EJ member, Marstan Press, is a finalist in the Best Green Company Category of the Green England Awards

Marstan Press is an environmentally friendly printer, established for over 50 years. Based in Bexleyheath (NW Kent), they offer full in-house facilities, including: Photography & Design, Printing, Finishing, Direct Mail and Distribution. To vote for them (before Friday) click here or to find out why they deserve your vote, read on . . . 

Marstan is a family run business, that does everything it can to benefit the environment. Some of these things include:

• Becoming one of the first 100 UK printers to achieve FSC Certification
• One of the first SEE Accredited Companies (a social, ethical and environmental accreditation)
• They are committed to achieving ISO 14001
• They use alcohol substitutes on their presses for lower VOC emissions
• The Alpha Eco range of inks are used, as they are made from 100% renewable resources and do not contain heavy metals
• They were one of the first UK Print Companies to install a 100% chemical free plate making system
• Their colour management system reduces paper and ink wastage
• They are changing their vehicle fleet to Hybrid and Dual Fuel alternatives – they currently have 4 Toyota Prius and 1 LPG Converted Van
• They operate a company wide recycling and reuse policy, which includes, paper, litho plates, plastic contains, fluorescent tubes, used CDs, and used toner cartridges

It would be great if you could support Marstan and vote for them at the Green England Awards website.

How To Make Paper Chains
from Creative Charlie

Perfect for decorating your home at Christmas whilst saving money and waste!

You Will Need:

Old magazines and newspaper

Tape or glue

Scissors

Just follow the simple instructions ably demonstrated by the creative master himself, Charlie . . .

Instructions

1. Cut strips of out of the pages of the magazines and newspaper. The strips should be roughly 20cm x 3 cm, but it doesn’t matter if they are all slightly different.

2. Stick one of your strips of paper together, by connecting the ends to form a ring.

3. With the next strip of paper, thread it through the first ring before connecting the ends together. You should now have two rings of paper attached to each other.

4. Continue threading each new strip of paper through the previous ring, to make a chain of paper rings.

5. Decorate your room with your paper chain.

 
Merry Christmas from Creative Charlie

Win £250 and have your design in the launch of reconstyle

Freedom Clothing Project, the ethical clothing think-and-do tank has recently launched previews of its Spring-Summer 2009 range called ‘reconstyle‘ 

The basis of the range is that it is produced from waste clothing materials, which in the UK represents a major disposal problem.

It also highlights the plight of UK homeworkers who often have few rights and are paid well below the minimum wage and represent the hidden poor in our own communities. The reconstyle range will be produced in the UK by homeworkers treated with respect and paid properly. 

To launch the range, Freedom Clothing Project has announced the first in an exciting series of revamping competitions. These are designed to encourage people to think creatively about how to use the “waste clothing mountain” as a resource rather than a problem.

The v-vamp is based on 500 identical overstocked v-neck t-shirts. Participants will receive a v-neck and will be able to print, cut, embroider, embellish or do anything else they want with it. The competition is free to enter and one winning contestant will receive £250 and see their entry reproduced as part of the reconstyle range.

Check out more of the concepts behind the reconstyle range by clicking here or get details on how to enter the v-vamp competition here.

The v-vamp ends on 7 January 2009, so why not get involved?

For further information on the competition, the range or anything else then contact the Freedom Clothing Project.

Three shifts to remove internal barriers to sustainable innovation

Leading organisations are increasingly aware that internal, invisible barriers to sustainable innovation, such as mindsets and worldviews of individuals, and the values and habits of cultures, are more significant than the visible, technical barriers. Coaching is one of the most effective means to overcome those barriers, and is increasingly being used as a tool to facilitate innovation and generate competitive advantage.

Here, we explore three findings that support these assertions, and describe how coaching can be effective in turning internal barriers into opportunities.

Firstly, our research supports the assertion that inner (i.e. psychological, emotional), outer (i.e. behavioural), individual (i.e. ‘my’) and collective (i.e. ‘our’) development are linked. Stronger recognition of that link changes what activities organisations prioritise for sustainability. For example, corporate staff are now using their professional skills in charities, and being coached through this work as a transformational leadership programme. The most important impact on the corporate side is on individual’s values and understanding because these are recognised as more critical limiting factors in development and leadership, at an organisational level, than any lack of skills or knowledge.

