Responsible Business

Our focus is to minimise the impacts of our operation in the following areas:

• Energy Consumption
• Waste
• Use of single use materials
• Use of paper
• Travel and transport
• Recyclable materials

Whitwam Group, commitment to a greener future

Whitwam Group has seen plenty of change during its 115-year history, but with the developing global climate crisis, our business and society are facing their biggest challenge yet. It’s vital that we all engage and shift our culture for a better outcome, writes Managing Director Buz Ross.

At Whitwam, sustainability is a key part of our business because we believe the future of our company, our people and our world depend on it.

Some of the steps we’ve taken have been small, but some are now leading to more significant advances that will have a big effect on our operations and our environmental impact. I’d like to briefly share some of our achievements so far with you.

Switching to renewable energy sources

One of the easiest first steps we’ve ever taken was to switch our energy supply to a green electricity tariff, which we did in 2019. In addition, in 2009 we refurbished the building we work from and invested in air source heat pumps to power much of our essential heating and cooling systems.

Generating our own clean electricity

In September 2023, we installed 100 solar panels on our roof, providing a potential 40kW of power. We expect our new panels to reduce our electricity consumption from the grid by up to 80%, and app-based monitoring helps us calculate the total power we’ve generated and evidence how many tonnes of CO2 we’ve saved. All surplus power is exported back into the grid, adding clean energy to the network.

Being energy efficient

We’ve taken a number of efficiency measures, including converting our lighting to LED and installing smart thermostats in our workplace, and we’re constantly reviewing how we can improve our performance.

Reducing waste

We work hard to avoid single-use items, such as plastic-based display materials, in both our office and the services we supply to our clients. We adhere to the waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) regulations and recycle everything we can, from cardboard to stage carpet.

Operating in a sustainable supply chain

A lot of our work is for large organisations that, increasingly, rightly demand that their suppliers meet strict sustainability criteria. We’re happy to comply and work with our own suppliers who share our commitment, such as a staging company that creates environmentally friendly sets using sustainable wood and makes sure every piece is used as many times as possible.

Empowering employees

We have clear policies covering sustainability and the environment, and our onboarding process for new staff includes training on these topics. We encourage staff to consider their environmental impact at work and home, and sustainability is an ever-present agenda item at team meetings.

Promoting green travel

For commuting, we advocate low-carbon options, such as cycling, public transport and car sharing, and for business travel, ask staff to prioritise hotels with strong environmental policies. A single pool of vans is shared by all three sectors of our group, and with our solar system now up and running, our ultimate aim is to further reduce the carbon footprint of our logistics by installing EV chargers for modern electric vans.

We know that we create clean power via our solar array, and while we’re pleased with what we’ve achieved, we realise this is only the beginning. It’s a long journey to net zero for our society, but for the sake of all our futures, everyone at Whitwam remains committed to contributing by working more sustainably. We hope you’ll join us.

Whitwam Group’s Policies

• Whitwam Anti-Bribery Policy
• Whitwam Anti-Slavery and Human Trafficking Policy
• Whistleblowing Policy