Our Working Environment
In all aspects of our office, warehouse and field based environments staff are trained and equipped to follow green working practices and to always aim to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.
Buildings
Over the past few years Alpha Laboratories has undergone a phase of refurbishments to improve the sustainability of its Head Offices.
Summer 2023 saw a large investment in the installation of new solar panels and additional batteries. This is predicted to generate 98% of our energy usage during the summer, with our batteries feeding stored energy into our freezers and fridges overnight.
We look forward to reporting on the reduced amount of energy we draw from external resources with the introduction of our own sustainable power.
Solar Energy Update
Throughout October we were happy to see all our Units generating more energy than what we need to import from the national grid. Overall, we have generated ~50% of our consumption via our solar panels. We will continue to monitor and record our usage to understand where our energy dependencies are within our premises. Please see below a breakdown of our electricity generation and consumption by each building unit.
Significant investments have also been made in the replacement of the standard roofing with an advanced Trisomet® trapezoidal roofing system. Along with this change, an addition of skylights make up 15% of the warehouse roof area, allowing us to utilise as much daylight as possible throughout the year and no use the electric lighting. Smaller changes, such as switching lighting to more energy efficient LEDs, further reduces our electricity consumption.
In addition, following refurbishment of our commercial washrooms and installation of modern high efficiency sanitaryware we have achieved a 22% reduction in water usage.
Warehouse staff have also been given heated jackets to reduce the need to heat the warehouse during colder months.
Improving Wildlife Habitats at
Alpha Laboratories HQ
Our location on Parham Drive is one of the few areas on the business estate with some green space.
Working with guidance from the RSPB we have undertaken extensive planting of rowan trees and thorn hedging to attract and protect birds and other wildlife in the Alpha garden.
Our ‘bug hotel’ made from pallets and logs will attract and support a diversity of invertebrate species and a raised bed offers staff the opportunity for some lunch time gardening.
Watch our 'Big Dig' video to see how it is taking shape.
Alpha Laboratories Garden Projects
for Improved Wildlife Habitats
Recycling
All employees are requested to separate all recyclable waste. This is now processed by a local handling agent to minimise transportation to the recycling depot.
In addition to paper and plastic collections we have additional schemes for cans and tins, coffee pods, crisp packets, milk bottle tops, batteries and ink cartridges. Various Alpha volunteers take these to appropraite local recycling points.
Office Practice
Active changes to working processes include the reduction in use of printing inks and paper consumption. All paper used within the offices is now completely made from recycled content. Employees are encouraged to manage heating and lighting efficiently in their work areas.
Regular toilet roll has been exchanged for an alternative made from sugarcane fibres that are left over following sugar extraction. This is made from 100% agricultural waste, which has around a 64% lower carbon footprint (including transport) than using recycled paper alternatives.
Travel
We are transitioning our car fleet from fuel-based cars to a mixture of hybrid and electric vehicles.
Our current fleet releases 40.5% less carbon emissions than if we relied on their petrol counterparts. We are focused on improving this further with each vehicle replacement.
Below is a graph showing the emissions and miles driven by our fleet since 2018:
Air travel has been reduced to fulfill essential requirements only and greater use of technology is enabling more business meetings and training to occur online, with minimal environmental impact.
Marketing
The increased use of advanced digital communications means we can keep you up to date with market developments, new solutions, product innovations and special offers, through our websites, emails and social media.
Our online literature library provides a wealth of digital brochures, technical documents and case studies that can be downloaded direct to your PC or mobile device.
However, we still feel there is a place for the occasional print publications that can be reviewed offline at leisure.
So, we have taken steps to reduce the environmental footprint of our popular periodicals such as Leading Edge and LabVantage by now printing them on recycled paper and mailing them without any outer packaging.
These ‘naked’ mailings save over 100kg of plastic annually.
We offer a range of customer gifts and where possible source those made from recycled materials. We never choose single use items and provide reusable water bottles and shopping bags with their own environmental benefits. Our seeded paper promotional cards also benefit the environment as they can be planted to grow wild flowers.