Secondly, organisations that see sustainable innovation as an opportunity, know that they must take their individuals and the whole organisation to the next level to take advantage of it. This means creating new markets, new innovations, and play an active role in transforming society. Leading this kind of shift means that organisations no longer just look competitive advantage based on the internal resources of the firm. Instead, organisations start to look to the opportunities for innovation in the changing external context, such as the pressure to produce new products for emerging markets, or seeing the opportunities in escalating commodity prices. It is the capability of individuals and teams to understand the external context, question the assumptions prevalent in a sector, take new perspectives, and think long-term, that provide the source of advantage. These capabilities can be facilitated through coaching, and are found in later stages of individual and organisational development which are characterised by an ability to act effectively in the face of increasing complexity. The below quotes from our surveys and interviews support these points:

“We intentionally generate coaching conversations around self, relationships, and complex systems (all of which are central for addressing the deeply personal and inherently systemic nature of sustainability) – so the benefits include an expanded ’systemic consciousness’ and an ‘increased capacity to innovate together’ where there was once divides.” Anonymous response from survey
“Sustainability portfolio is really a key enabler to getting individuals to think long-term. And behave with long term in mind. In terms of good coaching being able to draw these things out of you and enabling you to pull back or pull up form what you are doing… [they] are very strongly linked.” Interviewee W

Thirdly, research finds that those organisations that are value-driven still make more money than others, however not by making profit the driver of their business. Coaching typically involves guiding coachees to reflect on their values, visions, and develop new habits and behaviours that demonstrate greater alignment with their everyday behaviours. Acting with increasing integrity, and being driven by values has been shown in research to be a characteristic of the ‘best’ companies. Developing more ethical practices has also been correlated with better financial performance. Research has shown that organisations that engaged in training around ethics performed better than those that only disclosed their ethics. For example, some of our interviewees had first-hand experience of the positive, mutually reinforcing relationship between an expanded sense of concern and responsibility, and enhanced profitability.

“…I think the piece we are bringing in now, which we are calling sustainable economic growth, is that our product can help other individuals have better lives…Now we ask ‘How can our products and solutions make everyone else’s lives better?’ That’s good business anyway, and actually that will turn on anyone in the company: ‘Hey you can make more money out of this’. Now for us…this is a serious business opportunity. Interviewee V

We have observed that sustainability initiatives in leading organisations are increasingly focusing on transformational and systemic change rather than incremental improvements. It is these links between transformation, a focus on removing internal, invisible barriers, and the shift to new levels of individual and organisational development that highlight how coaching can be a critical tool for innovation and sustainability.
What we have shown through this research is, with all other external factors being equal, the capability, culture and leadership development of individuals and teams in the organisations can be the difference to an organisation’s integration of sustainability, and competitive advantage. Organisations at the leading edge are embracing the opportunity to drive innovation through shifting their culture, and the values and mindsets of employees. Those that are still focused on technical fixes and policies are missing an opportunity to leap ahead of their competition. Through this research we have identified many means and benefits of using coaching to appropriately facilitate these transformational shifts in different organisational contexts.

Neela Bettridge and Andrew Outhwaite are co-authors of the research.

To order a full copy of this research report, email Fiona Baynard fionab@article13.com or call her on 020 8840 4450
Visit Article 13’s website

Final Greener Festival Awards announced- twelve more festivals pick up the eco-award

Seven English festivals including The Big Chill, Bestival, Summer Sundae Weekender, Shambala, Reading, Leeds and End of the Road along with Scotland’s Hydro Connect, Ireland’s Electric Picnic, Portugal’s Boom, Southbound in Australia and the Rothbury Festival in the USA have joined the illustrious list of winners for the 2008 Greener Festival Award.

All of the award winners were praised by organisers www.agreenerfestival.com for thier efforts to promote environmentally friendly music festivals.

The independent award is based on a seven part questionnaire which covers event management, travel and transport plans, CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions, fair trade, waste management and recycling, water management and noise pollution. Points are awarded for festivals which can show an active plan to promote public transport, reduce on-site waste, recycle and compost wherever possible, re-use water and use sustainable power.

Festivals are expected to have a coherent environmental policy and the organisers have environmental auditors who visit as many festival sites as possible to assess how festivals implement their plans. In total twenty three UK festivals and eight international festivals have won the award. Six festivals gained the ultimate accolade of the ‘outstanding’ award from the organisers including the Waveform and Shambala festivals in the UK and Bonnaroo in the USA.

