Environment and Sustainability

Our Environmental Policy

At Teachers Building Society, we seek excellence in everything that we do, and this extends to committing to keep the environmental impact of our operations to a minimum in addition to contributing to the welfare of the local environment wherever possible. Check out our full Environmental Policy here.

How has COVID-19 reduced our carbon footprint?

Although the Coronavirus pandemic has been an inexplicably difficult time for many of us, reports of cleaner bodies of water and a reduction in air pollution not just in the UK but across the world got us thinking about how we may have contributed to the reduction in CO₂emissions during this period.

With the majority of our colleagues now working from home and developing even more paperless ways of working, and most meetings now taking place virtually, we are delighted to report the following:

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Our Environmental Commitment

In June 2018, Teachers Building Society established an internal “Environmental Committee” to look at ways to reduce waste and improve upon our commitment to looking after the planet from an environmental standpoint. Our Chief Executive, Simon, is an active member of this committee and we meet frequently to discuss what more we could be doing.

Some of the initiatives we have been working on include:

Bags for Life

We provide each of our members and our colleagues with a “bag for life” to help diminish the need for single-use plastic carrier bags.

Single-use Plastic Reduction

In our office, we swapped our paper coffee cups for eCoffee cups, plastic water cups for reusable water bottles and plastic drinks stirrers to wooden in an effort to cut down on single-use plastic.

Recycling Station

We have several recycling stations in our office for items such as crisp packets, chocolate wrappers, plastic pens and milk bottle tops, all of which can be recycled at our local centre for the benefit of local charities.

TREE PLANTING

We held a tree planting session with Moors Valley Country Park to replace the number of trees that we utilised in printing over the previous year.

Beach Cleans

We are conducting beach cleans during working hours in partnership with Leave Only Footprints at local beaches including Sandbanks and Bournemouth to remove litter and other plastic waste from our shorelines.

LED Lighting

In June 2019 we replaced the existing halogen lighting in our office building to LED lighting to reduce energy usage.

Our accreditations to date:

Our efforts have not gone unrecognised by local organisations and we are delighted to have been accredited by Litter Free Coast and Sea, Wimborne War on Waste, and Surfers Against Sewage.

Environment & Sustainability