Environmental responsibility

Energy savings

With so many premises and classrooms you can imagine the amount of energy we consume in air conditioning and lighting. Where it has been feasible, standard lighting in our buildings has been changed for low energy LED lamps. Newer Kaplan building refurbishments, at Spring House in Islington, London and Universal Square in Manchester, have also benefited from 100% ultra low energy LED lighting systems. We also promote switching off equipment when not in use, which helped reduce our energy usage by 25% in the year of introduction.

We buy renewable electricity for locations where we control the energy supply.

Paper and printing

Although our print production operations require around 1,000 tonnes of paper each year, we ensure that we only purchase paper from renewable, well-managed sources and require that all of our printers are certified either by the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) or PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest). Wherever possible we also ask our printers to use vegetable, rather than oil, based inks.

On average each year we recycle 64.35 tonnes of paper and books, which is then turned into toilet paper. We generate over 320,000 toilet rolls from our recycling activities each year.

Book bags

Previously our book bags were plastic but they are now made from cotton, non-GM, biodegradable material. We would encourage students to re-use bags they already own, but we also have new bags available in centres (while stocks last).

Computer recycling

When it comes to recycling, we don't just focus on paper and plastics. We also recycle hardware, including desktops, laptops, and servers.

Picture of an office that contains chairs, tables and lockers

Waste management

The waste management of most Kaplan locations is provided by the buildings' landlords. Our property team regularly reviews each site to ensure they are maintained, well-sourced and within local government targets for waste management and disposal.

At our two largest sites in London, Spring House and Borough High Street, our waste management provider's green credentials guarantee waste is not sent to landfill. Instead, it is used to generate electricity and heat for over 100,000 businesses and homes every year.

We've reduced our impact on the environment by removing single-use plastic cups from all of our centres. All students are encouraged to bring a reusable water bottle to classes with drinking water available to refill them when needed.

The current statistics for our waste management company are:

51% waste-to-energy

Over half of this waste is used to generate electricity and heat for businesses and homes.

49% recycled

The remaining waste is recycled.

0% landfill

We’re really proud that, for centres where we control the waste management, not one bit of our waste goes into the land.

An ethical approach to the supply chain

All of our suppliers are issued with our Responsible Procurement Policy. Compliance is monitored and is required as a condition of doing business with Kaplan. In practice, this means being sure that all suppliers conform to environment, health and safety and employment standards.

Travel

We are working to minimise the environmental impact of travel to our centres. That’s why accessibility via local transport networks is a key factor in selection of new Kaplan locations, and our location web pages include cycling information (such as bike storage and local cycling routes) as well as public transport information. We also have an employee Cycle to Work scheme, encourage virtual options for internal meetings where possible, and recently launched an annual employee travel survey to measure the emissions caused by staff commuting.

Measuring our environmental performance

We report annually on our direct carbon emissions in line with regulatory requirements.

We have committed to set near-term emissions reduction targets with the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). We are currently working with sustainability experts to measure our emissions, set targets and create an action plan to achieve them.

Our sustainability practices (across the themes of environment, labor and human rights, ethics, and sustainable procurement) were recently assessed by EcoVadis. We were in the top 25% of companies they assessed and we were awarded a Bronze EcoVadis Medal.