"WEEE Can Be Sustainable!" Business Lunch co-hosted by The Future Economy Network and TLT LLP
On 6th August The Future Economy Network welcomed subscribers 3 Step IT, Dial-A-Geek and Toshiba to speak about sustainable IT. The event took place at TLT LLP’s beautiful Bristol city centre offices and kicked off with Director of The Future Economy Network discussing the benefits of subscription and updating attendees on Future Leap; the sustainable business hub and on the Festival of Sustainable Business.
We then heard from Andy Henderson from 3 Step IT. Andy gave some background information about the company before relaying some shocking statistics about the impact of E-Waste on the environment. An interactive element where attendees were asked to guess the embodied carbon of a laptop then drew some surprising results. Andy went on to explain that sustainable solutions are not a cost and instead should be seen as giving companies a competitive edge. He concluded by offering some calls to action, as well as suggesting some of the barriers to making our IT sustainable.
We then welcomed Gildas Jones from Dial-A-Geek who discussed the general day-to-day IT requirements of an office worker and suggested that refurbishing rather than replacing hardware will not only save companies a fortune but will also have significant positive environmental impacts. Gildas also discussed issues around in-built obsolescence and the energy consumption of our IT equipment.
The event was concluded by a presentation from AJ Gunesekera From Toshiba. AJ spoke about Toshiba’s Carbon Zero Scheme where the entire lifecycle of their products are offset. This is achieved through partnering with CO2 Balance who ensure the introduction of energy efficient cooking stoves in Africa. AJ also spoke about the Toshiba hybrid MFD, a printer solution where paper can be re-used through the erasing of the ink. Such a printer is estimated to cut waste paper by 80%.
The event was concluded by a lively Q&A session, followed by some interesting 60 second pitches. We would like to thank our speakers for providing insightful presentations & our hosts TLT LLP for providing the event space & refreshments.