Carbon balanced: Tackling our paper problem

Here at True Bearing, we have always taken our Corporate and Social Responsibility very seriously. In early 2019, we formed a task force to see how we could make the business more environmentally friendly.

Throughout the year, this group looked at how we could make sustainable changes. Through this process, we moved to glass rather than plastic bottles from our milkman. We changed to bamboo toilet rolls and reduced the number of bags of waste from our kitchen by recycling more.

One big concern we had was around our use of paper. We are a regulated business that prints a large quantity of formal documents and we have diligent record keeping. As a result, we use a lot of paper. Therefore, we looked at ways in which we could reduce our impact on the environment.

The World Land Trust (WLT) is a charity that aims to protect the world’s most biologically significant and threatened habitats acre by acre. The aims of the WLT also include raising awareness and their Patrons include Sir David Attenborough and Chris Packham.

Carbonbalancedpaper.com is an initiative from the WLT that enables companies to reduce the carbon impact of their printed communications. This is possible through the use of Carbon Balancing. Carbon balancing is where a company can offset the carbon emissions from resources they use, or processes that they carry out through their business. For example, airline EasyJet have just promised to offset the carbon produced from their flights. They plan to do this by investing in deforestation projects and renewable energy.

Carbon Balanced Paper allows a company to measure and reduce the environmental impact of their paper use. It is achieved through the preservation of ecologically important standing forests that are under real and imminent threat of clearance. This ensures that carbon that would otherwise be released is locked in. It also secures the continued absorption of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Every time we use Carbon Balanced Paper, we receive a certificate saying how much carbon we have offset. We are proud to announce that we have offset 202kg so far, allowing the WLT to protect 141 square metres of tropical forest! Look out for the World Land Trust logo on the back of our Compass Magazine, Newsletters and branded stationery!

We couldn’t have achieved this without the help of our printers. Daryl Gaskell, of BHW Print Group, says: “We are delighted to have helped True Bearing reduce their Carbon Impact. We have been using World Land Trust Carbon Balanced Papers since 2011. We actively promote the production of all printed literature in an environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial and economically viable way. We hold the internationally recognised standard for Environmental Management System certification ISO14001 and we also use vegetable based inks.”