We advocate a policy of reduce and reuse, where appropriate. By this we mean that in many circumstances, use of plant-based disposables can drive a truly circular economy (where waste can be effectively managed), turning the ideal mix of packaging and food waste back to natural nutrients. Other examples include where glass can’t be used in beach or festival settings for fear of breakage, and neither can plastic (in the case of beaches) because sand impacts the efficiency of dishwashers.
In the meantime, if we can help customers switch away from oil-based plastic packaging (especially unrecyclable polystyrene), by making it easier to buy, at affordable prices, from one secure website, then we believe we are helping in the transition away from non-renewable, unsustainable, oil-based plastic packaging (in fact, over 1 tonne every month).
Our offices are home based, which means no commute, no congestion, no pollution, improved efficiency and mental health. Our homes are on renewable energy tariffs and the UK renewable energy mix will continue to grow from 40% of the current mix. As and when our light bulbs go pop, we replace them with low energy LEDs. With an average house EPC rating of D, we have made subsequent improvements since.
The website is hosted by Ionos (keep updated here www.ionos.co.uk/environment), we also use Amazon Web Services (aws.amazon.com/sustainability) and Google Cloud (cloud.google.com/sustainability). In 2022 we decided to ditch Barclays Bank for a more ethical provider, Starling Bank.
As a family, we love nature and animals and have actively reduced the amount of meat and dairy in our family diet. We holiday here in the UK as much as possible and walk/cycle as much as we can.
Adrian is a Trustee for the Boston Spa, Wetherby and Villages Community Green Group (bostongreengroup.co.uk), helping to improve local biodiversity, encourage more active travel, reduce waste, improve recycling and reduce our overall carbon emissions within our communities. He is also very active on the Wetherby Town Council Climate Emergency Committee and is training to be Carbon Literate, to continue to amplify our voices with regard to the climate emergency.
We continue to work with our supply chain, who each themselves have Environmental and ESG Policies. We’ve asked them that their products all come from sustainable, FSc approved sources, they don’t air freight products (they ship them, which has a much, much smaller footprint), they use a renewable energy provider, support responsible travel and working from home where appropriate for office teams, use carbon conscious waste management and recycling partners, reuse as much as possible and offset what they can’t reduce. We also work with innovative partners (such as BioVale), developing new and exciting, low carbon products.
We also use a 3rd party warehouse partner, and national UK carriers FDL and DPD. These carriers use route optimisation software to ensure they minimise the impact of their fleet on the environment. Furthermore, DPD has ambitious plans with regard to its fleet and local deliveries (for current status read more at green.dpd.co.uk). Our warehouse partner does not print dispatch notes for any order, helping to cut down on unnecessary waste. They also reuse plastic packaging fill to protect stock in delivery and reduce damage in transit and potential returns. We continue to support them on their net zero journey.
Net zero is an ambitious, but necessary undertaking. This is only the beginning. We are all on the same sustainability journey. Technology, capability and legislation are rapidly changing in this space, driving decarbonisation, so we’ll review and update this statement annually. And when we can’t reduce or reuse, we’ll explore responsible offsetting to ensure we achieve net zero by 2030 (our Race to Net Zero commitment)