Eco-efficiency in the City of Edinburgh Council
Reducing environmental impact…Saving money

What is it
Energy
Water
Transport
Supplies and Services
More information

Eco-efficiency is an improvement that leads to environmental and financial savings. For an organisation as large as the Council it makes both financial and environmental sense to adopt measures that promote efficiency.

Eco-efficiency measures can be integrated into:

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How much?
In 2001/2002 the Council spent £7 million on energy consumption.

Policy
An energy efficiency policy has been developed for council buildings and a set of energy guidelines developed for staff.

more on energy

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Water
How much?

The Council’s water bill for 2003/2004 is expected to be £3.5 million

Reduction
Currently water saving devices are being fitted in Council buildings to reduce unnecessary water consumption.

Policy
The Council has developed a water management policy for Council buildings. The development and implementation of this policy promotes the efficient management of water by influencing water usage and disposal, monitoring of consumption and increasing staff awareness of water usage.

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How much?
As a Council we travel over 4 million miles by car on Council business every year at a cost of £2 million.

Reduction
The Staff Travel Plan aims to reduce by 5% the miles

travelled by Council staff annually until 2005. A ‘one in five’ campaign has been launched which asks staff to identify one journey in five that they make by car and substitute that by travelling by bus, bike, walking or getting a lift one day per week.

Policy
The plan was developed to reduce the number of miles travelled by the staff during the course of Council work.

More on travel

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Policy
A ‘Resource Use policy’ has been developed which combines purchasing and waste in the same single policy implementation process. The aim of this approach is to purchase more efficiently in order to cut down on the amount of waste of which we dispose. A wide range of products fall under this heading so an itemised approach is being adopted. Items being targetted include paper, printer cartridges, office furniture, fluorescent lights and batteries. Details on spend and quantity will be collated on a departmental basis.

More on resources

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More information
For more information on any aspect of this City of Edinburgh Council programme please contact:

You can download the ‘Eco-Efficiency’ leaflet here in PDF format (512K)

To read the leaflet you will require Adobe Acrobat, click below to get it.

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Updated – 29/01/04