Choose UK charcoal for your BBQ and help butterflies and your carbon footprint too

BioRegional’s HomeGrown BBQ charcoal has been repackaged and will be available from your high street this spring for the 14th year running.

The BBQ season will be with us soon- make sure you choose the best charcoal for the job. BioRegional’s HomeGrown Charcoal is made by UK charcoal producers who manage their woodlands to create habitat for threatened butterfly and bird species. UK charcoal also helps stop illegal logging in tropical forests and provides jobs in
British forestry.

Our research shows that by choosing local charcoal over imported charcoal from South Africa you can reduce the carbon emissions from transport by 85%.

The charcoal will soon be available from selected Tesco’s and Sainsburys and from all B&Q stores. more info

Opportunities for Building Material Re-use Centres (BMRCs)

Does your Organisation want to be involved in creating several new BMRC (also known as ReStore) projects across Britain?

BMRCs, or ReStores, as they are also known in the USA, already run successfully in most USA towns and cities. They are financially sustainable retail outlets that sell reusable building materials to trade and general public and can bring many additional benefits for the environment and community. more info

We want you to get in touch with us if your answer is YES to at least two questions below:

1 Is your organisation interested in business opportunities from increased reclamation and reuse of building materials from construction or regeneration projects, and the wider building sector?

2 Do you want know more about Building Materials Reuse Centres in the USA and their potential for
replication in the UK, initially proposed for 3 to 5 UK trial locations?

3 Does your organisation want to be part of a national e-network, and in any local network to set up a local BRMC in your area?

4 Are you interested in supporting a BRMC partnership event in your area? (regional events held been held so far in North East, East & South East England – others depend on regional support/funding).

Contact BioRegional's Reclaimed Materials Manager, Jonathan Essex, tel 020 8404 4249 email jonathan.essex@bioregional.com

Continuing Professional Development training with BioRegional

We have a successful track record in providing relevant, useful, training at our education centre at BedZED,
an inspirational learning environment where you can experience sustainable development in action.

This year we have extended our range of training to include two new one-day Continuing Professional Development
(CPD) courses:
Water treatment and demand reduction, drawing on our experience of water usage and looking at onsite treatment technologies.
Sustainable Construction Materials, drawing on our experience in materials reclamation, developing sustainable communities and running One Planet Products, our sustainable materials buying and information club.

All CPD dates are shown below. Please visit our web site for more information.

Dates
Friday 25th April 2008: Zero Carbon Homes CPD
Friday 17th June 2008: Sustainable Construction Materials CPD
Friday 20th June 2008: Water Treatment and Demand Reduction CPD
Friday 25th July 2008: Zero Carbon Homes CPD
Friday 19th September 2008: BedZED and Beyond CPD
Friday 24th October 2008: Zero Carbon Homes CPD

Lunchtime CPDs
BioRegional can also come to you. Tailored to look at the relevance to your business, an hour's presentation, introducing the principles of One Planet Living, can be delivered at your office. Please contact Matt Sullivan at matt.sullivan@bioregional.com for more information.

Last recycled office paper mill in UK to stop production

Kent paper mill’s relocation to France is a backward step for UK sustainability.

The UK's only paper mill that can recycle and manufacture high quality office paper announced in February that it will be relocating its paper production to France at the end of the year, to be replaced with a cardboard manufacturing plant.

Paper accounts for 6% of the UK's environmental impact, which can be reduced by 93% if offices recycle to a local paper mill and then buy the paper back. BioRegional is calling for more government support to enable business to go green.

BioRegional has established local paper loops in London and Surrey, with over 2,000 organisations now diverting 5,800 tonnes/year from landfill and buying back 1,600 tonnes from the mill in Kent. BioRegional also set-up The Laundry, central London's recycling scheme for small businesses, encouraging them to adopt the local paper loop approach. When M-Real move their production to France at the end of the year, the environmental impact of the UK’s office paper usage will increase.

Sue Riddlestone, Director of BioRegional, said: "This is a backward step for sustainability. Recycling capacity in the UK will be cut, and businesses in the UK will have to buy recycled paper from abroad. If our government is serious about recycling and tackling climate change then it should do what it can to encourage mills like this one in Kent to continue to operate in the UK.”

All the latest news from BioRegional's One Planet Living® programme:

Hackbridge - the UK’s first sustainable suburb?
A week of community events to create a sustainability plan for the neighbourhood

25th February saw the start of Hackbridge Week. Residents from Hackbridge in the London Borough of Sutton were invited to take part in a week of community events to work together to create a sustainability action plan for the area.

BioRegional and Sutton Council are working in partnership with residents, community groups and businesses in the area to turn Hackbridge into the UK’s first sustainable suburb. Hackbridge is a community of approximately 2,500 homes and workplaces.

The week featured events and workshops on the improvements needed in housing, transport, job opportunities, health services, schools and community facilities, including:-
• a series of lively workshops for residents and businesses to share their ideas on how Sutton can achieve zero-carbon status by 2025
• a session on water efficiency, including how to use rain and waste water sustainably, and measures to reduce local flooding and droughts.
• with rising energy prices, energy efficiency workshops showed residents how to keep their homes warm while saving money and reducing CO2 emissions.
• Zero-Waste – a waste reduction workshop aimed at helping Hackbridge hit a 70% recycling rate and exploring the treatment options for the remaining 30%.

The feedback is now being compiled into a plan which residents can contribute to further on line at www.oneplanetsutton.org or by calling Jessica Hodge on 020 8404 4889 or email jessica@oneplanetsutton.org

Through March, Hackbridge residents are being offered free home sustainability audits, normally worth £200. If you would like to organise an audit call 020 8404 5924 or email anna@oneplanetsutton.org.

