DCCS recognises its responsibilities as a service organisation and concerns itself with both long and short term effects of its business in relation to the environment.

Whilst we welcome the introduction of legal measures, we appreciate that real progress on environmental issues can only be made through the actions of individuals and organisations.  

To this end we have adopted a positive policy to promote the practical day-to-day commitment to the environment, which permeates throughout the organisation and is reflected in the way we work, the materials and machinery we use, purchase and dispose of.

Specifically, we take action on the following measures:

• Protecting the Atmosphere
• To source and buy environmentally friendly chemicals
• To use trigger sprays whenever possible
• To replace at the end of their lease, vehicles which give a reduced CO2 emission, as well as giving greater fuel economy
• To minimise the use of energy at all times.

Waste Management

Where possible we will actively recycle the waste we create reducing environmental pressures from waste disposal by:

• The use of recycled paper in all our offices
• The recycling of all office paper
• To top, tail and flatten tins and cans
• To break down and flat pack packaging and boxes
• The recycling of all office printer cartridges
• Supporting our customers by recycling waste from our kitchen, where such a scheme is in existence
• Ensuring any hazardous waste is carefully disposed of.

Noise

We are committed to a quiet environment, and fully appreciate that for our education clients in particular that there are key times when noise must be kept to an absolute minimum, eg, exams and performances.

Vehicles

The County Council policy is to reduce car usage for both business and personal use and that officers make as many journeys as practicable by public transport.

At DCCS we have recently introduced a league table for all our fleet vehicles to encourage greater fuel economy.

Purchasing Policy

We believe it is important to continuously review the effect of our purchasing practices.  We aim to purchase products, which are low polluting, recycled, ozone friendly, energy efficient, reusable, durable, not tested on animals, purchased in bulk wherever possible to alleviate unnecessary packaging.

Paper Products

All officers have access to a networked PC as part of the County Council's desktop strategy.  This has proven to reduce the amount of paper circulating internally the form of internal memos and newsletters, as well as the use of paper and and envelopes from external sources.  See also, Waste Management above.

Production

We will ensure staff are aware of the best procedures to adopt during the cooking process, to maximise the efficient use of energy.

Summary

We recognise the enormous value of our environment and aim to conserve and enhance it so as to leave to the children of tomorrow what was left for us.  All our activities are designed with this in mind.