Technology

Posted on May 29, 2019 by staff

Merseyrail stops printing receipts to go green

Technology

Merseyrail has announced it will no longer automatically print receipts for customers in a bid to cut down on waste.

From May, ticket offices will no longer print the receipts, aiming to save up to 600km of paper each year.

The rail firm has previously won multiple awards for its environmental and sustainability initiatives. Now customers who need a receipt will have to ask ticket office staff.

Each year Merseyrail uses 12,000 rolls of till receipts – enough to stretch from Liverpool to Paris – and most of these are not wanted by the customer and are discarded.

These changes are part of an ongoing commitment to reducing waste and increasing sustainability at Merseyrail, as multiple initiatives are taking place across the network.

A ‘Carbon Cup’ competition has encouraged staff to save energy across the network in a bid for their station to be crowned Carbon Cup Champion, resulting in huge energy savings.

LED lights have been introduced in several stations across the region, saving energy in areas of higher consumption.

“As part of our vision to deliver a world-class railway, we are committed to providing an affordable, greener and connected transport system,” said head of sustainability at Merseyrail Cath Johnston.

“This latest move to remove automatically printed receipts contributes towards reducing our carbon footprint, and helping our passengers to be more environmentally conscious also.

“Passengers have been letting us know that they often buy the same ticket each day and don’t need a receipt, which they immediately put in the bin, so we knew we needed to act on this.”

“Being ‘green’ is an integral part of our business, and we are always looking at ways that we can protect the environment that we operate in.”