Environmental Policy                                                                                                                          Sept 09

Introduction

At Dovetail, we are continually looking for ways to reduce the environmental impact of our business activities and aim to reflect our commitment to delivering sustainability in our own business practices and through our values and policies. We appreciate that this is a continuous process of review and improvement and we seek to progress our performance over time. Dovetail’s Environmental Policy outlines our commitment to achieving this aim within our company.

Our Environmental Impacts

• Emissions from the use of carbon based energy in the production and distribution of our brochures, correspondence and general office operations
• Consumption of natural resources in the development and distribution of our brochures, correspondence and general office operations 
• The environmental performance of our suppliers and clients 
• Production of waste
• Daily commute to the office/clients

Our Positive Steps to minimise our Environmental Impacts

• Ensure office paper and marketing material is from a renewable source
• Reduce and minimise waste by printing on both sides of paper, not printing emails unless absolutely necessary and using recycled paper for internal printing. Generally manage waste according to the principles of reduce, re-use and recycle!
• Also recycle cardboard, glass, plastic and tins
• Turn off computers when we leave the office
• Share car journeys where possible
• Recycle printer cartridges
• Ensure all light bulbs are energy efficient 
• Turn off all electrical appliances when not in use, including microwave oven, printers, copy machines, etc.
  

Our Commitment to our Environmental Policy

In order to deliver this Policy, we have outlined the following objectives: 

• To continuously improve our environmental performance and integrate environmental management best practice into our business operations.
• To set objectives, targets and programmes to improve our environmental performance, including sustainable sourcing, carbon management, the use of ethical supply chains, preventing waste and the pursuit of recognized environmental standards amongst our suppliers such as FSC paper sourcing, ISO 14001, EMAS and SA8000.
• To comply with relevant legislative and regulatory requirements, identifying and applying the best available techniques wherever possible. 
• To provide information and appropriate training for and seek feedback from all staff on our environmental procedures and goals. 
• To regularly review and audit our environmental practices and work with staff to improve our performance and that of our industry generally. 
• To work towards the relevant certification for a company of our size and industry.
• To measure our progress in pursuing these objectives and report annually to our stakeholders.

To meet these commitments we will:

• Allocate resources for the effective direction and implementation of the policy.
• Set and monitor key objectives and targets for managing our environmental
  performance annually.
• Communicate our environmental policy (both internally and externally – via website) and performance on a regular basis, and encourage feedback.
• Communicate and discuss the importance of environmental issues with our staff.
• Work together with staff, service partners and suppliers to promote improved environmental performance.
• Promote appropriate consideration of sustainability and environmental issues in the
  services we provide to our clients.
• Review our environmental policy regularly.