Our aim is to continue moving up the hierarchy by further reducing waste sent for energy recovery and identifying opportunities for re-use ahead of recycling, to support the circular economy. As outlined in section 1.1, in order to widen our scope 3 emissions reporting, we will expand our waste reporting to include tCO2e in line with the Greenhouse Gas reporting protocols. Construction waste The waste generated by contractors on our major building projects is a very significant source of waste, and particularly of hard-to-recycle waste streams (our own waste was 243 tonnes in 2023/4 vs 2,867 tonnes of construction waste). As one part of targeting BREEAM Excellent or above on our capital projects, our contractors are required to have waste management plans in place. These plans ensure the separation of construction waste into different types, the reuse or recycling of materials where possible, and the measurement and reporting of waste on at least a quarterly basis. Sustainable exhibitions and events Over the last few years we have actively sought ways to improve the sustainability of our exhibitions and events, including reusing materials such as steel room frames and acrylic mounts. Through our tender process we already incorporate an element focusing on sustainability of the supplier, and we are looking to weight sustainability higher when tendering for future contracts. As we progress work on our new buildings in Leeds and London (see Section 1.3), we will always think from a multi-site operational perspective, and make sure that programming, thinking and practices can be applied across all our sites. We ask ourselves how best to balance physical and digital delivery of our cultural programme: understanding the value of encounters with our collection in physical spaces, while also acknowledging the greater carbon footprint of physical touring in particular. In recent years we have trialed digital-only displays and events, and we will work further to understand more fully the environmental impact of our programme. Our temporary exhibitions are vital parts of our cultural offer and a key way that we make our collection accessible. They also have a carbon footprint of their own, through creating and dismantling each exhibition, and through the travel of loan items. In summer 2025, we will use our gardening exhibition as an opportunity to pilot more sustainable ways of working, including measuring the carbon emissions of an exhibition for the first time, and learning from this experience. In doing this, we are guided by initiatives from peers in our sector and communities. In addition to the Green Libraries Manifesto (see Appendix 2), these include: the Somers Town Future Neighbourhood plan to make the community around the Library in Camden more resilient to global climate change and a standardised Impact Assessment Tool, being developed jointly by the Design Museum and URGE Collective, to calculate exhibitions’ carbon footprint. Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy_2024_Final Issued.docx 28
Paper We are required to measure and reduce paper consumption and are on track to achieve the target. All of our purchased paper is certified to one or more UK or globally recognised environmental standards, resulting in Green Choice product status with our supplier, Banner. Electronic waste The use of devices within the Library since COVID-19 has increased dramatically, at some point these devices will reach end of life. Managing the environmental impact and reducing device usage, with many people having more than one device, is a major challenge but one that needs addressing. Water Against the mandatory Greening Government Commitments, we are missing the target for water use. We don’t think, however, that the target applies well in the Library’s circumstances, where water is used mainly for cooling the Reading Rooms, collection storage areas, public exhibition spaces and the Knowledge Centre, meaning that options for reducing water consumption are limited. We know that increasing use of the building by the public drives water consumption, but we don‘t yet know how much of this is direct (use of toilets, sinks, and catering) and how much indirect (through increasing air flow and warming the building, causing more cooling load). Our next step, therefore, is to better understand the causes of water use and the potential actions we can take to reduce it. Between 2024–2030 our aims are to: • maintain sending zero waste to landfill and reduce waste sent for energy recovery by incineration, in favour of recycling and, even more, reuse and the circular economy • ensure all major capital and estates projects have waste management plans in place and monitor against them • embed more sustainable working in our exhibitions programming. Pilot with the gardening exhibition in 2025, and the accompanying displays in public libraries; measure carbon emissions; add sustainability requirements to contractor procurement assessment; measure all materials used; increase the proportion of set works which are reused/recycled; and display a full sustainability statement. Learn from this pilot and develop future policy • better understand the drivers of water use and feasible, costed actions to reduce it.
See also Section 1.1 on Scope 3 reporting, which will include reporting of waste and water, Section 1.8 on Commercial (covering food and packaging waste from catering and shops) and Section 4.4 on Procurement. Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy_2024_Final Issued.docx 29
1.8. Commercial (catering, retail and events) We have taken increasing steps to build sustainability into the procurement of products and the letting of contracts in commercial areas. Catering: We work closely with our catering partners who operate at the forefront of sustainability and inclusion within the sector. Social value was a key requirement in the tender specification for the contracts which were let in October 2023. • Origin Coffee is a B Corp accredited company and a recipient of The Queen’s Award for Enterprise in Sustainable Development. Their ethos is asking 'how we can do things better, for people and the planet?'. For example, the coffee is Origin source and entirely seasonal, baked goods are sourced from small, local producers, food waste is reduced and then donated, composted or recycled wherever possible. Origin Coffee aim to create a circular economy, ensuring that any materials used are turned into a useful input material again • Graysons work with Slow Food UK and have been named ‘the most sustainable caterer in the UK’ for multiple years. They have a commitment to sourcing locally and ethically, for example supporting farmers and small and medium-sized enterprises, using Fairtrade tea, coffee, sugar, bananas and chocolate, and UK-bred meat. Graysons are moving to a cyclical approach to food waste onsite, with hot composting, a wormery and wildflower planters. Food waste is monitored, action taken to reduce it, and all surplus food is redistributed through food waste charity, Plan Zheroes. Packaging is reduced, recycled or composted, with no single-use plastic front of house and 100% of the back-of-house packaging to be reusable or recyclable. Retail: We have introduced new policies into the retail operation and are committed to reducing non-recyclable packaging, increasing sustainable products in our range, and working with accredited suppliers to reduce our environmental impact. For example, we have removed cellophane/plastic wrap from cards and gift wrap, sourced products made from plastic waste and introduced a sustainable T-Shirt partner. We use bio-degradable film-bags and reusable cotton totes. Damaged or misprinted proof copy books will be offered to staff through a book swap, to further reduce waste. Commercial events: Menus are changed bi-annually to ensure they are diverse, seasonal and climate friendly with slow food and healthy ingredients. Next steps are working towards ‘no carbon’ options for menus. Graysons have partnered with Green Tourism, which enables the calculation of the carbon emissions of an event using an online tool. The client is able, via an opt- out system, to offset their impact by means of charitable donation to a forest planting charity. Between 2024-2030 our aims are to: • continually seek out sustainable suppliers and partners for our retail outlets, prioritising reusable or recyclable materials in our supply chains, including packaging for online orders • continually improve areas of the operation including visual merchandising, dispatch and packaging, reducing the climate and biodiversity impacts across the whole operation • work with catering and events partners achieving high levels of accreditation in sustainability, reviewing their performance via the Social Value Portal and the contract KPIs.
