Environmental Sustainability Action Plan

Lighthouse is committed to conducting its operations in such a way as to minimise the adverse impact of our activities on the environment. We continually strive to improve our performance in this area, and are careful to ensure compliance with all applicable environmental legislation.

Our environmental impact is measured and monitored through Julie’s Bicycle Creative Green Tools, where we record our energy consumption, business travel, waste and audience travel. Responsibility for environmental performance is held by our Head of Operations, and all procedures communicated through staff training and induction. Our Action Plan details the steps taken to ensure our work is as sustainable as possible:

Office supplies, appliances & systems:

• We reduce paper usage by only printing when essential, and have our default settings to print in black and white and double-sided. Our printing paper is 100% recycled and unbleached.
 All printer toners are recycled.
• Applications for schemes and job opportunities are received through an online system, and filed and shared with assessors digitally.
• All batteries are rechargeable, with a battery recycling box available for use by tenants.
• Equipment is maintained and tested to operate at high standards of efficiency. All new appliances purchased are energy saving.
• Our invoicing system is entirely digital.

Electricity, gas & water consumption:

• Our gas and electricity tariffs are green and supplied through Good Energy - our electricity is 100% renewable and our gas supply is 6% biogas.
• Electricity use in the building is reduced by avoiding excess lighting, and switching off printers, computers and lights outside of business hours. We use energy saving light bulbs and are introducing LED lighting throughout the building.
• Central heating is only used during office hours.
• In 2019 our building received an energy audit carried out by the Sustainable Business partnership CIC. The audit outlined recommendations in saving us costs whilst maintaining eco-standards. The main recommendation of the report being to update our light fittings to LED’s. In 2021 we replaced all lights with LED lights in one of our offices, our ground floor common way has also now been fitted out with LED lighting. We have applied to LoCASE (Low Carbon Across the South and East funding) to fully fit out our building with LED lighting.
• Our taps are sensor limited to ensure against water waste.

Waste minimization & recycling:

• We minimize waste by recycling all types of materials possible. Building tenants are supported to follow our procedures through signage and the provision of recycling bins in their offices. Our general waste is zero to landfill.
• We use environmentally friendly refuse contractors, and sell, donate or recycle old equipment where possible. Our general waste is now zero to landfill.
• We are currently looking at rolling out a composting scheme.
• Exhibition materials are either recycled or stored for future use. 
Any wood used in their construction is purchased from sustainable sources.

Transport:

• Business related travel is made by public transport as far as possible, by the most direct and economical route. Only one team member travels into work by car due to lack of local transport from their area.
• We encourage staff to cycle by operating the Bike To Work Scheme.
• We keep business travel to a minimum, and regularly use Zoom, Slack, WhatsApp, Skype or Google Meetings for meetings.

Building supplies:

• Lighthouse uses environmentally friendly cleaning products.
• Our disposable catering supplies are made with 100% recycled content, the bar facility uses paper straws and we do not supply single use plastic bottles.
• We have sourced room hire biscuits with 100% recyclable non-plastic packaging, and switched to glasses instead of paper cups to reduce waste for smaller hires. For larger hires we use compostable cups.
• We use local, independent suppliers wherever possible, and avoid using Amazon and other multinationals to purchase items.

Covid 19 adaptations:

• All Covid-19 safety implementations have been assessed for their environmental credentials, and sourced through independent local suppliers where possible.

• Our new disposable kitchen hand towels are made from recycled tetra paks and our disposable gloves are compostable.

• Our hand sanitiser supports a local gin distillery, and we have bought 5ltr refills so that we can top up and reuse the dispenser bottles.

• We have new hand dryers which are energy efficient and dry hands within 9 seconds reducing energy consumption.

Artistic programme & exhibition install:

We programme work that raises awareness of the environment. We recycle as much material as possible used in the fabrication of our exhibitions. Exhibition materials are recycled or stored for the future.
 Wood is purchased from sustainable sources, and is either stored or recycled after exhibitions. We have replaced all our batteries with rechargeable ones.

• January 2022 - the Paso exhibition only produced one small bin bag of waste, all other materials were reused. The coir soil for Paso was distributed to local community growing projects.

• June 2021 - the Informals exhibition projection screen material was donated to us for reuse - we have kept it to reshare with other projects.

Feedback forms - We now have the option to complete paperless feedback forms for our exhibitions and events through the Audience Finder Agency platform or Jotform.

We share our environmental policy with all artists that we work with and advise/support them in making work as environmentally friendly as possible. Looking at materials, energy and travel.