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Sustainability Policy
Suzi Gardner Photography is committed to managing its business activities by reducing harmful effects on the environment, we will comply with all environmental legislation and Industry best practice. We will maintain and oversee waste minimisation, recycling and promote environmentally friendly waste disposal. We prefer to use suppliers who set high standards for recycling and sustainable business practices.
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WE OPERATE CONSIDERING THE 3 CORE SUSTAINABILITY ISSUES
Environmental sustainability
Human wellbeing is closely linked to the health of the environment, and our responsibility to conserve natural resources and protect global ecosystems crucial to support health and wellbeing now and in the future.
Economic sustainability
Practises that support long term economic growth without negatively impacting social, environmental, and cultural aspects of the community
Social sustainability
Human rights and basic necessities are not available to everyone. Personal, labour, and cultural rights should be respected, and no-one should be discriminated against.
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Silver award for sustainability
Suzi Gardner Photography received recognition from the Master Photographers Association in the industry's first ever
awards dedicated to efforts in sustainability.
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We recycle paper, cardboard, glass, and plastics as standard, and this includes returning our printer ink cartridges for re-fills/recycling.
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Our offices and studios use energy saving light bulbs or led where possible.
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Lighting and all other electrical equipment are switched off when not in use.
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We use the most sustainable techniques when utilising high intensity lighting, to prevent wasted energy often associated with lighting/electric discharge.
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We use led lighting equipment where possible.
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When sourcing suppliers we consider their green credentials first before engaging.
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We are working to eradicate plastic materials from our products and associated packaging, preferring packaging to be in natural materials, predominantly wood, paper, and metal.
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We adopt a paperless administration – e.g., banking and suppliers’ statements and invoicing documentation in digital form rather than paper.
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When buying props, we buy antique, second hand or sustainable.
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For our studio supplies, we use recycled and refillable wherever possible e.g., fresh filtered refrigerated water, fresh ground coffee and no single use pods, toilet paper, cleaning liquids, washing liquids, wall paint etc.
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We minimise the amount of paper we use, using digital files or scrap paper where using paper is necessary.
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When travelling locally we endeavor to either walk, cycle, or use public transport in preference to a car.
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We capture all images digitally and make full use of our website, blog, PCs, and tablet PC to display those images for advertising and sales purposes.
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We deliver digital files via our on-line private galleries unless a USB is requested.
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We only carry a small number of sample products / prints to minimise waste.
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Commercial client deliverables take the form of digital assets where possible, negating the need for physical packaging and associated delivery.
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We will ensure all waste material is disposed of in a safe and responsible manor and recycled where possible.
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We approach location sessions and our impact to the environment with a simple strategy: Avoid destruction to get a shot, take out what you take in, leave what you find where you found it, travel light, use rechargeable batteries and DO NOT disturb any animal habitat.
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We take our sustainability impact seriously, and we are always striving to learn more ways to improve and keep up to date with new initiatives.
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We have worked out our residual carbon footprint for Suzi Gardner Photography and have created a list of commitments that will be tracked via our carbon reduction strategy document.
CARBON REDUCTION & OFFSET COMMITMENTS
Off-set the carbon impact from customer journeys to us by planting trees with Ecologi
Typical example of this - Customer car journey of 40 miles = 7.37kg co2 impact
1 new tree will absorb an average of 21 kg of co2 per year
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1 Tonne Carbon footprint reduction by May 2022
The WWF target for total carbon footprint is 10.5 tonnes per year, our total ccarbon footprint 6.4 tonnes, against the UK average of 10 tonnes.
Our carbon reduction strategy is targetted at achieving a further reduction of 1 tonne of carbon impact by May 2022. Link to My Studio carbon footprint March 2020 / 2021 - Link to Carbon reduction strategy for 2021
Through our connections with Ecologi and The Master Photographers Association, we buy 25 trees to be planted for every session booked, this contributes to a carbon offset from things like clients travel to their photography session etc - Ecologi https://ecologi.com/
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Useful links:
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