Making the World a brighter…and cleaner place by Salome Buglass
The Abovegroup and Inglefield Ogilvy & Mather recently merged to form the Abovegroup Ogilvy (AGO). AGO is serious about the environment and its social responsibility and wishes to play a leading role in Trinidad and Tobago as example of how businesses and corporations can go green. We know that through the operation of our business we cause an impact on the environment—through resource and energy consumption, the generation of waste and the use of transport, as well as through the actions of our employees. AGO dedicates 5% of its annual resources to social and environmental activities and is striving to reduce its carbon footprint and act responsibly from day one.
I work in Brand Strategy and Planning. Thanks to my background in the environmental sciences I have been appointed AGO’s Sustainability Coordinator. This is very challenging, considering that society as we know it depends on the consumption of materials and energy with vast side streams of waste and pollution. In the case of Trinidad and Tobago economic development has been a national priority for the last century, and the associated environmental degradation and depletion of natural resources has been taken for granted. Generally speaking, green or sustainable practices have still to make an impact on our behaviours and attitudes.
Trinidad and Tobago is the most industrialised island in the English speaking Caribbean. Rapid industrial development based on the petroleum and petrochemical sectors in Trinidad has expanded to such an extent that it has become the largest supplier of liquefied natural gas to the United States, the largest exporter of ammonia in the world, and on a per capita basis it is 7th largest CO2 emitter in the world. In addition, over the last two decades development and construction have grown significantly—which is no surprise as this comes hand in hand with the demands and pressures of population growth and the general modernisation of space. At the same time, due to the lack of legislation and enforcement uncontrolled oil spills still happen, pesticides are still used carelessly, our waste mountains are growing and industrial run-off pollutes our waterways, wetlands and seas. Our fish stocks are collapsing and unregulated quarrying, logging and fires are destroying our forests and biodiversity. Scary.
Nevertheless, it is not all doom and gloom. Trinidad and Tobago is home to keen environmental activists and NGOs. Also environmental awareness seems to be spreading. Another encouraging aspect is that there is so much that can be done. Acting in an environmentally responsible manner means implementing a variety of practices, ranging from conservation (of energy, nature, resources), efficiency management (of energy, material consumption), waste avoidance, recycling, renewable energy, carbon sequestration, supporting campaigns and causes as well as fostering environmental education and communication.
Of course, communication is what we at AGO are all about. With this blog we want to keep you updated - to inspire not just other businesses but everyone –on our environmental initiatives, the services we use and provide, where we get our information, and what have been our experiences.
Starting from the inside:
Mission one has been to push for the 3 Rs—reduce, reuse and recycle – and drive forward energy efficiency. Since the merger, the number of staff has rocketed from 15 to 70. Apart from all sorts of other merger-related changes, watching the huge increase in the “generation” of solid waste has been quite astounding and an eye opener.
Presently (according to http://www.carbonify.com CO2 Calculator) our electricity consumption—produced by TT&TEC from fossil-fuels— pumps out a total of 117 tonnes of CO2 per year. Using the same site, I also calculated that we would have to plant 580 trees per year to mitigate our emissions via bio-sequestration. If we were to include our staff-driven C02 combustion, we would roughly need to plant another 300 trees a year.
We recycle our white paper, which is picked up by ACE Recycling Limited. Once we have over 4 rubbish bags full, we call and they come to collect (call ACE at 868-638-3946).
In recent weeks we also began to recycle plastics. The soft drinks and water bottles, plastic bags and plastic packaging material we collect fill about 1 to 3 large rubbish bags a week. These we deliver to Recycling in Motion at 6 Maingot Street, Champs Fleurs (868-674-6073). There are various other plastic recycling organisations, for more information see the helpful and newest Green Directories created by Sustain T&T.
We recycle our glass at the Carib Brewery. Unlike paper and plastic, recycling glass has been more successful in Trinidad and Tobago due to the simple incentive of being paid for returning glass products. Additionally, glass is also reprocessed in Trinidad and reduces the cost of importing raw materials.
In T&T most of the paper and plastic collected is shredded and then shipped on to destinations such as Puerto Rico or Venezuela for further processing. This makes you question the environmental efficiency of this practice, especially considering the extra carbon emissions from shipping, not to mention the emissions produced along the recycling chain. Nevertheless, present recycling systems in T&T are an important first step for developing more efficient and greener national systems. So get recycling too.
To reduce waste in the first place at AGO we use a reverse-osmosis water purification system to provide drinking water for the entire office . Not only is it an energy-efficient system but it also reduces the consumption of bottled water and production of plastic bottles.
These are our efforts so far. We plan to implement as many green and responsible processes in our office and day-to-day business activities as we can. And we look forward to sharing them with you on this blog as well as getting some feedback and hearing your comments and suggestions.
Posted in on 14th Mar 2011
