ENVIRONMENTAL CREDENTIALS

The first and only wholesaler in our industry to be awarded Environmental Accreditation ISO 14001:2015

We are committed to minimising the impact our activities have on the environment. We have achieved ISO 14001:2015 accreditation for our environmental management system and are continually trying to improve our performance. Since becoming accredited, we have reduced our carbon tonnage by a staggering 30% whilst growing the business.

As the first and only wholesaler in our industry in the UK to achieve this status, we are very proud to have accomplished this.

We recognised at an early stage the advantages of certification. We live in a global society that is becoming increasingly concerned with the environmental impact caused by industry. Achieving this accreditation has enabled us to demonstrate to our customers our commitment to reducing our environmental impact.

Some of the initiatives the business has undertaken to improve its environmental performance include:

• All electricity used by the company is sourced from renewable sources.
• Invested in high-speed doors in the warehouse to minimise heat loss.
• The installation of LED lighting across the offices and warehouse at the Stone site reduced electricity consumption by 30%.
• Investment in lithium-ion battery-powered mechanical handling equipment. This equipment not only uses less electricity but eliminates the use of lead-acid batteries and the potential for hazardous chemical spills associated with their maintenance.
• Introduced plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and battery electric vehicles to the company car fleet, together with the installation of on-site charging for those vehicles.
• The consolidation of operation onto a single site has allowed the business to increase sales whilst reducing its overall energy consumption by over 30%.
• All waste is segregated and recycled or reused whenever possible.
• We are constantly seeking to reduce waste sent to landfill. In 2021 less than 0.5% of waste went to landfill, with the remainder recycled.
• Containers are moved from ports by rail to close to our site, reducing environmental impact and road congestion.
• Moving to electronic invoicing has saved over 500,000 envelopes each year.
• Video conferencing software has been used to increase the number of virtual meetings and reduce road travel.
• There have been several packaging changes made to improve the environmental performance of products including:
• All purchased cardboard packaging is fully recyclable and FSC sourced with high recycled content.
• Introduced paper gummed tape in place of polypropylene, saving over 600km of single-use plastic tape each year.
• Reduced the use of plastic packaging formats and switched to recycled materials.

The ISO 14001 Environmental Management System will continually monitor and improve our environmental performance, from sourcing to supply, in order to ensure best industrial practice and compliance with all relevant legislation.

KPIs have been put in place by the business and are regularly reviewed to ensure we keep on improving.