AIB & the Environment

We are fully committed to sustainability. Our commitment is to live up to our responsibilities and continuously seek to improve our efforts in this area. Our Group Environment policy aims to ensure that we are active in reducing our effect on the world around us. The effect of economic activity on climate change is now readily accepted and the need to adapt human behaviour is becoming more apparent. We want to play our part at AIB.

A key pillar of AIB’s sustainable programme is the area of energy management. Energy consumption in the Republic of Ireland is 64 million units per year at a cost of €9.5 million. Recognising that energy is a finite resource, AIB has goals to commit organisational resources to energy management in order to minimise CO2 emissions and, where possible, to use energy from sustainable sources (almost 95% green electricity supply in the Republic, 100% in Northern Ireland).

Reduce, reuse, recycle

There are over 4,500 people located at our Bankcentre head office in Dublin and 90% of waste at Bankcentre is now being diverted from landfill and instead recycled. During March 2010, AIB removed all under the desk bins from its head office locations and introduced recycling stations on each floor, in an effort to further reduce the amount of waste going to landfill. Items such as newspapers, paper, plastic, print cartridges can be recycled in the special bins provided. This has produced very positive results with the volume of general waste reducing by 11.78 tonnes per month, from 29.4 tonnes in January 2010 to 17.62 tonnes in June 2010. The effect of this is a significant reduction in waste being diverted from landfill to be recycled and also a reduction in costs.

Our catering team has also introduced a number of initiatives which have a very positive environmental impact –

• all recyclable items are recycled e.g. all paper, glass and tin products

• eco friendly products are used e.g. wooden stirrers, napkins made from 100% recycled paper, biodegradable cups etc

• minimum usage is encouraged with the motto ‘why use two when one will do’

• 90% of Bankcentre’s food waste is recycled on site and turned in to compost which equates to 60 tonnes per year

Green awareness campaigns are regularly held for staff as part of the Add more green campaign to encourage all staff to continue to be as environmentally friendly as possible.

We are committed to continuous improvement in our environmental performance and we are continuously developing new strategies to bring about further improvements. We will continue to encourage and support our staff and our customers to consider changing behaviours that will collectively reduce our effects on the world around us.

 

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