Favells Garage Ltd
Favells Garage Environmental issues
More and more we are being made aware that so much of what we do in every day life has an impact on the environment around us, both in the quality of the air we breath and also the earth that we rely so heavily on.
Here I would like to let you know how as a business we at Favell's Garage are trying to reduce that impact, or the 'footprint' that we leave at the end of the working day.
Electricity
At the beginning of 2005 we switched a proportion of our electricity to 'Good Energy'. This is an electricity supply company that sources all of its power from renewable supplies such as wind, wave, and solar power.
When we initially started to use Good Energy we were advised that it may be about 5 or 6 percent more expensive than the provider we had at that time. I can say that we have not noticed the extra cost during the year, in fact during the final quarter of 2005 we payed approximately 5 pounds more for our electricity than if we stayed with our previous supplier.
Between January and the end October we have cut our carbon dioxide emissions by about 7,400 kgs each year simply by switching our electricity supplier.
Heating
The heating of any workshop area efficiently is always a challenge due to the very nature of the work we do, with large doors opening and closing to get vehicles in and out, high ceilings to be able to lift the vehicles high enough to work on, and just the problem of heating such a large open space to a comfortable workable temperature. Some progress has been made however, the old boiler had become troublesome and inefficient, so when it got difficult to re-light that was the opportunity to try to address this area.
At the end of 2004 we had the latest specification oil heater fitted, which is thermostatically controlled so that when the workshop reaches temperature the heater cuts out until the work shop starts to cool down. Also in the highest part of the workshop roof space we have had fans fitted, so that as the warmest air rises up into the roof space, these fans blow it back into the working area thus keeping a more even temperature throughout the workshop. These fans are also thermostatically controlled so this process happens automatically when the workshop is warm. Another benefit is that during the hot weather we can manually turn these fans on and they provide a noticeable cooling effect.
Workshop Waste
All businesses and homes produce varying amounts of waste, what we have to do is find the 'best' way of dealing with that waste.
Engine oil
Used engine oil is not only a filthy substance to drain and dispose of, it also has environmental as well as health and safety concerns. We store our waste oil in old fuel tanks until we have a reasonable amount for collection. When there is enough waste oil for collection a tanker comes and sucks this out and takes it away for processing and recycling. Because of the recycling it is important that we keep the waste oil separate from any other liquid waste, e.g. anti freeze or brake fluid. These fluids need to be stored and disposed separately.
These waste oil collectors used to actually buy the oil from garages. But due to changes and improvements in the way they process our oil waste their costs have risen and this is no longer the case.
Oil Filters
Old oil filters are again a particularly messy item to deal with. These are drained of old engine oil and then stored in steel bins that are put aside for this purpose. When we have a number of these bins filled with used oil filters we then pay for a firm to collect and responsibly dispose of them.
There are a number of other waste products that we separate out have collected and dealt with in an environmentally responsible manner, these include;
Old tyres
Brake and clutch linings
Brake fluid
Old anti freeze and coolant
Car batteries
Scrap metal
All of our waste collectors are now registered with the 'Department Of Environment' and have to work with the waste in a manner that has been agreed is the best means of dealing with that waste. This requirement means that often there is a cost element to our selves in paying for the collection of these waste products. Unfortunately we therefore have no choice but to pass some of these costs on to our customers. So for some types of work that we carry out you will see 'environmentally safe disposal' charge. We hope that you will understand that this is an unavoidable expense in running a company that takes its responsibilities in this area seriously.
Paper
We do have a fair amount of paper waste, due to packaging, unwanted advertising and circulars etc. Regrettably we have not yet been able to find any one able to take away our waste paper for recycling. Firms are willing to deal with us if we produced a lot more waste paper, but we do not have the room to store the waste until we can fill a container sized skip. However we will keep looking and asking and hoping we can address this and find a satisfactory answer.
Good Energy can be contacted on 01249 766030
or at www.good-energy.co.uk
