A WEEK-LONG series of recycling and environmental activities staged at the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office is being hailed a success.

The producer of nautical charts, products and services for the Royal Navy and international mariner staged a variety of events last week to encourage staff to be more environmentally friendly and to highlight the work UKHO is doing to reduce its carbon footprint.

And organisers say the Eco Hydro events, held to mark World Environment Day, are just the start of things to come.

Richard Brooks, UKHO's head of transformation, change and HR, said: "The Eco Hydro Week is a new initiative and it is just the start of ongoing green activities across the site to improve UKHO's sustainability.

"I am extremely pleased with the enthusiasm staff showed for Eco Hydro Week as we need a real team effort in order to reduce waste and improve recycling rates."

A drive to reduce the amount of electricity used on site has already taken effect - last week UKHO used 4,500 KWh less than an average totalling 115,532.6 compared to an average week of 120,000 KWh.

UKHO's Head of Facilities Management Anne Webb said: "We would like to thank all staff who participated in the EcoWeek activities and events.

"EcoWeek was intended as an 'opener' to inform staff about sustainability issues and to raise awareness about what we already do about sustainability and how we can improve.

"We can certainly make a real difference here at the UKHO in terms of the amount we send to landfill, and the amount of natural resources and energy that we use."

The week of activities was part of UKHO's Eco Hydro initiative to meet MoD sustainability targets which state all departments must become a zero waste to landfill organisation by 2020 and recycling levels must improve by a minimum of 8% per year.