, the firm is helping to secure it for future generations.

Rabbie’s Trail Burners

Since 2008, Edinburgh-based Rabbie’s Trail Burners has operated an internal carbon tax, where for every tonne of CO2 the company uses £10 is donated to environmental projects.

Distribution of the monies is prioritised by the most popular areas among its passenger clients and Rabbie’s has raised more than £120,000 for various charities, including The Scottish Seabird Centre and Staffin Community Trust.

The group tour provider uses mini-coaches to minimise pollution and encourages its team members to undertake outside volunteer work as much as possible. Rabbie’s staff regularly help to clean beaches and teach courses concerned with how to keep the world a beautiful place.

Robin Worsnop, chief executive of the firm, which has also signed up to BITC’s Waste to Wealth Commitment, says: “We are very passionate about the environment and it is the fundamental reason why our visitors come.

“We have to protect it and so within the business we try and measure and minimise and take decisions that are long-term sustainable. We look at longevity and recycling.

“It is just part of our commitment to helping to preserve our most amazing asset – nature.”

CalMac

CalMac passenger and vehicle ferries sail 27 routes through some of Scotland’s most impressive locations, passing the stunning coastlines of the Clyde and Hebridean islands.

To protect the environment it operates in, CalMac has committed to carrying out four comprehensive steps which are detailed in the publically-owned company’s Environmental Management Plan:

To reduce its relative carbon footprint by 5 per cent by the end of September this year.

To reduce the company’s operational water consumption by 10 per cent by 2020.

To deliver site-specific biodiversity action plans at 50 per cent of the organisation’s manned operation sites by 2020.

To increase recycling rates by a minimum of 15 per cent by 2020.

CalMac’s undertaking combines a green travel approach, waste minimisation and regard for the health of marine animals.

Klare Chamberlain, the company’s environmental manager, says: “The environment that we work in is amazing, it is what people come to the West Coast for.

“As a key community partner we have a duty to try and protect it as much as we possibly can.”

This article appeared in the spring 2019 edition of Vision. A digital version can be viewed here