Businesses in Down District Council area heard about ways in which they could possibly save themselves thousands of pounds at a seminar hosted by STEM. Representatives from small businesses attended a breakfast seminar at Down County Museum on 2 November 2006 at 9am to hear Gerald McKeown, MGA Communication Ltd speak about the benefits of implementing an Environmental Management System and how STEM has helped his business to save money.
Ann Irvine, Manager of Downpatrick Credit Union Ltd said; “As a service provider to the local community we felt it was important to take a pro-active approach to protecting the local environment. We were the first Credit Union in the North of Ireland to achieve the ISO 9001 Standard for our Quality Management System and felt that the STEM Project could also ensure we had the correct action plan in place to manage our waste and energy consumption and thus reduce our environmental impact”.
It took only four weeks from the start of the implementation to assessment for the Credit Union to install the EMS. This included introducing extra bins around the building for recyclable and non-recyclable waste, training staff on how they can help to reduce the amount of waste that went into the general mixed waste bin and switching their energy supply from NIE to Airtricity.
Airtricity has wind farms all over Ireland, UK and USA. Getting their electricity from an renewable source means that Downpatrick Credit Union no longer have to pay the Climate Change Levy that was on there normal bills.
Ann and Philip Blair, DCU’s Marketing Officer attending a further STEM conference and exhibition held in the Armagh City Hotel on 31st May to discuss further possible action that the Credit Union and other businesses could do to help reduce their environmental impact.
This conference was also attended by businesses from various council areas both in the North and South of Ireland. Talks were given by people representing Armagh Council, Southern Group Environmental Health Committee, The Consumer Council, Action Renewables, Waste, Resources Action Programme NI (WRAP), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), DOE, STEM and Sustainable Development Commission Northern Ireland.
Downpatrick Credit Union Ltd was presented with their BS 8555 certificate by Mr Stewart and Helen Cranney of STEM at the conference.
Duncan Stewart is an award-winning architect and a specialist in ecological design and energy. Duncan worked extensively in Europe and the USA before establishing his practice in Dublin. Since then he has produced and presented many factual TV programmes with an environmental ethos including ‘About the House’, ‘Eco Eye’, ‘The Changing Face of Dublin’, ‘Wood From the Trees’, ‘Engine Earth’, (renewable energy programme), ‘The State We’re In’ (Environmental series) and ‘Return to Chernobyl’.
At present, blue recycling bins are only available for household use. Because there are no bins for businesses to recycle and are forbidden to use the municipal recycling facilities on Clonagh Road, Directors and staff of Downpatrick Credit Union have to take the companies recyclable waste home to be put in their waste bins.
Christian Aid Week was celebrated by the Credit Union from 13th – 19th May, were environmental issues were highlighted. The Credit Union had displays and handouts for members showing them how they could cut down their own impact on the environment. The Credit Union, on behalf of Christian Aid now collect old mobile phones that are sent off to be recycled. The charity receives £3 per phone.
Downpatrick Credit Union Ltd is also selling ‘Bags for Life’, with all the proceeds going towards Macmillan Cancer Support. These reusable bags are designed to be used as shopping bags and should replace normal plastic bags which take so long to decompose.
Philip Blair, Marketing Officer for the Credit Union said, “Shops in the South of Ireland have already introduced a fee for using plastic shopping bags and this will probably become the case in the near future for Northern Ireland. We would encourage our members to purchase at least one of these bags for a minimum of £1.”
Philip added, “As well as the ‘Bags for Life’ and mobile phone recycling, we also collect used ink cartridges on behalf of Downpatrick Lions Club, the money from these goes to Macmillan Cancer Support.”
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