Actions to Date

Planting Trees and Offsetting Carbon

You can see our forest of trees by visiting this link – https://ecologi.com/thinqtanq at the point of creating this document (12 Feb 2022) we had planted 1750 trees and offset 34.5t of Carbon, we have now planted nearly 16,000 trees and offset over 361 tons of CO2 (15 Nov 2025). We use Ecologi as our partner for delivering real world impact as they vet all of the projects that are funded to ensure that they are being run correctly and ethically.

The reason we fund both the planting of trees and carbon offset projects is perfectly embodied by the old saying “the best time to plant a tree was 10 years ago, the second best time, is now”. The trees that are planted today will take 10 years or more to become efficient carbon capture assets. By taking action on projects such as solar generation now, we can reduce carbon immediately while our trees are maturing.

For reference – Electricity use at THINQTANQ currently equates to approximately 35kWh per day (averaged across the year). This means that in a year THINQTANQ generates around 6T of Carbon which we are actively seeking to reduce.

Energy

Currently all of our energy is electric only and is from renewables with no coal, oil or nuclear power. We installed solar panels on the roof in 2023 thanks to our Crowdfunder helping to raise the money, and now in the summer only a small percentage of our energy comes from the grid, and our basic energy is partially covered in the winter too.

We have begun replacing all our conventional lighting with efficient LED lighting with most of the main office lights now replaced, and encourage our members to turn off additional lights when not needed. Where possible, all appliances and some lighting is plugged into smart plugs and are on timers which means they can be turned off remotely if left on to save unnecessary energy use.

Cleaning and Waste

We are using up our old stocks of cleaning chemicals and are moving, as far as it possible towards using products from companies such as Smol, Miniml, and Ecover that are less damaging to the environment and health. We currently use these for general purpose cleaner, window, bathroom and dishwasher tablets. All of the fabric washing that we do (duster, tea towels, towels etc) is done with domestic washing (no separate cycle) and again, using eco-friendly products.

Sanitary – We have moved our sanitary bins away from using a commercial service to using a disposable, less carbon intensive system provided by Binny. We also provide eco-friendly sanitary products for those who need them in our toilets using Flo.

Bin Bags – There isn’t a great alternative to bin bags currently and so we are investigating the least bad options. We use biodegradable waste bags made of corn starch and for situations where dry waste is collected we reuse the bin bags where possible rather than disposing of them.

Waste – We have seperate bins for general waste, recycling, food waste, coffee grounds and glass. Our very small amount of glass is recycled in glass specific bins, and although our general, food waste and coffee grounds currently all go out into general waste and to Plymouth’s incinerator to produce energy we now know exactly how much of each we produce and we can divert as and when options become available.

Batteries – We have installed a battery recycling box.

Printing – We provide recycled paper as standard and ask members to only use high quality non recycled when printing important documents. We have replaced our printer to one where ink comes in bottles and is transferred to printer to replace cartridge and toner waste. We also send any cartridges to Borrow Don’t Buy who send them to a specific recycler to help raise funds to support the organisation.

Technology

We make every effort to reuse old technology. We don’t purchase new equipment where the option to purchase a second hand option. We also recycle technology to give away as part of the GEO project run by Borrow Don’t Buy.

Planned Actions

We are currently investigating the following and aim to make them a core part of THINQTANQ and its business.

Energy

Lighting – we aim to replace conventional light switches for main lights with remote control switches meaning they can be turned off if left on and put on timers to reduce unnecessary use. If able we will also look into replacing appropriate lighting with sensor lighting to further reduce lights being on when not in use!

Heating – we are investigating switching to air source heat pump technology for our heating in the future to replace our night storage heater system. (Longer Term Goal)

Windows – we will work on replacing or refreshing our windows to more efficient ones to help the office at the desired temperature through all seasons and reduce heat loss (Longer Term Goal)

Other

Waste – We will be reviewing our waste practices and moving away from the current situation which is energy from waste. We will be installing a wormery or indoor composting bin for food waste and coffee grounds, recycling cardboard and paper and overall reducing our waste output. We currently output approximately 250L of waste per week, about one wheelie bin full.

Batteries – We will continue to reduce our use of virgin batteries shift to using rechargeable batteries where needed.