The Hackbridge activities form part of a wider borough project - Towards One Planet Living in Sutton.
Through the initiative residents in Sutton are currently being offered free or heavily discounted home insulation. If you are interested in this offer contact Anna Francis using the above details.

The winners of the “Green Oscars”, The City of London Corporation’s Sustainable City Awards were announced in February at London’s Mansion House. BioRegional's One Planet Products initiative won the Sustainable Procurement category, in recognition of exemplary work it has achieved in making it easier and more cost effective for the housing industry to use green construction products.

One Planet Products is a member-led, social business which was set up for housing associations, developers and architects. The scheme focuses on making it easier and more cost effective for its members to specify and use high quality, sustainable building products and materials. Judges felt that by assisting organisations to make the right choices One Planet Products has tremendous influence over the behaviour of a large number of organisations, and ultimately the huge number of individuals those organisations provide services for.

Says Simon Mills, Sustainable Development Co-ordinator, City of London Corporation, “All winners of the awards were picked not only for recognition of their achievements in CSR, but also as worthy ambassadors in sustainable business practise. It’s our hope that other businesses will be inspired by the winners’ approach to sustainability. They have shown that it’s not enough to tick boxes in the annual report, but that real commitment is needed to achieve change.”

Mark Watson, Executive Director, One Planet Products said “We are delighted and honoured to accept this award, which reflects the increasing importance of green procurement. By making it easier for our members to specify and purchase sustainable construction products we are helping to reduce the environmental impact of their developments”. Find out more about the awards and One Planet Products."

Masdar City will be the world’s first zero-carbon, zero-waste, car-free city. BioRegional has led the development of an ambitious Sustainability Action Plan aiming to enable One Planet Living at Masdar, in association with developers Mubadala, their Foster & Partners – led masterplanning team and WWF UAE.

Pooran Desai OBE, co-founder of BioRegional and Technical Director of the One Planet Living Communities programme, said "Masdar would be the largest and one of the most advanced sustainable communities in the world."

“The vision of One Planet Living is a world where people everywhere can lead happy, healthy lives within their fair share of the Earth’s resources. Masdar gives us a breathtaking insight into this positive, alternative future.
BioRegional are working with developers across the globe to deliver One Planet Living and we have been extremely impressed by the commitment of Mubadala and the Foster & Partners-led design team to deliver a true global flagship project at Masdar."

“In realising the goal of a sustainable future, Masdar will strive to achieve benchmarks set by the One Planet Living Programme’s Ten Guiding Principles, covering issues that range from how waste is dealt with to the energy performance of the buildings.” more info

© Foster and Partners

B&Q teams up with BioRegional to become a One Planet Living business

In January 2008, we were pleased to announce that we will partner with B&Q for the next three years to help the company become a world leading One Planet Living business. The partnership will enable B&Q to reduce its impact on the world’s resources and make it easy for B&Q customers to have sustainable homes and gardens.

B&Q is the first retailer to join BioRegional’s One Planet Living Programme and will work to meet demanding targets set targets against each of the ten One Planet Living principles. The targets are worked out using Ecological and Carbon Footprinting to allow for truly sustainable and equitable use of resources for everyone around the world.

BioRegional will work with B&Q to develop two sustainability action plans (SAPs). The first SAP will look at improving B&Q’s own operations against the ten principles of One Planet Living. The second SAP will help B&Q’s customers achieve One Planet Living in their homes and gardens through products which are consistent with the ten One Planet Living principles. BioRegional will work with B&Q to extend its current range of eco-products and develop new lines to result in a substantial One Planet Living product range.

Sue Riddlestone, Executive Director of BioRegional said “Achieving one planet living is the challenge of our times. Most people know that we have to take action but don’t like the idea of having to cut back or go without."

“What we have found through our real-life sustainable communities and products is that it’s more about being efficient and developing new ways of doing things. People are happier living a ‘one planet’ life. A sustainable future is nothing to be afraid of, but something we can all look forward to. We are delighted that B&Q has stepped up to the mark and said, ‘we will do it and we will help our customers to do it too’.”

Ian Cheshire, CEO of B&Q said: “We have announced a number of groundbreaking moves relating to our business processes and products. Each of these decisions was taken with our customers firmly in mind, in order to provide them with home improvement solutions for the 21st century whilst minimising our business impact on the environment.

He continued: "A quarter of the UK’s total carbon emissions come from the home and as the largest home improvement retailer in the country we are uniquely placed to help customers make a real difference. We are all too aware of the impact our lives have on the environment and our initiatives will provide real and simple solutions to help people live more sustainable lives."

"We are very proud to have signed up to BioRegional’s One Planet Living initiative and look forward to working with them over the coming years to become a One Planet Living business”. more info

Want to hear more? BioRegional talks coming up...

17th April 2008
Living in a Low Carbon World Conference - all day event
Royal Geographical Society, London

One of the foremost annual events on the climate change agenda, this one day conference will address issues surrounding sustainable development and the role of the built environment, will debate the challenges that government, business and communities are facing internationally, and will share available solutions.

As part of this one day conference Pooran Desai OBE, BioRegional's Co-founder will take part in a panel discussion on transferring international best practices to the environmental management of cities and large land banks. Exploring the sustainability of the built environment by examining ways to radically transform the way it is planned, designed, constructed, maintained and operated.

Purchase tickets through the conference website
http://conference.lowcarbonworld.net/

22nd April 2008
Achieving Level 6: Practical ways to design for the Code for Sustainable Homes
Thistle Hotel, Brighton

As part of this one day conference BioRegional's Sustainable Construction Materials experts Ronan Leyden & Jonathan Essex will present:
Going beyond Zero carbon homes
• Reducing embodied energy of construction
• Procurement of renewable materials
• Using low impact materials to achieve Whole Life Zero Carbon

Download the entry form to book a place