This is a working document while we develop our full impact page. It is intended as a note about the things we have identified that we need to work on and a summary of action taken to date.
Current Actions
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 no planted over 12,000 trees and offset over 300 tons of CO2 (20 April 22). 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 from renewables with no coal, oil or nuclear power.
Cleaning Materials
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 that are less damaging to the environment. We currently user their 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 Smol products.
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.
We have installed a battery recycling box.
Other
Sanitary bins – We have moved away from using a commercial service to using a disposable, less carbon intensive system provided by Binny.
Bin Bags – There isn’t a great alternative to bin bags currently and so we investigating the least bad options. Currently under review – binGo!
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
- We are aiming to install our own solar panels on the building but this requires a significant sum of money and is a medium term project.
- We are hoping to change all of our outdated conventional lighting for efficient LED lighting.
- Investigate switching to air source heat pump technology for our heating in the future to replace our night storage heater system. (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 reduce our use of virgin batteries and shift to using rechargeable batteries where needed.