How We Are Committed To Cleaning Up The Environment

As a multi-service organisation, the CSA Service Group has a diversity of skills and applications at its core, meaning we have a range of environmental impacts. But as a provider of security, cleaning and recruitment services our principal commitment is to providing safe places to work, and which have professionalism and dedication as a primary focus. This means we are fully aware of our everyday impacts and what we can do to manage, control and reduce them. Naturally this extends to our environmental impacts.

Our wide range of industry accreditations and memberships are in some cases a regulatory requirement, but in others are an example of the CSA Group achieving recognition for our own excellence and expertise, and they ensure that our operations are bound by high standards on a continual basis. We also have a strong commitment to social value in the locations we operate in, mainly Wales and the South West of England. We actively sponsor a number of local sporting organisations to ensure that healthy pursuits and community spirit is encouraged and thrives in the area.

Our 2021 commitment to reaching net zero

However, in terms of our direct environmental impacts, like any business, we have our fair share. But we like to think we have gone further than many commercial organisations by making a tangible commitment to reducing our carbon footprint. In 2021 the CSA Service Group released a ‘Net Zero Greenhouse Gas Emissions Commitment’, which is the outline of a programme to offset the organisation’s greenhouse gas emissions and reach a net zero impact by 2035.

How we are doing this is detailed in a Method Statement on our website, but in essence this involves:

• Energy Efficiency – We are attempting to use renewable sources of energy in our operations wherever possible. This includes using energy efficient equipment and transitioning to using wind and solar power in all our premises as soon as we can.
• Sustainable transportation – For our operational needs we are in the process of transitioning all our vehicles to fully electric or hybrid vehicles with zero or low-emission engines respectively. On top of this we are encouraging employee schemes where everyday vehicle usage is reduced, so this includes vehicle sharing, cycling and using public transport.
• Waste reduction and recycling – We are increasing our recycling rates for all materials and are reducing the use of single-use plastics. We are also introducing a dual stream system for general waste and mixed recycling waste and are also working on a way to introduce a new food waste stream, all with the aim of reducing the amount of waste that goes to landfill annually.
• Green cleaning products – We acknowledge our historical use of harmful cleaning chemicals and have now transitioned to eco-friendly, non-toxic and biodegradable cleaning products. This directly reduces the environmental impact of our cleaning and hygiene services.
• Carbon offsetting – We work with recognised organisations to offset our residual emissions in order to completely neutralise our impact.
• Employee training – We continually work to raise awareness and engage our employees in sustainable practices and the impacts of their operations, so that even our security services and recruitment services personnel are aware of what their impacts are and what they can do to reduce them. This includes all new technologies and new practices as and when they are adopted.

Measuring progress towards net zero

While this net zero programme is regularly audited and is controlled by KPIs which are reported on in an annual progress document, we also acknowledge that to make the project meaningful and achievable we have to set overall targets.

At the outset in 2021, we therefore set milestone achievement targets for 2023, 2025, 2030 and finally 2035. We ensured these targets were measurable and realistic, but also challenging, in the sense that they forced us to significantly change and modernise the way we thought, planned and acted. The objective in 2035 is to have net zero greenhouse gases, and as we enter the second milestone year of 2025, we can report that we are strongly on course to meet that ultimate target.

To find out more about our commitment to environmental sustainability, or to speak to us about any of our services, contact us.