In March 2010 Brighton & Hove became the first 10:10 city in the world, and they've been bouncing off the walls with bright ideas to cut carbon ever since.

Their 10:10 Brighton & Hove, the story so far report shows some wonderful examples of what they and fellow 10:10 Brightonians have been getting up to. Yesterday they published three new case studies on Brighton-based 10:10 businesses and organisations, showcasing the carbon-cutting prowess of staging systems specialist Maltbury Staging, health and social care watchdog Brighton & Hove LINk, and contract cleaning services company Green Mop.

Maltbury Staging

As a staging systems specialist, Maltbury Staging based in Brighton have always been committed to make as little environmental impact as possible through their business practices and since signing up to 1010 have made considerable carbon cutting achievements.

What we've done for 10:10

• Increased recycling of office waste by using local recycling firm ‘Paperround’
• Turn off all electrical appliances they don’t need or use when closed
• All office staff now walk or cycle to work
• Employed an environmental consultant to advise them on how to make further improvements
• All staff have attended a days interactive course on sustainability in the work place to encourage environmentally friendly behaviour at work

TOP 10:10ing...

Once we started investigating for our 10:10 objectives we found lots of exciting ways to reduce our carbon footprint in ways which were eye-opening knowing our small changes had a big impact on the environment, encouraged us to work as a team and made our customers proud to work with us.
- Kavita Chhiba, office manager.

Brighton & Hove Link

Brighton and Hove LINk is the independent health and adult social care watchdog in the city, with legal powers to improve local services. They have set a positive example by signing up to 10:10 and used this to show commitment to reducing waste and carbon emissions.

When selecting offices, LINk paid particular attention to the environmental performance of the building, resulting in the move to One Brighton, the super sustainable, low carbon development in Brighton.

As a health and social care group we are delighted to take the lead in promoting good practice by signing up to 10:10
- Robert Brown, chair

What we've done for 10:10

• Producing a guide to greener offices and meetings. This is what the Brighton & Hove 10:10 campaign is all about: sharing experiences and inspiring others to try to cut their carbon emissions too.
• Holding fewer meetings to which attendees would have to travel.
• Less wasteful ordering of locally supplied refreshments.
• Piloting study into medicinal waste.

Green Mop

Contract cleaning services company Green Mop, based in Hove, has always tried to be as green as possible. Since it was set up in 2007, it has adopted a number of initiatives to improve its environmental performance.

We’ve found the Brighton and Hove 10:10 project is an excellent way to get the business and our staff focused on reducing carbon emissions 
- Rachael Hughes, managing director.

What we've done for 10:10

• Introduced a staff travel plan. Employees have access to a bicycle pool, which means they can cycle to cleaning jobs — large equipment, such as vacuum cleaners, is kept on job sites — reducing transport emissions.
• Sourcing cleaning supplies from UK manufacturers to cut down on road miles and transport emissions.
• E-mailing rather than posting correspondence to minimise paper use.
• Ordering products in bulk to reduce packaging waste.

TOP 10:10ing...

Green Mop has a great travel plan including a bike pool, meaning staff can zip around the city in a healthy, zero carbon way. It saves the company money through reduced fuel costs, too!