Pickfords in the news

Going green for good

FMX Magazine

Pickfords Business Moving has launched a new initiative to help its customers meet their environmental and CSR targets, responsibilities and aspirations
‘The Green Solution’ is the output of a business commitment to revolutionise the way the company conducts it business and expand the services offered to its clients

The big picture

The Green Solution is all about looking at the big picture. It has four key aspects:

1.         An Environmental Management System to manage the impact of the company’s business practices on the environment.

2.         Re-use and recycling services to help Pickfords’ business customers meet their own environmental targets.

3.         A commitment to the Green Solution will benefit social and business groups, and registered charities where possible.

4.         A company culture, which commits the business to achieving its environmental goals, not just today but into the future.

Pickfords Business Moving is the first large moving group in the UK to achieve ISO14001, the international standard for Environmental Management Systems. Astonishingly, the accreditation was achieved within less than one year and it marks a company-wide commitment to reduce the impact its business has on the environment.

Pickfords has 57 sites across the UK and nine regional areas of operation. Rolling-out the new system and procedures is now underway, as group compliance manager, Richard Summers, explains. ‘We started the process at our Head Office site in Enfield,’ says Richard. ‘Getting accreditation to ISO14001 meant we had to review and change the way we work whilst implementing a process to manage the continually evolving environmental landscape.

Board level buy-in

From Board level down, everyone at Head Office bought into the project and it was this enthusiasm and openness to change that encouraged the momentum. ‘Our starting point was to look at all the environmental legislation that relates to our business operations,’ says Richard. ‘From these legislative considerations there were more than 30 aspects and impacts for which we had to develop management procedures’.

‘We’ve looked at everything from the way we dispose of packing materials, to reducing our use of electricity. It’s been a demanding undertaking and we’ve called our new system ‘The Green Solution’,’ he says.

Recycling and Re-use

The Green Solution looks beyond internal processes and procedures. Where possible, Pickfords is keen to offer recycling solutions to its customers, so it’s created a new portfolio of services which allow clients to dispose of unwanted products in an environmentally friendly manner during a business relocation or project.

Working with strategic partners, Pickfords can now offer business moving clients a way to dispose of unwanted office furniture for re-use or recycling rather than sending it to landfill. Customers will also be provided with a safe and professional service to re-use and recycle IT equipment, which complies with all the regulations and legislation relating to data erasure and hazardous waste. The added bonus is that both services are offered through award winning registered charities, whose work benefits the long-term unemployed, homeless and disabled people in the UK, and carefully selected education and healthcare projects in the developing world.

Neil Baker, director of Pickfords Business Moving, says ‘we see these services as an important extension of our working practices. A business move necessitates a lot of planning and attention to detail, and our clients value our ability to offer solutions across the board. We usually help our clients with their asset surveys to catalogue everything that needs to be moved, and what will be left behind. Now we can help them dispose of unwanted items in an environmentally-responsible way, a service which can be seamlessly integrated with their relocation’