The UTILISE Utility Management Workshops, organised by West Sussex Sustainable Business Partnership, take place on Thursday February 11 at the Park Barn, on the Horsham District Council site in North Street, Horsham.

Open to any organisation with premises, UTILISE Workshops focus on the savings, both environmental and financial, that can be made by managing energy, waste and water bills.

The one day interactive sessions introduce the benefits of environmental management systems and demonstrate how environmental improvement makes business sense.

Each organisation will examine their utility bills to investigate where efficiency savings can be achieved, for example reducing collection of half filled waste bins, reducing water loss from leaks and eliminating energy use at times where no one is in the building.

Gill Daniel, Environmental Co-ordination Assistant at Horsham District Council, said: "The course is important to help businesses know where to start when cost saving or becoming a more environmentally friendly business. It can be a challenge without guidance and with these free workshops hopefully businesses will feel better informed."

UTILISE Workshops include a series of presentations from expert speakers, case studies from local organisations already benefiting from sustainable business practice, and an interactive exercise to develop a personalised action plan to immediately help kick start improvements.

As well as the Horsham workshop, there are other dates available across West Sussex. All the courses are free to attend for any organisation located in West Sussex, with an option to accredit the course to BTEC level 3 for £75 (for which grants may be available).

For more information and to book a place at a UTILISE Workshop contact Robert Bousie on 01243 777308 or email robert.bousie@westsussex.gov.uk