Return to all postsReturn to all resources
Earth Day - Doing Our Bit

Earth Day - Doing Our Bit

Written by
Adam Castleton
Published

April 9, 2024

Category
Startle news

Earth Day is an opportunity for us all to reflect on what we are doing for environmental protection.

Every year becomes more relevant and important - we’re all noticing the world around us changing because of global warming. And it’s important that we reflect on the progress we have made, and what is left to do.

At Startle, we hold ourselves accountable. We’re proud to have built our company with an incredibly low environmental footprint. We’re not perfect, but we’re making big strides to be as environmentally responsible as possible.

Here are the steps we’ve taken so far, both with our products and our team, with the environment front of mind.

Ultra lightweight hardware. 

All of our music and technology is powered by the Startle Player, a very lightweight and energy-efficient mini computer. Not only is it incredibly efficient (drawing <2W of power), but it’s lightweight too (weighing < 250g) meaning its shipping footprint is tiny as well.

The Startle Player is unique in that it can connect with Sonos and Chromecast speakers. Compared to energy-consuming amplifiers that require lots of wiring and power, our player is miles more environmentally friendly (and practical too).

No single-use plastic. Renewable energy. 

We've removed all single use packaging from our players. They come packaged in recyclable cardboard, printed with planet friendly inks.

And as a SaaS provider, we have servers that require power and cooling. We host these in secure data centres powered exclusively by 100% renewable energy.

Power saving features and digital alternatives.

With our scheduler, customers are able to set opening hours. That means that not only do our players automatically go to sleep when you’re not using them, they can even turn your screens off at closing time (and back on again for opening).

Utilising your existing screens for digital signage already provides benefits over print promotional materials such as more control and more eye catching, but it can also be a great way to help reduce emissions associated with printing and posting physical point of sale materials.

Sustainable Initiatives.

We teamed up with Octopus Electric Vehicles to launch an Electric Vehicle Salary Sacrifice scheme. The scheme allows our UK employees to lease an electric vehicle before income tax deductions. 

Over 40% of our team are now proud drivers of electric vehicles, meaning our personal environmental footprints are smaller too. 

Oh, and we’ve just planted our 15,000th tree. Pretty neat.

Carbon neutral sourcing.

Perhaps the biggest activity we take part in to be more environmentally conscious is tracking our emissions across our entire supply chain.

We offset all emissions with Ecologi - the scope of this includes evaluating our direct emissions, indirect emissions, and value chain emissions. To us it is important that we measure, reduce and offset our emissions across all three scopes so that we fully understand our true environmental footprint.

We're also ISO 14001 accredited for our Environmental Management processes.

Atmosphere.

Our newly launched Atmosphere product tracks environmental factors such as temperature which can help you determine if you're spending too much on heating/cooling your premises. This can not only help you with your energy bills, but help you be more environmentally friendly while also providing the optimum environment for your customers.

Knowledge is power - the more you can know about what’s going on in your venue, the better decisions you can make.

No commuting.

We’ve always been a remote first team (even before it was fashionable). This provides flexibility to our team, but also a way for us to significantly reduce business travel. And it makes our team time together even more special. 

Our Ware office even has 18 EV car chargers for the large number of us who travel in electric vehicles, and the building is heated by air source heat pumps.

So that’s just a few of the things we’re doing to keep Startle’s environmental footprint tiny. There’s always more we can do and we’re always looking to improve, but we think it’s a pretty good start. 

Happy Earth Day, and cheers to all the retail and hospitality brands out there making a difference! Together, we can create change for future generations.

Heard enough?

Ready to create standout customer experiences? Get in touch to find out how we can use music and tech to help you achieve your goals.

Request a quote
Rotary phone

Heard enough?

Music is powerful, but using it with intention takes skill. Chat to our team today to find out how our behavioural-science backed, curated playlists could help you achieve your goals.

Tell me more
Woman dancing

Heard enough?

