Sustainable Best Practice Policy

To meet our environmental commitments, the Long Live King team apply the following best practices in virtual offices:

Travel

  1. Make extensive use of online audio and video meeting software and online collaboration tools, thus working remotely and reducing travels to the minimum possible.
  2. Use public transportation as much as possible when travelling outside your town of residence or in the immediate surroundings.
  3. Reduce the use of private car in short local trips by walking or cycling.
  4. Use train travel as a first option for long-distance journeys and use air or road travel as “a last resort’ means of communication with clients.
  5. If flying is unavoidable, offset flight emissions by using an online calculator and pay a company to reduce an equivalent amount of pollution elsewhere.
  6. If using a car is necessary, drive sensibly and prefer vehicles that are more efficient and less polluting.
  7. Eat at restaurants and stay at small non-luxury hotels that demonstrate a commitment to the environment and adopt sustainability practices, that are preferably locally-owned, thus promoting local economy and avoiding indirect carbon footprint, that make an ethical use of space and resources and that offer sustainable food options.
  8. Eat sustainable meals, by avoiding food waste at restaurants (and carry a food container, whenever possible, for leftover food), preferring vegetarian meals or ensuring meat comes from sustainable hunting or local extensive pastures, reducing over-stocked fish consumption and refusing consumption of endangered species.
  9. Reduce water consumption (at hotels, restaurants and other venues) and carry our own water bottle.
  10. Avoid accepting and/or buying merchandising (from conferences or visits to clients, if this refusal is culturally accepted) and buy local, seasonal and organic food for snacks and catering whenever possible.

Paper

  1. Maintain a ”paperless” virtual office as much as possible, except for legal obligations and stakeholder limitations.
  2. Use online and digital media as a core means of communication.
  3. Keep all information on laptops and computers with no use of paper unless absolutely necessary (while practicing healthy eye care habits when working on the computer).
  4. If paper use is necessary as part of consultancy work, reduce the amount of paper consumed, avoid the use of virgin paper, increase the percentage of FSC certified / recycled paper, print paper on both sides, prefer used paper for note taking or for work dynamics, and separate and send paper waste to recycling.
  5. In case it is necessary to order a printing service, prefer printed products made entirely from 100% recycled paper or originating from responsibly managed forests, and prefer providers that use environmentally friendly materials and have waste collected by certified hazardous waste carriers.

Energy

  1. Reduce energy use and purchase energy that is produced from renewable sources if available locally.
  2. Use an energy efficient room as a home office.
  3. Use natural lighting and cooling. Reduce office heating and avoid using air conditioning. If necessary, set the heating to 19-21°C and use a thermostat programmer to control the timing of heating.
  4. Use long life efficient bulbs or LED lamps and light dimmers on all wall, ceiling and desk mounted appliances.
  5. Use “task lighting” by lighting just the working area to a higher level and providing background lighting at a lower level for the rest of the space, to minimise the amount of electric light being used.
  6. Check energy rating before purchasing new appliances and equipment.
  7. Turn off all office electrical items at the end of each working session (lights, computers, printers.

Waste

  1. Reduce the total amount of waste (besides paper) produced each month. Weigh all outputs each week and continue to reduce consumption.
  2. Avoid the use of plastic (folders, bags, boxes, bottles, cups, plates and cutlery) by adopting reusable alternatives and using materials made of environmental friendly resources.
  3. Upcycle, by searching for new uses for old items rather than discarding them or buying new ones, and source second-hand office equipment and furniture and sustainable electronics (e.g. phones).
  4. Repair or upgrade electronics instead of buying new ones and sell gadgets and computer parts.
  5. Ensure safe management and disposal of e-waste generated from surplus, broken and obsolete electronic and electric devices (mobile phones, computers, laptops, tablets, TVs, head-phones) and other hazardous and toxic materials purchased for home office (ink cartridges, batteries, glue) by checking with our local environmental, health or solid waste agency or local businesses for options on recycling or proper disposal.
  6. Source environmentally benign friendly cleaning products and materials.
  7. Collect waste separately (wood, metal, batteries, green waste), so that recyclable or bio waste can be forwarded to the adapted recycling branches.