Resource Efficiency East

Resource Efficiency East is a specialist provider of guidance and support of
resource efficiency to small and medium sized enterprises in the East of England

Micro Business Project

It is recognised that even the smallest of companies can improve their resource efficiency and reduce costs as well as reduce their impact on the wider environment.

However, interventions such as the REE Business Resource Reviews will often not be a cost effective way to support micro businesses (less than 10 employees), as the opportunity cost to the business concerned and the cost of advisor support will often outstrip the financial benefits of implementing changes to improve resource efficiency.

As such Resource Efficiency East wanted to develop a pilot programme to assess the best way to deliver straightforward support to micro businesses via a simple scheme that helped them to identify and implement opportunities in a straight forward and 'low-cost' manner.

The project developed a support pack that examines 12 key resource efficiency topics. Each topic is covered in a concise and straightforward manner and was supported by a short early morning one hour breakfast seminar.

By following the guidance in the pack and attending seminars as appropriate, it was anticipated that participating businesses would complete a thorough 'health check' of their business with respect to resource efficiency.

Resource Efficiency East partnered with Dacorum Borough Council to deliver the Micro Business Project following the council's suggestion to explore the benefits of utilising their Economic Development Team to co-ordinate the pilot project.

A final report for this project is currently being compiled, but an overview of the outcomes will be presented on the REE website in due course.

Links to other support

Business Link has a produced the 'Top 10 Tips to help save your business money and improve efficiency' this can be found at http://www.businesslink.gov.uk

Resource Efficiency East