Our Commitments

 

Achieving and promoting sustainability is central to our mission. We are committed to conducting our business and operations to reflect best environmental practice, to improving environmental performance and to reducing the organisation’s impacts on the environment.

The Trust’s Sustainability Working Group comprises staff from every area of our organisation. The group has identified five main environmental impact areas: energy consumption, water usage, material waste produced as a result of the day-to-day operations on site, carbon emissions resulting from staff and visitor travel to site and energy consumption and waste resulting from procuring goods. An ongoing action plan addresses and continuously reviews our environmental impact, collecting data to monitor our progress.

 

Becoming a More Sustainable Organisation

 

These are just some examples of positive action to date:

  • Taking proactive steps to define best sustainability practice and setting ambitious, but realistic, targets for ourselves. Hiring a Ship’s Conservation Engineer who is responsible for optimising the conservation of the SS Great Britain in the long term, in the most efficient and environmentally responsible manner.
  • Reducing the carbon footprint of the SS Great Britain, and the Trust’s operations at large, including installing solar panels wherever possible.
  • Supporting local producers and services wherever possible, with some café produce made on board!
  • Using plant-based ‘Vegware’ products, including food containers, disposable cups and cutlery in our cafes.
  • Providing a designated water refill site for visitors and the sale of glass water bottles instead of plastic.
  • Promoting the use of ‘keep cups’ for hot drinks, with them offered for sale in our shop and a staff discount on hot drinks purchased with a reusable, rather than disposable, cup.
  • Offering staff travel incentives to reduce emissions, including discounted public transport and a cycle to work scheme, with free bike maintenance sessions.
  • Giving ad-hoc incentives to remind staff to ensure technology, computer monitors, and other electronics are turned off when not being used.