PHS Washrooms sets new industry standard with the world’s first waste disposal services to hold the Carbon Reduction Label

The PHS Group, one of the UK’s leading workplace service providers, is proud to announce that the sanitary disposal unit exchange services operated by its PHS Washrooms division now hold the Carbon Trust’s Carbon Reduction Label.

In a world first for the industry, PHS Washrooms can now display the Carbon Reduction Label which identifies that these services have had their carbon footprints calculated and then independently certified by the Carbon Trust against an internationally recognised standard. PHS Washrooms plans to include the Label in a variety of communications specifically relating to its sanitary disposal unit exchange services, including sales literature, press releases and web pages. A carbon footprint is the total amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases emitted by a product or service during the life or a product or service, including production, use and disposal. For PHS Washrooms’ sanitary disposal unit exchange services this includes the manufacturing of a sanitary disposal unit, the collection and cleaning process, and the disposal of the waste.

By displaying the Carbon Trust’s Carbon Reduction Label, PHS Washrooms is making a commitment to measure and reduce the carbon footprint of these services over a two year period. The information for this project, which concentrated on PHS Washroom’s sanitary disposal unit exchange services using the ‘Eclipse’ and ‘Mini’ bins, was collected from PHS Washrooms and other key suppliers. To be eligible to use the Carbon Reduction Label the carbon footprint was certified by Carbon Trust Certification Limited to the British Standards Institution’s Publicly Available Specification (PAS) 2050:2008, the Carbon Trust’s Code of Good Practice and The Carbon Trust’s Footprint Expert Guide.

Keri Reynolds, Marketing Manager for PHS Washrooms, said: “We are delighted to have achieved the milestone of certification to the Carbon Trust Standard, which demonstrates our commitment to reducing the environmental impact of our products and services. The assessment process and certification has given us the opportunity to look at ways to increase energy efficiency, reduce waste and streamline logistics for our core products and services. Our aim is to offer our customers an even better service, and in turn help them achieve their own environmental goals.”

Darran Messem, Managing Director of Certification at the Carbon Trust, said: “Calculating the carbon footprint of a product or service is an important step in reducing both greenhouse gas emissions and cost. The Carbon Trust congratulates PHS Washrooms for their hard work and commitment to reducing the environmental impact of their sanitary disposal unit exchange services. The certification and labelling demonstrates that with the right level of skills, tenacity, and support it is possible to reduce an organisation’s environmental impact, which has a hugely positive effect on a company’s reputation, and the business as a whole.”

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For press enquiries relating to PHS please contact: Emma Fleetwood-Jones – Ceris Burns International   t: +44(0)1825 714329 e: emma@cbipr.com www.cbipr.com

For press enquiries relating to the Carbon Trust please contact: Amy Watt – Brands2Life, Carbon Trust PR   t: +44 207 592 1200 e: carbontrust@brands2life.com   www.carbontrust.com

Notes to editors

About the Carbon Trust

We are independent experts with a mission to accelerate the move to a low carbon economy. We advise businesses, governments and the public sector on their opportunities in a sustainable, low carbon world. We measure and certify the environmental footprint of organisations, supply chains and products. We help develop and deploy low carbon technologies and solutions, from energy efficiency to renewable power.

About The Carbon Reduction Label

The Carbon Reduction Label is a mark demonstrating the certification of greenhouse gas emissions (the ‘carbon footprint’) from a product or service, and certification of emissions reduction. • Since 2007, the Carbon Trust has worked with numerous brands and individual product lines to measure and reduce the carbon footprint of everyday household items, as well as business facing brands. • The Carbon Trust designed the Carbon Reduction Label to help companies communicate the impact of their product carbon footprinting work. Companies that display the Carbon Trust Carbon Reduction Label are making a commitment to reduce the carbon footprint of their product or service. • The carbon footprint of a product or service is the total carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases emitted during the life of the product or service, from production to final disposal. • The Carbon Trust Carbon Reduction Label currently appears on product worth €3.8billion in annual sales. • For further information visit www.carbontrust.com/client-services/footprinting/certification

About the PHS Group

The PHS Group is a leading workplace service provider, and has traded in the UK since 1963 with an increasingly diverse portfolio of services designed to improve work and leisure spaces, while making life a whole lot easier for facilities, building and people managers. In June 2001, PHS Group plc began trading on the London Stock Exchange in what was one of the biggest flotations of the year.  At flotation, the company was valued at £414 million. In September 2001 it was admitted to the FTSE 250 index. On September 16th 2005 the PHS Group was de-listed from the Stock Market, reverting to private ownership by Norfolk Acquisition plc (a company formed at the direction of Charterhouse General Partners) in an acquisition valued at £600 million plus PHS’ net debt of £139m. The PHS Group’s annual turnover, for the year ending March 2011, was £396.4m. The group employs around 5,000 staff and has a wide network of 90 strategically-located regional service branches. It takes care of 250,000 customers at over 300,000 locations throughout the UK, Ireland, Holland, Belgium and Spain.