Going Green

Whilst we don’t claim to be perfect on this front, we are committed to the journey of reducing our carbon footprint where possible and promoting a responsible approach to our impact on the environment.

Here is a flavour of our endeavours …

Fairtrade

Our coffee is not only complimentary, it’s Fairtrade too. So whilst you get great tasting and great quality coffee, producers and workers in parts of Columbia, Guatemala and Ethiopa are getting a fairer deal for their efforts.

The Fairtrade Mark helps to overcome the effects of fluctuating coffee prices on those producers and growers in the most marginalised of areas by guaranteeing a minimum price for each quality grade of bean.

Communities in those coffee growing areas also benefit through the Fairtrade premium – a sum of money paid on top of the agreed Fairtrade price for investment in social, environmental or economic development projects, decided upon democratically by producers within the farmers’ organisation or by workers on a plantation. The premium fund is typically invested in education and healthcare, farm improvements to increase yield and quality, or processing facilities to increase income.

Energy Efficiency

Light Bulbs

Our old style light bulbs have all been replaced with modern high-efficiency tri-phosphor tubes, which use between 34% and 56% less energy, without losing any actual light! In addition, the modern tubes have more than double the life span of the old tubes, so the number of tubes being disposed each year has more than halved.

Air Conditioning

So necessary on hot days and yet traditionally so energy demanding! However, the units recently installed on the third floor use the latest eco friendly “407c gas”, included in the system itself, and are able to produce an impressive 3.9 kW of cooling output for every 1.3kW of energy used.

So not only do they use a lot less energy, they are able to produce heat in the winter too, and give the added benefit of individual room controls for heating as well as air conditioning, so you can set the temperature that’s right for you all year round.

Introduction of the same units over the first and second floors is planned.

The Dishwasher!

And finally the dishwasher used in the restaurant is a 3-Star rated machine, which uses the minimum of energy and water in each cycle.

Recycling

Everything that can be recycled is recycled … paper, toner cartridges etc. And more unusually, any cardboard boxes used in deliveries to the Venue are recycled back to the individual supplier to be used again, so reducing the factory process of recycling.

And for our official Environmental Policy Statement, read on …

Environmental Policy Statement

The Edinburgh Training Centre is one of Edinburgh’s leading venues for seminars, conferences, training, meetings and events and the venue of choice for budget holders, event bookers, event leaders and delegates.

The Edinburgh Training Centre recognises the fact that the nature of our business results in an overall impact on the environment, and that by conducting our activities in a responsible and thoughtful manner, we can reduce this impact and even act to improve the quality of the environment where appropriate.

To achieve this goal, we are committed to the responsible management of our operations through the establishment of this Environmental Policy. As an integral part of this, we are committed to:

Promoting the reduction, reuse and recycling of waste materials in all working activities to conserve resources and reduce waste disposal.
Ensuring energy and water are used efficiently in all activities

In order to achieve these goals, we will:

• Meet all legislative requirements.

• Strive to prevent pollution.

• Provide appropriate training to our employees to enable them to implement this environmental policy.

• Endeavour to continuously improve our environmental performance by regularly reviewing our activities and policy and setting new targets to reduce environmental impacts caused by our activities.