Environmental policy

World Challenge recognizes that, in pursing its commercial, educational and social objectives, it shares with all organizations a responsibility to protect and nurture the environment. By exercising proper control over its activities, World Challenge will promote the use of sustainable resources and discourage practices that are wasteful or damaging to the environment. This policy contains a variety of practical measures to be taken in order to enable World Challenge to make a contribution towards protecting the environment at all levels of our activity. An annual review of the policy will enable monitoring of achievements, and will identify opportunities for further improvements.

Key Aims

• To reduce unfavorable impact on the natural environment by World Challenge through our work and consumption.
• To conserve and support use of sustainable resources.
• To follow “the waste hierarchy”:
  • Reduce
  • Re-use or reclaim
  • Recover (recycle)
  • Dispose - as last resort
• To establish and follow environmental good practice, and comply with all relevant environmental regulations and legislations
• To develop organizational awareness of the need to care for the environment, and measures that can be taken.

Use of materials

• Communicate the Company’s policy to all stakeholders
• Make use of electronic transfer of information where possible via internet and intranet and discourage unnecessary printing
• Use double-sided printing and photocopying
• Reuse printed paper for draft copies, internal notices, rough pads, draft printing, and informal hard copies of documents
• Encourage electronic filing and archiving to reduce paper usage
• Take care when producing letters, not to run over on to another page or to include empty line spaces if not necessary
• Recycle old envelopes and other packaging materials
• Re-use printed paper for draft copies, internal notices, rough pads, draft printing and informal hard copies of documents.

Electronic and Waste Conservation

• Purchase recycled products
• Purchase Fair Trade Products
• Use an energy management plan to reduce consumption of electricity, including a policy to extinguish all unnecessary lighting and establishing a purchasing policy to use environmentally friendly products
• Ensure that use of air-conditioning is kept to a minimum
• Ensure all radiators are fitted with thermostatic valves and turned off whenever possible
• Instruct all staff to turn off all printers, photocopiers and computers when not in use
• Expand our on-site recycling program to capture paper, cardboard, metals, glass plastics and separate organic materials for composting. Contract with a private recycling company if the local government will not collect recyclables
• Order printed stationery (letterheads, envelopes) from a printer with sound environmental principles and with a responsible environmental policy
• Favor suppliers who use little packaging or remove packaging as part of their supply contract and obligations and who operate according to sound environmental principles
• Use local suppliers, to minimize “fuel miles”
• Install high quality, water-saving devices for toilets and faucets in all bathrooms.

Disposal of materials

• Recycle all paper waste, including shredded confidential documents
• Provide clearly labelled containers for material to be recycled, with notices of what can and cannot be recycled
• Provide an environment free of hazardous materials.

Employee’s awareness

• Provide environmental information and education for employees, encouraging employees to behave in an environmentally responsible manner
• Organize staff training in environmental awareness
• Use signs and notices as reminders
• Include relevant information in new employees’ orientation
• Encourage existing staff to set examples for new employees
• Create awareness of the benefits to the environment of commuting by walking, bicycling or using public transport, while noting other constraints such as personal safety
• Make information on recycling systems in World Challenge available to all staff.