Unusual pledges commitment to sustainability
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The UN Sustainable Development Goals, also known as the Global Goals, or SDGs is a plan to end poverty, extreme inequality and climate change by 2030. Agreed in 2015 by world leaders, these goals can only be achieved with the support of businesses.
Unusual Rigging has gained its first star rating; a maximum of four stars can be awarded as the company progresses and communicates its journey to support the goals.
Tom Harper, director at Unusual and head of sustainability, comments: "On face value, the goals laid out by the SDGs may feel too broad and interdependent, hence way beyond the scope of an entertainment rigging and engineering company's influence. Yet with headlines such as "Only 12 years to act on climate change" or "Human activity causing the 6th mass extinction", it becomes incumbent on us to act - however small our organisation, or limited our impact may seem - being part of 'Project Everyone' means just that - a contribution to something greater."
Unusual has been working on demonstrating its commitment to sustainability for several years, incorporating the principles of a circular economy within its business practice, from running on renewables (SDG7) to 'closing the loop' through RFID technology, on thousands of items of equipment.
Harper adds: "In a circular model, businesses aim to create an economy that is restorative by design. In our case, we aim at keeping resources in use for as long as possible, capturing the maximum value from them whilst in use and reusing, refurbishing and redesigning to sustain their value further. These activities align directly with SDG12 - responsible consumption and production."
Just this month, Unusual has recouped more than five tonnes worth of ‘technical nutrients’ from its current refurbishment project at the Theatre Royal on Drury Lane. Harper explains: “These are bits and pieces of old kit which we have identified as being perfectly good to be reused. It would be all too easy to take the attitude of scrapping it all. Instead, we now have a guy in the yard who has been tasked with sorting through every item we have retrieved from the site and to identify every item that can be put into use again. It’s actions like this that will make a huge difference over time.”
Looking slightly further afield, out into the industry as a whole, Unusual has identified its commitment to SDG 9 through its ongoing collaboration with the Sustainability in Production Alliance (SiPA.org.uk). "More recently," says Harper, "We have embarked on discussions with the ABTT on the value of creating a new technical standard that endorses the principles of a Circular Economy."
As well as its attitudes to environmental sustainability, Unusual has recently embarked on exploring social sustainability from within its organisation, developing a wellbeing program owned and developed by the workforce, for the workforce. This has included providing mental health first aid training for those keen to recognise fellow colleagues who may be struggling, as well as creating a wellbeing group that meets quarterly to address opportunities for innovation and improvement.
(Jim Evans)
