Amado & Almeida Santos – Small gestures, big consequences

Since its foundation, Amado & Almeida Santos has been concerned with the environment. Being a law firm, it did not seem that there were many behaviours that could be adopted with the goal to contribute to a better environment. However, every day we try to be meticulous and improve to avoid waste.

We are aware that our Planet is the only one we have, and that it is up to all of us, in both our personal and professional lives, to choose to do something. Because we believe that even the simplest, smallest gestures can translate into major contributions in the long run, if only by example and raising the awareness of more people and encouraging them to follow this example.

We have always dispensed with plastic, for example choosing paper cups to serve coffee or tea to our clients and even for our own use. We privilege porcelain and silver cutlery or stainless steel that is long-lasting and reusable. We also pay great attention to our use of water, although it is not a feature commonly used in our business; when we need this resource, we pay extra attention to keeping taps closed when not required, thus preventing unnecessary water running.

Another measure we have understaken, which we consider basic, is the separation of garbage. Essentially, we got small containers for paper/cardboard and plastic, once glass is not used in the Office. In the management of work, we always try to save paper. We installed servers and an intern network which allows us to share information and store it in rapid, easy, economical and environmentally friendly ways. In this way, we avoid unnecessary printing, saving paper and ink. We keep printing only for situations that we cannot avoid and that are essential. Even so, when there is some glitch or something is printed by mistake, this paper is used as a draft before going into the recycling bin. We try to make sustainable use of printers’ consumables. We work with a brand of printers and consumables that offer free bags for collecting cartridges/ink toner for recycling so we do not put this kind of material in the trash and know it will be treated properly.

For lighting we have chosen Led lighting, low-power, class A or higher, which allows us to help the environment and even cut energy consumption levels, resulting in a reduction in the resources required to produce this energy. These savings have not yet been quantified, but we know they are significant. However, what we can highlight with these practices, is the awareness and ease with which these gestures enter our routine. We believe that something so beneficial is just a matter of habit, and that it is extremely important to develop these habits.