Presentations: Sustainable Business Breakfast – Haywards Heath

Local businesses, including manufacturers, construction firms, renewable energy installers, marketing experts and environmental consultants gathered in Haywards Heath for a Sustainable Business Breakfast, focusing on sustainable procurement and ‘greening’ the supply chain.

Sarah McCusker from Carbon Smart opened the presentations, providing her top tips on how businesses can use their environmental credentials to win new customers. Increasingly procurers want to see more than just an environmental policy – they want evidence of continual improvement to minimise environmental impact. Carbon Smart are running the Flash+ programme which helps organisations to embed sustainability into their working practices and is free of charge for small and medium sized businesses in the South East.

Tom Newman from LRS Consultancy followed with case studies of businesses who have benefited from implementing sustainable procurement practices. Through local sourcing and working with their suppliers to reduce their environmental impact, the businesses were able to both reduce cut costs and improve their own environmental credentials, attracting new customers. LRS Consultancy run the Mayor of London’s Green Procurement Code (open to businesses across the UK) which helps organisations to implement sustainable purchasing practices.

Download the presentations

The Sustainable Business Network links organisations keen to improve their environmental performance. Sustainable Business Breakfast learning and networking events are held bi-monthly, each focusing on a different topic, such as energy efficiency, waste minimisation, environmental management systems. Upcoming events are being held in Chichester, Horsham and Shoreham-by-Sea. View event dates and venues.