See also Section 4.4 on Procurement Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy_2024_Final Issued.docx 30
1.9. Green spaces and biodiversity Our green spaces offer the chance to boost biodiversity and engage our communities. When considering them, our two existing main sites could not be more different, due to their relative size and urban vs. rural nature. St Pancras Our St Pancras site is in the middle of the urban landscape of Camden. The site consists almost entirely of the Library buildings themselves, plus open stone areas such as the Piazza and the connecting terrace to the Centre for Conservation. There are some beds on the Piazza, Midland Road and Euston Road, and on areas of flat roof. These beds are planted with low-maintenance, non-flowering green shrubs. Some planting has been deliberately removed in the past, due to issues of rough-sleeping and drug-use equipment being discarded there. In the short term, potential exists to introduce more areas of planting, a richer variety of flowering plants, and other wildlife friendly measures. We will begin this in tandem with the gardening exhibition in 2025. Our longer-term vision is of the Piazza as a garden; a green and biodiverse space, where people can sit and rest, and where our local community is engaged through growing. The Story Garden, operated by Global Generation, makes temporary use of our extension site while we wait for construction to begin. Nestled within the heart of London it’s an urban sanctuary for our community and a hub for environmental education. This green oasis provides a space for Camden residents, schools and organisations to connect with nature and each other. Through a variety of hands-on activities and events – from organic gardening to storytelling sessions – the Story Garden inspires local people to become stewards of the environment and champions of positive change. We are exploring ways of continuing engagement with Global Generation, once the BL Extension project commences and the Story Garden closes. Boston Spa By contrast to the urban St Pancras, Boston Spa covers 44 acres, much of which is green space. It is surrounded by Yorkshire countryside and is nature rich. The surrounding fields are populated by badgers, falcons, bats, foxes and squirrels, which often come onto site. The West Yorkshire fungus group has catalogued the fungi on site, and there is an amateur naturalist staff group which catalogues the flora once a year, including rare bee orchids which Boston Spa is particularly rich in. The landscape management plan has been in place for nearly 20 years, based on ecological and biodiversity reviews. The plan was last updated in 2015 and covers: • managing the three Local Wildlife Areas for nature, enabling British native plants to thrive, through hand-weeding for invasive species in the spring and cutting back in the autumn • the area of native wildflower meadow behind Building 32 being left to grow long until the seed has dropped, and then cut and cleared to encourage flower growth • the rest is short mown grass which is actively weeded. There is the potential to use these areas more for nature, with longer, flower-rich sward and tree planting. Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy_2024_Final Issued.docx 31
While we believe more can be done, some tensions do exist between letting nature in and the need from a conservation perspective for a cautious approach to introducing any new pollens or encouraging insects, plus the practicalities of a busy site with multiple deliveries each day. Our new spaces (see also Section 1.3) The major capital projects in St Pancras, Boston Spa, and Leeds have all had significant ecological input during their design process and are targeting biodiversity net gains. In Leeds and St Pancras, this will be achieved through a variety of new planting around the buildings and through ‘green’ roofs. Community engagement with these new green spaces is also central to our plans. The Boston Spa Renewed programme provides an opportunity to improve the overall site-wide biodiversity. Soft landscaping will be completed, surrounding the new and updated green spaces to drive improved biodiversity. The landscaping works will achieve the minimum 10% net biodiversity gain and use demolition infill. Health and wellbeing Improving our green spaces can also offer benefits in terms of health and wellbeing to staff and visitors, through improved access to nature and views of green spaces. Between 2024–2030 our aims are to: • commission ecological input to understand our current baseline and then create a Nature Recovery Plan for our green spaces • implement practical measures to make our green spaces more biodiverse while enabling community engagement, beginning with working with the local community to create new growing areas on the Piazza in 2024, and increase in tandem with the gardening exhibition • [see section 1.2] create new spaces which are nature-positive, meeting or exceeding planning targets for biodiversity net gain while engaging our communities in growing. Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy_2024_Final Issued.docx 32