Two minutes read
The publishing company I write for, Potato and Leek, aims to lessen their impact on the environment. Whilst Potato and Leek don’t make any claims of being champions in this arena, they do their best in a complex world. As you might be aware, we don’t live in a perfectly sustainable recyclable world.
Yet.
Potato and Leek believes we must do what we can within the limits of what’s available now, which will also open up new avenues of environmental practices. To explain what this looks like, they consider their activities against the Climate Active Carbon Neutral Standards for Organisations (Organisation Standard), which is an Australian government initiative. This initiative groups emissions into three categories:
- direct emissions, which are within the control of the business, like fuel used in transport, or refrigeration in supermarkets
- purchased emissions, which are used in the business but bought from outside, like purchased electricity
- indirect emissions, which result from the activities of the business.
Direct emissions and purchased emissions are the easiest for my publisher to manage. The office of Potato and Leek runs off a solar and battery power system. No chemical cleaners are used inside the office. Scrap paper is repurposed, and any printed sheets are on 100% recycled paper. Potato and Leek takes good care of their technology, and replace it infrequently, and always then with an eye to ensuring the new purchase will have the longest life possible. When technology can no longer be used, it is recycled under the many initiatives available in Australia.
Another emission is this category comes from transport. Unfortunately this is still petrol-fuelled. Thankfully, Australia is now moving towards a better framework for electric vehicles. In the meantime, Potato and Leek purchases a carbon offset for the emissions caused by vehicles used by the business. But travel time is kept to a minimum, thanks to the internet-connected world we live in.
Indirect emissions are more problematic. These result from printing books and the manufacture of e-readers, computers and tablets, transport of our paper books, and emissions produced by our printers and distributors. There is much less control by my publisher over these emissions. Potato and Leek does what it can, which is currently limited to such things as choosing FSC mix paper wherever it is available.
I hope this explains Potato and Leek’s environmental stance.
As a side note, I love that the logo for Potato and Leek has been chosen to look like the old potato print you might have done as a kid. Natural art!
Joni Page 