With tons of documents shredded quarterly, computer hardware becoming outdated almost upon purchase and electric lights burning continuously, a single corporation can become a serious environmental blight.

That’s why HSBC Bank of Bermuda recently started Live Green, a new environmental programme that aims to ‘reduce, reuse and recycle’ within the bank.

“We started this because we were concerned about the bank and the environment and the bank in the environment,” said Nigel Crow, HSBC Bank of Bermuda Chief Financial Officer. “The HSBC group is extremely keen on protecting the environment. It has been so for a number of years. HSBC is carrying out a number of environmental projects world-wide. I won’t get into them all, but we wanted to promote the environment certainly within the bank. Bermuda is only a small island and everyone is connected to everyone else. If we can spread environmentalism within the bank then it should ripple out. That was our intent.”

As a result the bank has launched a number of different environmentally friendly initiatives in its Bermuda branches, some major and some minor.

“A lot of things we have done on the surface are minor, but we all have to start somewhere,” said Mr. Crow.

The bank started by installing 2,000 compact fluorescent lightbulbs, that use about 75 percent less energy and last 75 percent longer.

“So far it has saved very little money,” Mr. Crow admitted. “These compact fluorescent bulbs are extremely expensive to purchase, but they do actually pay for themselves in about three years. So there are no savings at the moment, but it is not all about savings.”

A number of items at the bank were selected for overseas recycling, including outdated telephone books and computer hardware.

“We have recycled approximately 500 computer monitors via a Government recycling contract,” said Mr. Crow. “All of our toner cartridges are also recycled through the United States. They either break them down for parts and reuse the parts wherever they can, or use them for schools that have uses for them.”

The bank also held a paperless office day, and the management team apparently went paperless five months ago.

“All of our management committees are now paperless,” said Mr. Crow. “They do Powerpoint presentations rather than physical hand-outs. For me, we really reduced the number of print outs by about 15 per day. It doesn’t sound very much, but it is actually quite a lot if you look at it across more than 1,000 staff members over a period of 365 days a year. It is awareness. I think we are trying to raise awareness across a large number of people. If everyone could do a little than it will be quite good.”

Changes were also made to the bank’s physical plant. Two years ago, the bank installed high efficiency chillers, and these have reduced energy consumption by about 50 percent. The bank also put into place about 400 sensors to switch off lights after 20 minutes in places like bathrooms and kitchens when there is little activity. All computers now shut-down automatically at 7 p.m. unless a user clicks a button to keep the computer going. Mr. Crow said one of the most important components of the Live Green project involved improving environmental awareness in staff and customers. “We encourage all staff to be as conscious of environmental issues as possible,” said Mr. Crow. “We have twice a year staff forums that have proved enormously popular with the staff. Two staff forums ago we gave out canvas shopping bags that say ‘live green’ to every member of staff. These bags were all imported and made from recycled material.”

According to HSBC Bank of Bermuda, the average family of four uses approximately 900 grocery bags every year, which means all the households in Bermuda use about 22,500,000 paper bags. Handing out the reusable bags proved so successful, the bank decided to repeat and expand the giveaway.

“We gave yet another one to every member of staff this year,” said Mr. Crow. “Then we ordered a very large quantity of these bags and gave them to every customer who came into our branches free of charge. It was going to be on World Environment Day on June 5, but we were one day late because of the public holiday.”

Included in the bag was a flyer suggesting several ways for the customer to improve their environmental footprint. On the back of the paper was instructions on how to sign up for e-statements rather than have monthly statements mailed in paper-form.

“We call it going from tree to e,” said Iyla Dziadyk, who runs the Live Green project team at the bank. “The Live Green team thinks up initiatives to implement in Bermuda, and then works to carry them out and build awareness. We also plan events for World Environment Day.”

During the last World Environment Day HSBC Bank of Bermuda took over the Little Theatre for the day. Staff were offered free entry to see Al Gore’s movie ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ and to hear environmental lectures given by scientists from the Bermuda Institute for Ocean Sciences (BIOS). The Al Gore movie was also played in banking halls. Mrs. Dziadyk said that at the end of May HSBC signed the largest ever environmental contract with four major environmental charities.

“That was a $100 million partnership called the HSBC Climate Partnership,” she said. “The partners in that include WWF — the largest conservation group active in the world, Earthwatch, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the Climate Group, and the employees. Two thousand five hundred employees will now become climate champions promoting environmental awareness initiatives within their specific offices. So HSBC really is a leader in environmental issues.”