RJ Power Networks have a great opportunity to try and give a little back to the environment, as the Networks office at Polhill have their own back garden, which was previously left overgrown and then became a storage area for left over scraps and various other junk items, until it gets disposed of by professional waste and recycling companies. During the Networks ISO accreditation assessments, it was suggested that we could utilise the garden area in a unique way, by creating a Bee, Butterfly insect and bird friendly sanctuary from recycled materials that the Networks team have left over from the running of day to day operations.
The extinction of Bees has been in the eye of the media a lot over the last 12-18 months and the RJ Power Networks team want to help support the cause of protecting them. We are hoping that the new Recycled Garden will help towards support the colonisation of bees within the garden, as the plants used will be specifically bee, butterfly, bird and insect friendly to help create a haven for them to live and thrive in.
Bees and other pollinators are responsible for up to 35% of the worlds crop harvests. There are currently over 7 billion people living on the planet and the reduction of 35% of crops could have detrimental effects to the human race, as well as other species living on our planet. Without bee’s pollinating the worlds crops other species will begin to die off due to a lack of food, which will then richochet up the food chain creating a mass starvation and reduction in numbers, maybe even extinction across all species of animals.
Beekeepers first started losing their hives around 2006, with numbers of lost colonies rising each year, they are facing significant financial losses and the crop pollination that all species depend on are being threatened by the declining bee numbers. Scientists have studied the problem and identified that it could be due to Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) – they have identified several possible contributing factors, including agricultural chemicals, diseases, parasites and stress. The most recent evidence suggests a combination of these factors may be the cause of CCD.
Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) can be identified easily in hives because of its unique symptoms. Firstly, the hive is abandoned by nearly all the adult bees. Usually, only a living queen is left behind in the hive. However, no dead bodies of bees are found in or around the hive.
Our aim is to not use any pesticides or chemicals on the garden area and leave it to grow as much a possible with minimal human interaction. Recycled objects used in the garden include:
Although it is not currently the height of bee season the Networks garden area has been worked on since October 2017 so everything needed could be organised and planted to grow in time for the spring/summer bloom. The current plants in the garden are winter/spring plants which have helped to protect smaller insects during the winter months as well as giving the current plants time to grow to a good size ready for spring. Once the winter season is over the winter plants will die off and the garden will be ready to plant more spring and summer flowers in the recycled pallets, such as; Cornflower, lavender, Marigolds and so on which are bee friendly and encourage pollination.
The making of our garden has prompted the Networks team to reflect on how as a company we can become kinder to our environment. These are just some of the things we plan to do going forward:
World Bee Day 2019 took place on the 20th May, and was introduced by the UN general assembly The UN general assembly after adopting a resolution proposed by Slovenia, where the Carniolan honeybee is native.
World Bee Day is supported by all UN Member States and the International Federation of Beekeepers’ Associations. Its aim is to raise public awareness about the importance of bees, highlighting how the beekeeping sector helps in such matters as poverty alleviation, preserving a healthy environment and in maintaining biodiversity.
The Networks team look forward to providing ongoing updates around their efforts to contribute positively to the environment and local areas around them- please continue to like and share our updates to help promote our environmental initiatives!
RJ Power Networks Limited provides electrical installation, operation and maintenance services to end users and duty holders throughout the UK. Our experienced and multiskilled team work to the highest standards to achieve excellence in the engineering services we provide. Please see the RJ Power Brochure for more information about the services we offer and our Case studies page for examples of our excellent standards of delivery.