OUR RESPONSIBILITY
As a business, we take our Corporate and Social Responsibility very seriously. We strongly believe we have a responsibility to our planet, our staff, and the people around us to ensure our business operates in a sustainable and responsible way.
Sustainability
Corporate responsibility and sustainability (CR&S) is inherent in every aspect of IPM’s operations. We strive to go beyond our statutory obligations to be a good neighbour, care for our stakeholders and minimise our impact on the environment.
Bees
Bees have been around for millions of years. Recent discovery of fossilised bees has shown that their role has always been to carry out some form of pollination. From analysis of pollen grains removed from ancient fossils of bees, this is shown to be the case. Clearly, they have a major job still to do in the modern world to pollinate flowers to set seed which is the basis of much food production.
Dogs and cows are domesticated. Elephants and tigers are not. Most animals can be categorised as either domesticated or not. Honeybee’s are not easily put into either of these. At first it may be thought that they should be categorised as domesticated. They can be adapted to live in hives and exploited to produce honey and wax and other products. Despite many efforts to alter the genome of modern bees, their nature is still largely the result of over forty million years of evolution.
Feral colonies were widespread in times before population swallowed up vast tracts of land to house and produce food for people. Now most feral colonies exist in buildings rather than trees and the support of modern beekeeping practises tends to fuel the numbers suggested as being in the order of some 130,000. There are thought to be rather fewer than 200,000 managed colonies of honeybees in England.
It can be seen that the support of people in keeping bees in currently highly populated areas will go a long way to ensure that the numbers are helped to survive and perpetuate, whether it be to generate hive products, or just to have the pleasure of watching their endless toil in going about their business. Bees at I P M at Theale shows how Corporate bodies can take part in helping the cause by installing managed bees on their properties where usually there are some spaces for the bees to be located.
Electric Equipment
Maintenance equipment
Over the last few years we have been increasing our number of cordless commercial battery powered machines. These include blowers, strimmer’s and long handled Hedge cutters.
The advantages of these machines are not only reduced carbon and other pollutant emissions, but also hugely decreased noise levels, they tend to be lighter to use than their petrol equivalents and completely remove all the toxic fumes from the operator and the local environment.
The low noise of battery in comparison to petrol means we no longer cause a disturbance to people in these areas, allowing us to work more quietly and efficiently without stoppages. This is of benefit to everyone as it means we can successfully complete jobs quicker, with minimal noise, in sensitive areas.
Vehicles
Our fleet is monitored by tacker system enabling us to get the best results from driver efficiency which is helping us to reduce our impact on the environment.
By reducing the mph by 2 percent of each of our vehicles fleet has made a vast impact on our CO2 emissions.
Added to this we have recently purchased 2 new PHEV (plug in hybrid electric vehicles) vehicles to our landscape maintenance fleet
For instead of the 2.0-litre diesel that normally powers or vehicles, the PHEV uses a 1.0-litre petrol engine.
Every movement this van makes is propelled instead by a 92.9kW electric motor (equivalent to around 126hp) that works in conjunction with a single-speed gearbox, giving you progress akin to a smooth and effortless automatic transmission.
The only purpose to the petrol engine is to act as a generator when the lithium ion batteries run out, or on occasions where you want to save their charge for use later.
Conservation
As the world begins to change due to climate change we have a responsibility to make a difference to the future of our environment. As passionate Horticulturists IPM Facilities are continually evolving methods to sustain and improve our environment. On many sites now we are working closely with clients to install Bug houses, Butterfly houses and Bird Houses to ensure the environment can share the sites we maintain. This is only a small section of our development. As a company we are continually looking at different ways to progress within the nature of our works. We have many yards within the country that we use compost heaps generated by our green waste which we then install back in the beds to encourage growth to our eco system. We work on many sites now that have Ecology plans to help the growth in numbers to Water Voles, Bats and Newts. We work closely with Councils to ensure we are contributing to our environment.
We have a Static Site with Trained Bee Keepers who throughout the year help manage Bee Hives. We also hold annual events for tenants to help raise awareness with the help of specialists towards Bee management an endangered species now. We are moving away from Petrol machinery and using battery machinery. We hold “seed on a plate” events in which the tenants can start to grow their own produce. We decided to take the next step with the help of the client to create there own Allotment area in which they used the growth from the seeds and in their breaks during the season learn how to take the next steps of growing the vegetables.
We need to take steps in sustaining our environment. At IPM Facilities we will continue to develop new ideas to help in this process. Our vision doesn’t stop there. It’s our Responsibility help others learn how we can make a difference to our environment.
Recycling
What makes IPMs Green waste and re-cycling work for its clients and stakeholders.
One of the key factors is Educating all those involved in the process from the creation of the litter to destination of the item.
General waste and Re-cycling
This is geared around us doing all we can to make it as easy possible for people to dispose of their waste in a responsible manner. We must all do what we can to reduce Greenhouse gases and by re-cyling enables us to use certain products again. Our staff know how important this is and do all they can do make this work making IPM the smarter choice.
Sites where we do have bins on site, we have general waste and recycling receptacles these have clear bold signage showing which waste goes in which compartment these are checked regularly for any cross contamination which is rectified.
In our general litter picking service we remove the items back to our depots where we have a range of containers to put the appropriate items into before being collected by our waste management partner. We receive a full breakdown of each product that is collected from this service showing which items have been able to be re-used.
Green Waste Management
Were at all possible we encourage clients to allow us to manage any green waste collected on their sites to re retained on site , we will construct and manage compost areas so that we can return the product back on site as a mulch when it is fully broken down.
Were this is not practical we will remove the green waste from site and take it back to our nearest depot where it is stored in large containers until it is collected and taken to a local green farm where it is processed through a screening machine and then placed in wind rows in the field environment , these are then turned and monitored over a 10 week period were the end product is a soil conditioner which can be reutilized back on site.
CPD
As part of our commitment to our staff, we encourage Coninual Professional Development at all levels of our business; whether that be accounting courses for our admin team or qualifications for our field operatives.