SUPREME
TRANSPORT TRAINING (STT)
KEEPING BRITAIN GREEN
Environment
Our climate is changing – both in Britain and around the world.
Because of man-made pollution that traps the sun’s heat, the planet
may never have warmed as fast as it has in the past 25 years. The years
2005 and 1998 were probably the warmest years of the last millennium.
The 1990s was the warmest decade and the 20th century the warmest century.
Any further alterations to the climate can be reduced by us, humans. We
can reduce the amount of energy that we use; the amount of pollutants,
the amount of waste that we generate, and more importantly, the amount
of carbon dioxide emissions we produce. All of these combined will help
to stop climate change.
Public transport is a great way of reducing carbon dioxide emissions.
If more people use public transport, fewer emissions will be made from
cars. Al Gore’s global warming documentary film, “An Inconvenient
Truth”, and the widespread summer flooding neatly reflect the sustainability
challenge facing businesses in the UK today.
Supreme Transport Training is part of the Supreme Coaches organisation
amd we at STT recognise that all vehicle emissions contribute to global
warming and we are therefore working towards reducing the environmental
impact of our vehicles. We are also focusing on making more efficient
use of water and energy and by supporting the Essex Wildlife Trust and
in particular their tree planting project, we can help towards becoming
Carbon Neutral and therefore reduce our effect on the environment.
Reducing Emissions
By the end of 2008, most of our vehicles will conform to the Euro 4 Standard
for emissions from buses and coaches. In London, road transport is the
single biggest source of Particulate Matter and oxides of Nitrogen. These
are primary causes of air-related health problems including asthma. To
this end, we are fitting the new eminox exhaust systems to all of our
vehicles and thereby bringing them up to the PM standards required by
the new Low Emission Zone (LEZ) in London. The Mayor of London believes
that a Low Emission Zone is the most effective way to achieve reductions
of the most harmful road transport generated emissions in London and STT
aim to be fully compliant in this respect. This is currently the highest
European standard for reducing harmful emissions.
Waste
Most of our waste comes from the maintenance of our vehicles, from offices
and litter left by customers. We at STT aim to dispose of waste in ways
that minimise harm to the environment.
Waste generated from the repair and maintenance of our vehicles is recycled
where possible. For example, clutch plates and exchange items are returned
to our supplier when new stock is delivered and scrap metal is sold to
licensed scrap metal merchants.
Batteries from buses, coaches and lorries are collected by a licensed
contractor and recycled. Waste oil and other chemicals are separated at
source and stored until they can be disposed of in the most appropriate
and effective way by specialist contractors.
Tyres form a significant proportion of the waste produced by our vehicle
operations and almost 100% are nowadays recycled. Once the tyres are worn
out, they are returned to the supplier for re-treading, often several
times within their lifespan. All tyres introduced into service are required
to meet stringent safety requirements. Once retreading is no longer possible,
they are shredded and the recovered rubber is used to make other products
such as floor mats, playground surfaces and drainage media.
Until now the choices for office printer consumables have been limited
to either paying for expensive originals or reducing costs with inferior
print quality by using compatible cartridges. We at STT collect all of
our empty cartridges and return them to our suppliers. They are able to
remanufacture the same cartridge over and over again. This is an environmentally
sustainable solution to single use cartridges as fewer raw materials and
energy are used and less waste ends up in landfill sites.
Finally, we ensure that our business fully complies with local waste management
regulations and all of our office waste and litter is collected and disposed
of by licensed waste contractors.
Water Consumption
We operate a large fleet of vehicles and are proud of keeping them clean,
attractive and comfortable. Cleaning these vehicles involves using large
amounts of water. We also use water in our offices and depot for our staff
and customers.
Managing water consumption has always been an important issue for STT,
particularly since much of it is metered. To this end, we will will soon
be introducing a new bus washing system which will recycle as much as
80% of our waste water from cleaning activites.
Biofuels
We are investigating the use of different fuels including ultra-low sulphur
diesel and natural palm oil biodiesel to reduce our environmental impact.
Supporting Essex Wildlife Trust
Essex Wildlife Trust is a charity that exists to secure a better futures
for the wildlife and people of Essex. The natural environment is no different
from the business environment. It needs management, care and expertise
and we at STT are proud to be an Essex Wildlife Trust Corporate Member.
However, to assst the Trust further with the excellent work it carries
out, STT has expanded upon its membership to also offer the Trust a donation
to its tree planting projects around the county.
At
this moment in time, there are three big issues facing Essex Wildlife
Trust:
• Will wildlife be able to survive the next phase of massive housing
development?
• What will happen to farm wildlife now that the farm subsidy system
is changing?
• How well will wildlife survive in maritime and intertidal areas
with rising sea levels, increased storminess and climate change?
The conservation staff and volunteers at Essex Wildlife Trust are working
hard to ensure that wildlife is protected in the face of these issues
and they have a growing team of people and wildlife staff to inform and
inspire young and old about how to conserve our local wildlife in Essex.
Climate change is now recognised as being the biggest threat to the future
well being of all life on earth. To help redress the balance, the Essex
Wildlife Trust is planning various tree planting projects in the county
including 600 trees at its Sandylay & Moat Woods reserve between Chelmsford
and Braintree. Young trees take up and store atmospheric carbon and although
will never by themselves address climate change will contribute substantially
by bringing down carbon emissions. To this end, we at Supreme Coaches
will offer the Trust an annual donation to fund the planting and ongoing
care of trees at Sandylay & Moat Woods and Wild Wood at Abberton Reservoir
and will thereby support woodland biodiversity and its distinctive wildlife
for own children and for other generations to come.
Our Commitment
We at STT are committed to continuous improvement in environmental management.
We will endeavour to go beyond strict compliance with the law and will
seek to achieve best environmental practice in our operations. Furthermore,
we will encourage our business partners, suppliers and contractors to
manage their own environmental affairs in the spirit of this policy.