Caerphilly County Borough Council is spearheading a green revolution aimed at cutting its impact on the environment and saving much-needed public money.
A series of measures aimed at reducing the council’s use of printers, faxes, cartridge ink and paper is paying dividends.
Simply ensuring copy paper is used on both sides has saved almost 3.7 million sheets of paper – taller than the height of the Eiffel Tower.
The council has brought in 226 multi-function printers to replace the previous 968 machines including individual printers, fax machines and scanners, saving thousands of pounds a year.
Councillor Colin Mann, Plaid Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance Resources and Sustainability, said: “This Plaid-led administration is very conscious of the need to play its part in reducing the impact the authority has on the environment.
“While the Copenhagen Summit looks to have been a missed opportunity that does not mean we just sit by and do nothing on issues like reducing the authority’s carbon footprint.
“We are asking the public to play their part in cutting their impact on the environment and living a more sustainable life so the council has to take a lead, and we are. Apart from helping the environment we are also helping our balance sheet by cutting our energy bill.”
The council also ensures computers are put into sleep mode after five minutes of inactivity. After 20 minutes they are turned off altogether and all are shut down after 7pm unless they specifically need to stay on.
And it does not stop there, in a partnership with the United Welsh Housing Association photo-voltaic (PV) panels have been installed at schools in the Heads of the Valleys to reduce energy costs and educate pupils on green issues. In the future it is planned to expand the scheme with eventually wind turbines at schools to save even more energy.
Every school in the county borough has signed up to the Eco Schools Award scheme and by the end of March all will have achieved either a bronze, silver or green flag award for their efforts on sustainability.
Blackwood Comprehensive School saved by fitting new lighting (£5,486 saving), daylight sensors for the lights (£5,935) and loft and cavity wall insulation (£6,445).
Other measures being taken by the council include:
- Donating corporate PCs to schools when they are replaced.
- Increased use of teleconferencing, video conferencing and webcams to cut travelling time between council sites.
- Expanding home working.
