Cape Town-based Itec Innovate has been named as the Itec and impactChoice Platinum Green Dealer of 2013, making it the winner of this coveted award for the second year running. This award is based on the investment and effort Itec dealers make towards promoting environmental responsibility in its own business as well as towards selling greener solutions into its client base. The runners-up were Itec Boland (gold), Itec South (silver) and Itec Corporate Systems (bronze).
The Itec and impactChoice Green Dealer Awards, open to Itec dealers countrywide, aims to reward Itec Group dealers and franchises for educating staff about environmental sustainability, launching programmes to offset their own carbon emissions, and promoting greener technology practices among their clients.
Itec has an exclusive agreement with impactChoice for its dealers to offer clients a practical and transparent programme that will help clients neutralise the environmental impact of their printers and copiers in a simple, auditable and sustainable manner. The partnership, which started in mid-2010, already has over 800 Itec customers electing to offset their monthly Office Automation carbon emissions. Itec is the first office automation solutions provider in South Africa to offer sustainability solutions as a value added service to clients.
Across the 12 months of the competition, 1 455 644kg of carbon credits were offset on behalf of competing dealers and retired through the PlanVivo/CCBS registered Sofala Community Carbon Project. Peter Newell, General Manager at impactChoice South Africa, puts that into perspective: "This is the equivalent amount of carbon released into the atmosphere through burning 709 204kgs (or seven railcars) of coal and is also the amount of carbon which a forest of 37 324 tree seedlings grown for 10 years would sequester (offset) as per the Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator."
"Now in its second year, the competition continues to increase staff awareness, initiating in-house carbon reduction efforts and encouraging customer participation within Itec and impactChoice's carbon measurement and offsetting programme," says Newell. "We must especially congratulate Itec Innovate for a proactive stance on environmental sustainability. The company is not just selling the solution to its clients, but adopting green practices itself, showing commitment to sustainability."
Says Ryan Miles, executive director of Itec Shared Services: "We are very pleased that 12 of our dealers have bought wholeheartedly into Itec Group's efforts to help clients measure and mitigate their carbon footprint as well as become more environmentally sustainable." Carbon offsetting is today a critical part of a sound office automation business solution. "As we have approached our clients with the impactChoice solutions we have found that the market has embraced the importance of triple bottom line reporting. Itec and its clients will be well prepared if and when carbon taxes are introduced in South Africa," Miles concludes.
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