How do you become carbon neutral?

We’ve written at length in the past about how wasteful we are as a nation.

The Global Footprint Network pressure group reckons that the UK is one of the planet’s leading offenders in taking more resources than we can support, and while we’re striding confidently towards meeting UK and EU recycling and emissions targets, there’s still so much more we can be doing.

One of the aspirations for any household, business, or – indeed – nation is to become Carbon Neutral.

Becoming carbon neutral means making a conscious decision to achieve a net zero carbon footprint. You can do this by balancing a measured amount of carbon (that’s usually released as carbon dioxide) with other actions.

For smaller businesses and individuals this might be a fairly straightforward process that involves a few simple decisions and minor changes to lifestyle. For bigger businesses with complex needs, there may be a need for big decisions and substantial capital outlay.

This can be achieved in a number of ways. Many businesses release substantial amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere as part of their everyday processes, whether its from a factory, or the simple process of driving a delivery van from one place to another. Travel, energy, waste disposal all add up on the negative tally for your carbon footprint.

To mitigate these, there are direct actions to take. For example, by trying to cut down or eliminate CO2 emissions from processes, but this might not be possible. Vehicles that has fewer emissions or run on alternative fuels are already becoming more popular, and even better route planning and driving at times of day when there are fewer stop-start traffic jams will also help immensely. In waste disposal, increasing recycling rates is a big positive.

Indirect methods involves offsetting emissions through other methods. Some companies will go to lengths such as tree-planting to offset their emissions, but this might meean substantial numbers of trees at a substantial cost. However, if huge national companies like Sky can become carbon neutral, despite a massive fleet of drivers, then it’s not terribly difficult.

This is one thing that we’re all genuinely in together. Carbon neutrality is a big step for any business, and those of us in the waste and recycling trade can help you achieve your goals.