To coincide with COP26, Travers Smith LLP is pleased to be running its annual Environmental Awareness Week for everyone at the firm this week to highlight key environmental issues, explore where the firm is on its environmental journey and importantly, outline what is on its roadmap for the future in terms of environmental initiatives.
Along with webinars and drop-in sessions focused on the firm's environmental credentials and initiatives, on Thursday, Travers Smith's Kitchen team will be hosting a virtual cook-along with its major charity partner, The Felix Project. Travers Smith chefs Lucy French and Arthur Duncan will cook a no-waste vegetarian menu and Fenella Brereton will use their leftovers to make delicious drinks. They will be joined by Will Savage, Corporate Partnerships Manager from The Felix Project, who will talk about the charity's mission to reduce food waste and fight hunger in London.
Travers Smith recognises the climate crisis and is actively seeking to reduce its overall carbon footprint. This is in addition to its wider goal of reducing the firm's consumption of non-sustainable and/or non-renewable materials, products and food (wherever possible).
Over the past few years, the firm has implemented a number of measures and initiatives to reduce its environmental impact, including:
- Increasing the number of waste streams to 10, resulting in 94% of the firm's waste being recycled
- Introducing a new supplier code of conduct to ensure its suppliers meet high ethical standards
- Introducing ethical tree-free paper made from sugar cane to all office printers
- Sending all waste paper to a facility for shredding and then the waste product is despatched to a paper mill at which point it is turned into toilet paper. These are the toilets rolls we use throughout our premises.
- Phasing out cling film in our kitchens and replacing it with beeswax wraps
- Introducing plant-based compostable takeaway containers in the firm's staff canteen and removing single-use plastic across the firm
- Training the Kitchen team in ways to best reduce food waste at every point; for example, making stocks, preserving, freezing and utilising recipes that use parts of vegetables that are often thrown away.
- Putting a greater emphasis on fruit and vegetable choice and removing internal lunches and breakfasts in order to reduce food waste.
The firm is regularly introducing new initiatives in order to reduce its impact on the environment and has a number on its roadmap for the future including:
- Removing all desktop printers in offices and replacing them with new heat-free MFD printers on each floor, which are 94% more energy efficient.
- Introducing meat-free Mondays to the firm's canteen and client dining rooms.
- Launching an environmental champions scheme across the firm to encourage people to get involved and help drive the firm's environmental goals.
- Working with the developers of the firm's new offices in Stonecutter Court to ensure that the building is seen as a market leader from a sustainability point of view.
More information about the firm's ongoing environmental initiatives can be found here.
