Environmental Policies in Local Authorities

So we have two drivers that you hear so much about now. First is all about saving money in these tough economic times, second is about not printing things because of the environment (it's one every email these days). Nowhere do you hear about these things more than when you work with Local Authorities in the UK. Yet, somehow despite these factors I still have to print out bids and attend meetings all round the country in person!

In the modern age of video conferencing, skype and email you would think that meetings should be easy and sending in a bid document would be even easier but still around 75% of the bids that we complete require 3 printed copies to be produced. Why?! Does the money saving and environmental policy only stretch to within the council office (if we don’t print it here then its ok as we didn’t spend the money or killed another tree). Surely it wouldn’t be that hard to reduce to one printed copy or better yet, just look at a bid on screen.

Then we have the meetings. How many  important meetings do I attend that could very easily have been performed over skype or similar. How many? 90% I would say. Ultimately, it is my job and if a client needs me there then that is where I will be, but again we should really think about whether it needs attendance. Perhaps when calling a meeting it should be considered whether the authority would agree to the client travelling to our offices or would they say it could be done online? Environment and cost: are we really taking as much account of these factors as we should be?