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Last Updated: Jun 14th, 2007 - 11:44:14 |
Ikea to Give Staff Free Energy-Saving Lights
By greenbiz.com
Jun 12, 2007
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LONDON, June 12, 2007 -- The
Swedish furnishing giant Ikea announced plans yesterday to give all of
its 9,600 employees in the U.K. a six-pack of compact fluorescent light
bulbs as part of its goal to green its workforce.
As part of its ongoing plans to reduce its environmental impact,
Ikea said every new employee, as well as every current employee, would
receive the bulbs, which would cost the company about £45,000 (around
US$88,000) to start. The company will also replace the light bulbs for
free when they stop working in about five years.
"Every new worker will also get a pack of bulbs as part of their
package when they join the company," Charlie Browne, environment
manager at Ikea U.K., told the Guardian. "We have been taking measures to save energy at our stores and we also have an obligation to educate our co-workers."
Ikea estimates that if all the bulbs are put to use, they will save
the workforce £400,000 a year (about US$787,000) on their total energy
bills, and that each six-pack will prevent about one ton of CO2
emissions over its lifetime.
The is only the latest step for Ikea, which late last year gave each of its employees a custom-made folding bicycle
to reduce the number of employees who drive to work. Ikea also recently
launched a campaign to charge customers for each plastic bag handed out
at the point of sale, which it says has reduced the use of the bags by
97 percent.
Because CFLs contain trace amounts of mercury, Ikea has also put in
place a system to recycle the compact fluorescents at the end of their
lives.
"The bulbs do contain mercury so they are not a panacea," Browne
said. "We are aware we have to look at different ways of doing these
things in future."
In addition to these steps, and more programs the company says it
will announce soon, Ikea also plans to switch all its stores to
renewable energy worldwide by 2012, as well as reducing its total
energy use by 25 percent.
Source: http://greenbiz.com/news/news_third.cfm?NewsID=35247
© Copyright 2007 by CivilizedNation.com
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