Lingo’s First Green Ambassador Update!
Welcome to our first Lingo Flamingo Green Ambassadors Blog post!
It’s the opportunity to showcase the good work we have been doing to reduce our carbon footprint and bring climate and sustainability to life. Our aim is to share the progress we are making towards our Net Zero goals, and we will update you on the actions taken, along with some ideas to help you go greener and increase your own personal learning.
Our Net Zero quest started in 2023 with key guidance from Barbara Campbell, our Net Zero coordinator, who was working with us for four months to get us on the right track towards a greener future for our organisation. Following on from Barbara’s directions we have taken many green initiatives since 2023. So what have we been doing so far?
Our Nest has never been greener…and cosier!
We can proudly say that we have no direct emissions created from our operations and the electricity we use derives from renewable sources! To get us closer to our Net Zero dream, we have also set ourselves a goal to reduce our electricity consumption and we have already improved insulation in our Shawlands Nest and purchased some cute pink and blue blankets to make our winter classes even cosier! So far, we have noticed a reduction in carbon emissions from electricity of about 100 Kg per year.
Waste no more…
Waste is also high up on our agenda. We are working to reduce the use of plastic and produce an ever decreasing amount of waste. We are working towards making our Nest plastic free! Some of our environmentally friendly purchases include: cute (pink of course!) hand soap refills, natural sea sponge to wash cups and cutlery, and we have moved to powder milk rather than milk sachets for sustainable brews! Our waste is now mainly paper, and cardboard and we have managed to reduce our waste production between 2022 and 2023 by nearly 85%.
The paper chase…
Last but not least, we have to admit that, like all language education providers, we were quite reliant on paper and books. This accounted for about 230 tonnes of C02 emissions per year!! We have, therefore, adopted a recycling policy for books, created a shared library and made the decision not to provide paper books to each student. Instead, we now share a small number of resources in the hub, use digital resources instead of paper and also introduced the online portal to supplement, innovate and improve our offering! We believe that this alone will reduce our scope 3 emissions in 2024 by at least 230 tonnes!
Social mission and green mission!
In care homes the use of printed material is essential to the success and accessibility of classes. Nevertheless, we are aiming to reduce the size of books by 20% during the first half of 2024 and introduce new smaller booklets for advanced dementia patients with a view to cut on relevant indirect emissions. While we will be printing less in the future, we will also ensure that paper used is responsibly sourced and will support our supplier of choice in their net zero journey.
The way forward…we are all in this together.
The truth about achieving Net zero, is that we are all in this together and other’s emissions are also our indirect emissions, therefore, joining forces is the way forward! We have partnered up with Hamiltonhill Claypits Local Nature Reserve in Glasgow. We will keep you posted on events and initiatives in partnership with this amazing green space in the middle of the city! We are planning team building events and activities for older adults and other community groups over the summer and autumn months.
Thanks for reading and please do share our news and continue to follow us to support our journey to Net Zero!
Written by our Green Ambassadors: Rosi, Reiko and Lesley