Seeing is believing. Engaging your customers through vibrant visual displays can be a game-changer in your retail or hospitality experience. Chat to our team today to find out how our dynamic digital signage solution could help you achieve your goals.

Tell me more
Woman's face

Heard enough?

Live sport has been at the heart of many pubs for decades. Chat to our team today to find out how Arena, our automated, all-inclusive sports promotion platform, could help you achieve your goals.

Tell me more
People watching sports in a pub

Heard enough?

Your environment is always changing. Chat to our team today to find out how using our invaluable insights to auto-adjust your atmosphere could help you achieve your goals and fine-tune your operations.

Tell me more
Happy woman eating in restaurant

Heard enough?

Replicate a perfectly curated atmosphere across an entire estate, all from a single platform. Chat to our team today to find out how using Studio could help you achieve your goals.

Tell me more
Technoology

Heard enough?

Creating something so deeply subjective as an atmosphere without a strong understanding of human behaviour is kind of silly. Chat to our team today to find out how behavioural science can be applied to help you achieve your goals.

Tell me more
People walking

Heard enough?

Dedicated management, free player replacements, 24/7/365 support… what you want, baby we got it. Chat to our team today to find out how relentless our Relentless Support™ really are.

Tell me more
Man with headphones

Heard enough?

Creating a standout retail experience isn’t easy. Chat to our team today to find out how we can use music and tech to create a till ringing atmosphere and help you achieve your goals.

Tell me more
Clothes on rack

Heard enough?

Creating a standout restaurant experience isn’t easy. Chat to our team today to find out how we can use music and tech to serve up the perfect atmospheres in your restaurants and help you achieve your goals.

Tell me more
Restaurants kitchen

Heard enough?

Creating a standout coffee shop experience isn’t easy. Chat to our team today to find out how we can use music and tech to brew the perfect atmospheres for your cafes and help you achieve your goals.

Tell me more
Cafe

Heard enough?

Creating a standout pub experience isn’t easy. Chat to our team today to find out how we can use music and pint-sized tech to create the perfect atmosphere and help get the drinks flowing.

Tell me more
People celebrating in pub

Heard enough?

Creating a standout hotel experience isn’t easy. Check out (or in) how we can use music and tech to create the perfect atmospheres and help you achieve your goals by chatting to our team today.

Tell me more
Restaurant table with cutlery

Heard enough?

Creating a standout gym experience isn’t easy. Chat to our team today to find out how we can use music and tech to get your atmospheres into perfect shape and help you achieve your goals.

Tell me more
Gym equipment

Heard enough?

Creating a standout salon experience isn’t easy. Chat to our team today to find out how we can use music and tech to create an atmosphere with the perfect finish and help you achieve your goals.

Tell me more
Salon equipment

Heard enough?

Creating a standout office experience isn’t easy. Chat to our team today to find out how we can use music and tech to create atmospheres that work as hard as your customers.

Tell me more
Co-working space

Heard enough?

Creating a standout spa experience isn’t easy. Chat to our team today to find out how we can use music and tech to create the perfect peaceful atmosphere and help you achieve your goals.

Tell me more
Towels and insense

Heard enough?

Creating a standout ship experience isn’t easy. Chat to our team today to find out how we can use music and tech to create the perfect atmospheres for your cruise ships and help you achieve your goals.

Tell me more
Beach with cruise ship in background
Earth Day - Doing Our Bit

Adam Castleton

With 15 years of experience working in technology, Adam is our strategic and savvy CEO. It’s his job to lead Startle, ensuring that we have a positive impact on both our customers and our team, by delivering innovation and growth in a positive culture. When he’s not at work, he tries hard to switch off by spending time outside with his wife and kids - his self proclaimed ‘happy place’ is having a wander in the forest on a sunny day.

Say hello on LinkedIn

Hey, we've just met you and this is crazy. But here's our number +44 (0)203 397 7676. So, call us maybe?

  • Number of locations *