Sustainability goals: Responsible consumption and production

The UN Sustainable Development Goals are a collection of 17 global goals adopted by all United Nations Member States. They are designed to be a “blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all”.

Every few weeks we will share Here’s progress on one of these goals. Last month we were focused on Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production.

“Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.” 

Let’s look at how Here has been a significant local employer for the last few years.

The chart below shows the carbon emission impact from al of Here’s purchases. To measure this, we must categorise all of Here’s purchases into types and apply different carbon factors per group, depending on their impact on the environment. Here’s biggest category by far is “Services” where we purchase some kind of service from a supplier. This could be a professional service such as accounting or legal, of physiotherapy services, or courier services.

In 19/20 we had the Wellbeing service, and Benfield, the latter which we also had until the end of July 2021. Our consumption has reduced dramatically since then but has plateaued despite having less people. We will be looking at this by service over the year and working with teams to see where we can reduce the carbon impact.

What else have we done to promote responsible consumption and production?

For our employees:

• Our twice-weekly free vegan lunches for staff at 177 office have not only provided a sustainable way for our employees to have lunch, but also introduced to many vegan recipes and allowed them to experience how tasty they can be.
• As well as using local suppliers where possible, we bulk buy our office refreshment supplies from  a co-operative Infinity Foods. We also buying our stationary in bulk to reduce delivery carbon impact.
• Our electricity energy consumption is from Octopus which is 100% sustainable energy, we also have solar panels on roof.
• We recycle as much as possible in the office, including food waste, batteries and vapes. In 23/24, the amount we recycled went down by 19% but the amount we sent to landfill went down by 5% too.

• In 2020 we switched everyone to using laptops, which consumes 80% less energy than  desktops. We also limited the use of screens at home to one, which reduces our consumption and personal energy use.
• We switched most of our printers to print in black and white
• For our participation in Pride last year, we made sure that our purchasing was sustainable,  sustainably sourced T Shirts and resources that can be reused for subsequent events.
• For off-sites and awaydays we have been re-thinking our venue choice to use local venues and those with better public transport links to reduce the carbon travel impact. Where possible, we actively encourage lift-sharing. Board meetings are now held at the Worth Corner Business Centre rather than Spithurst Hub to reduce the carbon impact. After comparing the data between the travel to Spithurst and the new location in Crawley so far in 2024, we have seen a reduction of 70% in the volume of carbon generated by this travel (from 121.5 kg of CO2 to 35.5kg of CO2).

For our patients:  

We encourage responsible consumption and disposal of medical supplies with our provision of NHS services. This will be an area of focus for Here in 24/25.

Transition to animations and website and apps for MSK, but also need hard copy to enable accessibility. Aim to measure carbon impact of difference ways of accessing advice.

For our wider community: 

Here has been conducting a review of suppliers to encourage us to choose suppliers who are:

• Small (less than 50 employees)
• Local
• A social enterprise
• Have green credentials
• Are modern slavery cognizant
• Pay the Real Living Wage

What do we plan to do?   

• In 24/25 we plan to work with all our services to review how we can be more responsible in our consumption of medical supplies and in their disposal. We hope to work with other local teams to share best practice and supplier knowledge. Lesley Jay and Kristin Francis have already joined the Greener Practice network where they share knowledge in primary care across Sussex. We plan to review our consumption patterns by service, and work with the operational teams to see how we can rethink or reduce our consumption and thereby reduce our carbon footprint. We plan to share the learning across services and embed it into any future services.

• The Sustainability Team and working with MSK to review the carbon savings from our MSK Transformation projects, which we plan to report on as we complete the analysis.

• Knight Frank have agreed to add Sustainability as a standing agenda item for the 6 monthly tenants meetings going forward.
• We plan to reach out to other partners we work with about sustainability goals e.g. Clinical Education and Yma.

Are we supporting any suppliers who are doing good in this area?

In 23/24, we spent £12k with Solus who are a supplier of refreshments, t-shirts and stationary for Here.

We support them as a business as they have received an ISO14001 Environmental Management System accreditation, with 60% of their energy usage from their own solar energy system. They also have zero-emission delivery fleets and are committed to eliminating unnecessary supply chain packaging.

What can we do at home to responsible consumption and production? 

• We have hit peak stuff. A bold statement, but we can avoid adding to this problem by encouraging a circular economy.  Want to know more? Here is a useful link.

• Nearly all of us now are committed to using reusable water bottles and coffee mugs, rather than plastic options which are purchased and thrown away.

• Recycle, recycle recycle!

• Buy social – next time you are purchasing, have a quick look in the Social Supermarket where you can buy all sorts of things direct from social enterprises. Be warned though, you can get lost for hours just browsing all the brilliant products!

• Holidays – measure the impact of your own carbon footprint and the impact of your actions using this calculator.

Reduce waste weblink: Love Food Hate Waste / Preventing food waste

A charity who work with 153 organisations across Sussex and Surrey to redistribute surplus produce to those who need it most through their networks.

The Real Junk Food Project in Brighton, has the wonderful tag line of “Feed bellies not bins”. They intercept food waste destined for landfill and use it to feed people in cafes, projects and pop-ups on a “pay as you feel” basis. Those in need are not degraded or shamed for taking a free or cheap meal, likewise those who can afford it are not pestered into more and more donations. Everyone is equal in getting fed, it is up to the individual to pay what they feel.

What responsible production and consumption campaign days can you get involved with?  

March 30 International day of zero waste driven by the UN to raise awareness of the issues in the waste production and removal process globally and what is being done to help.

May 8 World Fair Trade Day a global celebration held on the second Saturday in May to help us envision a world where trade helps support small-scale farmers, producers and their families, cultivating healthy and sustainable communities globally.

June 16 World Refill Day is a global campaign to prevent plastic pollution and help people live with less waste. A day of action uniting our global community every year on 16th June, the campaign is designed to create an alternative vision of the future and accelerate the transition away from single-use plastic towards refill & reuse systems.

July Plastic Free July^® is a global movement that helps millions of people be part of the solution to plastic pollution – so we can have cleaner streets, oceans, and beautiful communities.

The Sustainability Team