ENVIRONMENTAL UPDATE 2020
At Beeswift we set ourselves environmental objectives. We do this because we believe it is the right thing to do, both morally and ethically as a business. We are constantly reviewing our processes to create a positive effect on the environment in which we live in.
Beeswift manufacture PPE, workwear, and medical supplies. In order to distribute and sell our safety products we have to use raw materials such as paper and cardboard. In distributing our products, we leave a carbon footprint, such as burning hydrocarbons when we transport products by air, sea, and land. We try to minimise this by reducing air freight, and when we transport our products, we aim to use fully loaded lorries and not partially loaded lorries.
In March 2021, we moved to purpose-built premises, based in Birmingham. Within the UK this move allowed us to reduce the number of warehouses to just one main HQ. This means all of our stock is at one location, which in turn reduces our transport requirements, and therefore our carbon footprint.
Besides doing the "right thing" we also have our environmental business practices, policies, and procedures, which are checked and audited by an external third party. This standard is called ISO 14001, and Beeswift have held this standard for over 10 years.
Legally, companies do not have to monitor, reduce, or recycle their waste (unless they have a turn over of £2 million pounds or deal with more than 50 tonnes of packaging) according to the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations Act (2007). We made the decision many years ago that we wanted to monitor, reduce, and recycle our waste before we were obligated to do so.
One of our objectives for 2020 was to increase the amount of dry mixed recycling (DMR) waste, which is the established system of recycling collection across the UK. DMR involves placing clean dry recyclables, such as paper, cardboard, cans, and plastic, into one recycling container, before being picked up and separated at a recycling plant.
By February 2021, we aimed to recycle 12 tonnes of DMR waste. We managed to recycle 13.9 tonnes in total, which is the equivalent to the average weight of 10 cars. Another objective was to increase the amount of cardboard waste bailed by at least 10%, by March 2021. Our target was 11 tonnes, but we reached a total of 14.47 tonnes.
We have increased the amount of general waste recycled by January 2021 to a higher rate of 38.8%, exceeding our target of 35%. Overall, we are pleased with the objectives that have been met and hope to make further progress in 2021, achieving our targeted objectives to reduce our environmental impact. We want to be "greener" and reduce our footprint on the environment further. We are constantly looking at how we can reduce the raw materials that we consume and if we cannot reduce, then we aim to recycle them.
We complete environmental summaries annually, meaning our next summary will be in January 2021. If you would like any more information regarding our environmental policies, you can find this information here: http://www.beeswift.co.uk/web/uk/page?page=environment
