Refreshment Systems is a CarbonZero® supplier - responsible solutions for now and the future
We are proud of our status as a CarbonZero® company.As an environmentally aware coffee supplier, we´re offsetting our carbon emissions by working closely with one of the leading carbon management companies and funding projects in Kenya that would have not happened without our involvement.
Aiming to provide responsible beverage and vending solutions, we chose the company co2balance to help us minimise our carbon emissions and offset the unavoidable CO2 residue. With their advice and assistance, we have thoroughly assessed our energy usage at our four regional offices, as well as the travelling costs associated with our sales, service and operations teams - appreciating our own carbon footprint was the first step towards becoming a carbon neutral company.
By investing funds equivalent to our own carbon footprint from these business activities, we have effectively become carbon neutral - offsetting our carbon footprint through the provision of funds for energy saving projects of significance elsewhere.
As an environmentally aware coffee supplier, we have chosen to work with local groups in East Africa to replace the use of open fires for cooking with either solar powered ovens or energy efficient cooking stoves. The solar ovens are currently imported into East Africa, however, manufacturing will shortly move to Kenya
Alistair Balmforth, our Managing Director comments, “We are committed to providing responsible vending, and helping both our local community and the wider world, which is why we have chosen this particular project. As well as saving carbon emissions, this project has wider benefits to the community. We now recognise the impact we have on our environment, and have started to take steps to reduce this. We areaccredited with the ISO 14001, an international standard which recognises the actions of responsible businesses in managing and controlling their environment, and this shows our dedication to helping the environment.We are also looking at ways of further reducing our carbon footprint, we recycle as much as we can, and we´ve streamlined our operatives' routes to reduce the amount of miles driven, in fact we have already reduced them by over 100,000 per year.”
Unlike some carbon offsetting projects, this project would not have gone ahead without investment from us. Not only will this project reduce the amount of carbon emitted but it has had other spin off benefits too, such as reducing the amount of time spent looking for firewood, and also provides health and safety benefits.
