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SMEs 'still not acting to help the environment'

Published On 5 June 2007 at 08:58:42

Less than half the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the UK have an environmental policy in place, a trade union has reported.

According to a survey carried out by the Trades Union Congress (TUC), only 44.8 per cent of employees said they thought they worked for a company which already had an environmental policy in operation.

However, nearly three quarters (72.6 per cent) of the workers questioned said that their bosses do encourage them to recycle paper while in the office. However, just 23.6 per cent of these people thought their employers were doing enough make them print on both sides of a sheet of paper.

"This TUC research highlights the importance of changing employer attitudes and taking 'greening' the workplace seriously," explained TUC deputy general secretary Frances O'Grady.

"Small steps, like recycling paper or turning off lights, can make an enormous difference when taken by everyone.

"Unions and employers need to do much more to help UK businesses start to clean up their act and begin to make a real difference."

Recently, the Carbon Trust revealed that installing advanced metering systems in SMEs could help them drastically reduce their carbon emissions.

 

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