People, Planet and Community

Shield Pest Control’s sustainability means being a responsible service provider. This is integrated as a core value in our business. The aim of our responsible service provider programme is to manage our environmental footprint, responsibly source and support the communities and clients we engage with while maintaining sustainable growth.

Under this aim, there are three pillars of action:

People

• Shield remain committed to the development of their central London team of footman who utilise public transport and will walk to all central London customer engagements – we plan to further expand these types of operative in order to ensure that all routine pest control operations are delivered with an ever decreasing environmental footprint
• We hold the ISO 14001/9001, which internally approves our environmental policy
• Shield has been granted The Planet Mark which is a certification programme recognising commitment to continuous improvement in sustainability. The Royal Warrant Holders Association is extremely committed to this accreditation in which Shield play an active role.
• We have decided to implement an electric and/or hybrid only car policy for all management and fleet vehicles. This has started with the Managing Director taking delivery of a new Audi e-Tron 55 vehicle, which is fully electric and currently the lowest carbon footprint of any premium car.
• Shield holds the FORS accreditation for its vehicle management which requires strict adherence to efficient driving skills, vehicle idling and fuel management.
• For recycling of paper, plastic, toners etc. we use a recycling firm that will pick up our bags after midnight, which saves fuels and reduces emissions due to less traffic. As we have opted to pay per bag, we have seen a significant reduction in general office waste, which is demonstrated by our entire Help Desk now be re-using scrap paper thus reducing our usage of fresh paper and print. Other departments are now adopting this practice to make this firm wide.
• The positive engagement by all staff within Shield is enabling a significant shift in gears towards our sustainability goals.

Planet

• We are working towards more non-toxic solutions to pest management. Replacing rodenticides with non-toxic bait to monitor after rodent infestations are under control is one option in reducing the usage of pesticide. In addition, we also use the services of a sniffer dog, this not only saves many man hours inspecting sites but also ensures that we can put the baits and sprays into areas that are infested and prevents ‘blanket baiting/spraying’ to sites. Therefore, reducing the amount of rodenticide and insecticide in use at any one time.
• Motion cameras are also used. This is particularly useful if it is difficult to determine what type of pest is present (rats, squirrels, mice, moles, gliss gliss). By recording we can ensure that trappings if needed are carried out rather than the laying of baits.
• Where sites need rodenticide, we always use fully tamper resistant boxes to ensure that even the remote chance of secondary poisoning is kept to a bare minimum. Where we feel toxic bait would cause an issue, we revert to using snap traps or live capture units. We encourage our clients to take measures such as proofing and housekeeping to prevent pest intrusion and will carry out proofing to further reduce the risks.
• Insecticide gels are, wherever possible, placed in containers to minimise the risk to humans and adults. Sprays are carried out using water-based product, but we will also use a fogging method that ensures no chemicals are left in place after the treatment.
• When baits, boxes, empty containers or animal carcasses are removed from site they are bagged up and taken to our office. From there they are sorted into separate containers and then collected by a registered waste carrier and taken away for disposal. All bait boxes sent for disposal are recycled.

Community

• We have been awarded a carbon footprint certificate from All Star, which will enable us to tightly monitor our use of fossil fuels across our company fleet.
• The success of Shield’s sponsorship of the Brockley Tree Project in London SE4 has led to a further 7 new trees being planted by the surrounding community. Since joining the Project we have seen it become a registered charity and Shield’s commitment to new tree planting has now doubled.
• A major reduction in paper usage, printing cartridges/plastic and ink has been achieved by updating yearly documentation for clients via document transfer technology. This has enabled Shield to save 22400 pages of paper and over 13 incremental print cartridges – a cost saving of over £845 a year plus energy usage reduction. Coupled to this we are actively encouraging our clients to go paperless wherever possible.
• We have implemented a recycling policy for all computer and mobile phone equipment involving the resale of all items to small businesses, education and community projects – this has put over 45 mobile phones, 7 desktop computers, 2 printers and various pest control cleaning equipment back into the community.