A Greener Festival co-founder Claire O’Neill said “this year applications for our awards more than doubled and this is fantastic news. More and more festivals are making the effort go green and adopt environmentally friendly practices. Some festivals are still improving and going through a steep learning curve, others are old hands now who keep improving their green credentials year on year. The UK and international festival scene is now making a concerted effort to be leaders in changing behaviour to protect the environment”.

The organisers also congratulated the eighteen festivals who had won the Green ‘n’ Clean award from Yourope, the European festivals organisation. A Greener Festival’s Luke Westbury added ‘We fully endorse and support Yourope’s award and the progress they are making. Across both Europe and the UK we can see significant and positive change. Green n Clean have some fantastic festivals taking part including Denmark’s Roskilde, St Gallen Open Air in Swtitzerland, Rheinkultur in Germany, Pinkpop in the Nederlands and Finland’s Provinssirock. We salute them!

The Full list of 2008 winners is below:

THE GREEN FESTIVAL AWARD
Bestival
Big Chill
Big Session Festival
Camden Green Fair (outstanding award)
The Cambridge Folk Festival
City Blues Festival (Leicester)
Download
End of the Road
The Glade Festival
The Glastonbury Festival
Hard Rock Calling
Hydro Connect
Latitude
Leeds Festival
Leicester City Blues Festival
Lounge on the Farm
02 Wireless Festival
Reading Festival
Shambala (outstanding award)
Summer Sundae Weekender
T-in-the-Park
Waveform (outstanding award)
Workhouse Festival
2000 Tree

Eco My Party is a finalist in the ITV “This Morning” Mumpreneur Award

Newly joined Ethical Junction member eco my party will be needing your votes on Wednesday 22nd October so that an eco idea wins This Morning’s award for entrepreneurial mothers.

Helen Thomson of eco my party is through to the finals of the Mumpreneur competition and needs your support for her growing brand of 100% compostable party supplies. And who doesn’t love a party? Well, now you can eco your parties with eco my party’s totally eco party supplies!

Did you know that the average plastic party cup is never going to truly disappear? And the UK chucks 4 billion of these into landfill every year. That’s giving the world one massive hangover.

But eco my party’s party supplies will make the world feel a whole lot better. Everything from their tableware to their decorations is 100% compostable, and it all naturally breaks down in only a few weeks. So the waste from one party can be used to grow the flowers and food for the next. Why be green on your own when you can get your friends together and party like there IS a tomorrow?

Helen’s eco party brand has got her through to the semi-finals, but she needs you to show your support for her mission to get people partying more and wasting less by phoning in and voting for her to go through to the show’s final on Friday 24th October which will help her to revolutionise the disposable party ware market and put a stop to pointless plastic cups!

It all started on Christmas Day 2006. We sat and watched the children open their presents with all the joy and excitement we hoped there would be. But as the unwrapped present pile grew Bigger so did the pile of discarded wrapping paper. This was a turning point, the realisation that all that paper was going into land-fill.

We knew that we alone could not stop and would not want to stop people from sending cards and wrapping presents but surely we could do something

Our aim from that moment on was to make a difference and in January 2007 we set about producing a Recycled, Eco-friendly range of Greeting Cards and Wrapping Paper.

We researched, studied and learned. We sourced the papers, which had to have a high recycled content and had to be FSC certified. Then the inks. We only wanted to print with Vegetable inks (no nasty VOC’s) and we only wanted to work with like-minded companies who cared and like us, wanted to make a difference. We even found envelopes that are 60% recycled juice cartons and 100 % recycled plus fully compostable wrappers.

Now 12 months on, we have launched several collections of Recycled Eco-friendly ranges of Cards and wrapping paper all FSC certified and all can be Recycled or composted.

The latest collection being our Christmas range which is hitting the shops right now. So ,this Christmas we have the pleasure of knowing that on Christmas Day our presents have been wrapped in recycled paper and our pile of discarded wrapping paper is going to be heading straight for the recycling bin. We sincerely hope many other families will be doing the same.

If you would like more information please visit our website, email us at info@recocards.co.uk or call us on 01395 567286.

