Buzz Does More! Our January-March round-up
Welcome to the first edition of Buzz Does More!
It’s our quarterly round-up of all things Buzz Does.
Buzz Does is our long-term strategy to fulfil and exceed our social and environmental obligations as a business. We strive to do more than just marketing to education, whether it’s supporting our local schools, businesses and community, or taking steps to reduce our carbon footprint. In 2024 so far, we’ve placed a lot of focus on our sustainability strategy and giving back to our local community. And I’m excited to share with you what we’ve been up to.
I hope our actions inspire yours…
Jen Murphy
Buzz Does Ambassador
CONTENTS
Jump to section:
Buzz Does goes live!
January 2024
Since the launch of our refreshed website, we now have a brand-new webpage just for Buzz Does.
You’ll find a brief overview of the different Buzz Does pillars, plus links to all our recent Buzz Does blog posts.
Buzz Does Sustainability
Jen’s now Certified Carbon Literate! 🌎
March 2024
Earlier this year, Jen, our Copywriter & Sustainability Lead, attended Positive Planet’s Carbon Literacy Training for SMEs. The course unpacked the causes of climate change, its impacts, and what we can do as individuals and businesses to tackle it. On completion of the course, Jen submitted a climate change pledge on behalf of Buzz Education stating:
I pledge to ensure my workplace significantly reduce the number of deliveries (particularly next-day-deliveries) and instead, bulk-buy office supplies on a quarterly basis, as opposed to as and when. We are also going to start powering off our office PCs towards the end of the week when we’re working from home.
Although we’ve got a long way to go, we’re excited to continue developing and advancing our Buzz Does Sustainability strategy, and inspiring other SMEs to follow suit.
Feeling positive with Positive Planet! 😊
March 2024
Jen communicated some of the key points from her Positive Planet Carbon Literacy training to help the Buzz Education team understand the importance of climate change, and what we can do as individuals to tackle it.
The team were engaged, inquisitive and picked up lots of new tips for adopting a more eco-friendly lifestyle.
PC power down! 🖥️
February 2024
We’ve recently started to shut down our office PCs from Thursdays to Mondays to reduce our energy consumption and extend the lifespan of our computers – key steps in reducing our annual energy usage and carbon emissions.
Due to our working from home requirements, we previously needed our PCs to remain switched on to enable remote access, however, after some technical changes, we’re now pleased to be able to power our PCs down towards the end of the week.
Reed’s Refillery 🌱
January 2024
We’ve purchased sustainable supplies from Reed’s Refillery (our local zero-waste shop) for a while now, and we’re about to place our first bulk order!
Reed’s Refillery is a treasure trove of eco-friendly goods. You can learn more about our journey with this wonderful shop here.
Buzz Does Community
Back to school for us! 🏫
March 2024
We recently had the pleasure of visiting one of our local schools, Coppull Parish Church School, during National Careers Week in the hope of inspiring the next generation of marketers. Some of our team joined the whole-school assembly to introduce the children to their job roles and the skills needed to succeed in the world of marketing. They then worked with Year 4 and Year 5 to deliver an interactive session on persuasive writing.
“Both classes were full of praise for the workshops and the tasks they had been set. In my lunchtime club, I chatted with a group of Year 5 girls, who really enjoyed preparing their brochures.”
– Head Teacher, Coppull Parish Church School
Watch this space! We’ve got more school visits in the pipeline so make sure to keep an eye out for our next newsletter.
Get Involved! 🤝
If you’re eager to help your organisation become more sustainable, or get more involved with your local community, here are some ideas:
- Calculate your carbon emissions and create a carbon reduction plan.
- Identify easy, low-cost steps you could introduce to your workforce to reduce your carbon footprint e.g. switching off lights, printing less, shopping locally or getting the train to work.
- Introduce a meat-free office day to reduce your carbon emissions.
- Support local businesses instead of ordering supplies from online retailers.
- Inspire young people by delivering interactive workshops or sessions relevant to your job roles.
- Donate to education charities or environmental charities.
Sustainability awareness days coming up 📅
Here are some dates for your calendar that you could get involved in. Can you help schools plan activities around them? Run interactive workshops? Or kickstart your business’ sustainable journey?
- Earth Day: 22nd April
- Stop Food Waste Day: 24th April
- Meat Free May: 1st – 31st May
- World Environment Day: 5th June
- The Great Big Green Week: 8th – 16th June
- Bike Week: 10th – 16th June
- World Refill Day: 16th June
Community events and days coming up 📅
Can your business support local schools and your local community this year? Here are some awareness days and events for you to consider in quarter 2:
- World Health Day: 7th April
- Deaf Awareness Week: 6th – 12th May
- Mental Health Awareness Week: 13th – 19th May
- National Creativity Day: 30th May
- Pride Month: 1st – 30th June
- Learning Disability Week: 17th – 23rd June
- Refugee Week: 17th – 23rd June
- World Refugee Day: 20th June
Further Updates:
Sustainability in education
A new grant is available for state-funded schools and education settings to support them with the costs of installing electric vehicle charge stations – Rollout of electric vehicle chargepoints to be accelerated – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)