5 Practices for Sustainable Facilities Management
Sustainability is an important factor in any sector, since the earth has limited resources and we need to use them wisely. Wasteful and non eco-friendly practises will be more of a hindrance than a help, and can cause socio-economic backlash.
Sustainable facilities management is important, because keeping facilities functional and optimal is a necessity in the corporate world today. Unsustainable facilities management practises might be easier, but they compound into larger problems later on, leading to overspending in areas like repair and maintenance.
While it is a great idea to outsource facilities management operations, care must be taken to make sure that the processes and practices are sustainable, and allow you to save money and the environment, rather than hinder it.
Discussed below are some ways to check if your facilities management service providers are sustainable or not:
1. Green products and processes
Are the cleaning agents, processes and solutions that your service provider is using impacting the environment negatively or not? Industrial strength cleaners are usually harmful to the environment, and although there are green options available, some providers might not opt for that due to cost issues.
The impact that any facilities management service provider has on the environment is a huge factor that dictates their sustainability.
2. Implementation of zero-to-landfill policy
The zero-to-landfill policy is a sustainability policy that aims to reduce the contribution of a business into landfill sites to zero, or close to zero. This is achieved through the three R’s of managing waste: Reduce, Reuse & Recycle.
By minimising the amount of waste that is sent to the landfill, facilities management practises can be made sustainable and also allow you to be environmentally responsible.
3. Compliance with legislations and regulations
Legislations and regulations are in place to set standards, and these standards must be maintained for both legality as well as sustainability.
These standards are basically the minimal accepted practises that a business needs to comply with, and any service provider not matching these standards should not even be considered, let alone hired.
4. Usage of alternative energy sources
Fossil fuels are some of the biggest pollutants in the world, and they are also non-renewable. Combusting these fuels releases harmful fumes into the air, and any machinery operating on them significantly increases the carbon footprint of an organisation.
Electric alternatives should be considered where appropriate, especially in case of vehicles and equipment. These little steps go a long way in implementing sustainability.
5. Setting sustainability targets
Nothing can be accomplished without planning and setting targets first. Any service provider that is serious about being sustainable will have targets to match so that sustainability can be objectively measured.
These targets include factors like reducing waste as a by-product of usage, following rules and regulations, recycling a certain percentage of waste produced, and more. There targets allow you to measure the sustainability efforts quantitatively, allowing you to see exactly how sustainable any business is.
We find sustainable solutions through innovation.
Our team at innovatefm believe in approaching sustainability through an educational approach of our team members and working with our partners to find sustainable solutions through innovation.
Give us a call on (0161) 724 8999 (option 1) or email us at enquiries@innovatefm.co.uk for more information.