Allen & York – Wimborne based Recruitment Company – rank in 10th overall place in the sailing event – the Little Britain Challenge Cup (LBCC).

A market leading company serving the Environment and Energy Sectors in the UK, competed in the 21st anniversary of the worlds largest industry sailing regatta in the UK, held in the Solent of Cowes.

250 entries, 3000 competitors was a fierce challenge that had to be faced as the 10 man crew raced in their personalised, Racing Yacht, GBR 410L.

Since 1988, the LBCC has welcomed Construction Industry professionals to race in this four day sailing event in support of nine chosen charities. Laing O’Rourke and Scott-Wilson are just some of Allen & York’s clients, representing the construction industry, that took part in all 5 races.

The 2008 event raised £ 130,000 – the silent auction that took place at the gala dinner raising £ 26,500 – for the Ellen MacArthur Trust, Jubilee Sailing Trust, Paralympic Sailing Team and The Cirdan Sailing Trust. They are sailing charities helping disadvantaged or disabled people experience the world of sailing.

Mark Allen, the Managing Director of Allen & York said, “Above and beyond encouraging team building and rewarding high achieving staff at the Little Britain Challenge Cup, we wanted to help make a difference by raising as much money as possible for the chosen charities that were being supported.”

As Allen & York are an environmentally friendly company familiar with the importance of protecting the environment and supporting sustainability, it was decided upon for team building efforts to utilize a sport fuelled solely by renewable, wind energy.

The gala dinner took place on the final evening of the event. Michael McIntyre – British comedian with a renowned forte of playing on social stereotypes – played host to the successful evening.

Since the Little Britain Challenge Cup began, in excess of £ 1m has been donated to sailing charities.

“This is the 2nd year running that we have taken part in this event and I am certain that Allen & York will return to the waves in 2009 as an even stronger competitor in the effort to raise more money to open doors to less fortunate individuals to undergo life-changing experiences.” Mark Allen.

Desirable objects handcrafted from discarded things

Eco Emporia announces the launch of their unique collection of eco-friendly gifts, handmade by craftspeople with a passion for reusing and recycling.

Discarded materials which would otherwise have ended up in landfill have been creatively transformed into a new range of desirable jewellery, bags, accessories, homeware, artware and stationery. Each has a unique story to tell and all make unusual green gifts.

Obsolete vinyl records are now a hit as hand-painted fruit bowls; decommissioned fire hose becomes a hot fashion accessory and worn out circuit boards look great worn out as smart cufflinks.

Founder, Anna Burns said “Eco Emporia is different because we only sell recycled crafts. Everything is lovingly handmade by skilled craftspeople and beautifully gift wrapped using reclaimed and recycled materials. Many of our items are one of a kind pieces you won’t find anywhere else”.

To find out more about Eco Emporia and to buy online visit www.ecoemporia.com

Dial Green is now well established and looking to help all businesses reduce their environmental impact, save them money on their telephone bills and at the same time green their supply chain by changing to Green Minutes – our carbon neutral telecoms solution.

As an introductory offer to Ethical Junction business members we are offering £100 worth of calls to new customers who join Dial Green for our green telecoms solution*

Put simply, we have found savings for all enquiries to date on business telephone bills, sometimes quite substantial amounts on call charges alone, and we provide a hassle free changeover for you. There are no connection charges, no set up costs and no hidden extras as you would
expect from an ethical business.

An added bonus is that you also speak to humans not robots!

As part of our ongoing commitment to the client, we also provide a regular telecoms health check to highlight any areas where savings and efficiencies can be achieved.

Many people have asked about our Green credentials and how using their telephones, broadband or teleconferencing can have an environmental impact, but the electricity passing through the telephone lines is not accounted for as it doesn’t come from their own supply and we are able to measure it and offset that, reducing the clients Carbon footprint in the process.

So call 0808 1410131 (free-phone) or email enquiries@dial-green.co.uk for more information on our own ‘beyond carbon neutrality’ and the ethical approach behind the company.

Our Website has much more information about Dial Green – www.dial-green.co.uk – including a full run down of the services we offer and our own environmental policies and practices.

We believe we are the most environmentally friendly telecoms business in the country, and with other projects in the pipeline, we intend to stay that way! 

We look forward to talking Dial Green to you soon.

*These minutes will have a use by date of 60 days from taking over
the lines and call provision*