Over the past five years, we have taken action across the organisation and engrained environmental considerations in all business decisions and constantly review and allocate resources to make improvements to what we do.
We have worked hard to eliminate plastics from our packaging processes and other areas of the business where we can with suppliers and customers, some key highlights of what has been achieved are:
1. Each door set is packed in a tight fit cardboard box, sourced locally from our neighbours at Atlas Packaging
2. Any requirement for void fillers are made from biodegradable corn
3. Our handles are fixed together using a bespoke wooden widget, machined to the exact dimensions - this used to be made from plastic
4. Our handles are enclosed in protective cloth bags
5. Screws and fixings for each set come in a paper bag which again was switched from plastic
6. We trialed the use of paper based tapes but due to the weight of our product have not yet found a suitably strong enough replacement
7. We reuse packaging to and from some key suppliers
8. We buy packaging material that is FSC approved and from recycled sources where possible
9. We work with local supplies to bring in deliveries plastic free such as milk for our canteen in glass bottles, toilet roll supplied in paper and fruit deliveries supplied plastic free.
In 2019, we joined the 1% for the planet initiative and chose among others to support Plastic Free North Devon as one of our non-profit partners. Our involvement with them aligned well with a review we were already undertaking with some of the materials we were using within the business and in particular, gave more emphasis and justification to our plans to remove as much plastic from our operations as possible.
Sustainability is part of the Turnstyle DNA and we ensure that we are continually responsible for minimising our waste output and reducing our carbon footprint. We have followed this project to satisfy our own principles and conscience in how business is being carried out. In doing so, however, there has been a positive effect on our ability to increase marketing by highlighting our credentials which will naturally make our brand more appealing to like-minded people and businesses who themselves share our principles or have other external pressures to improve their operations.
In many cases the replacements we have made have come at an extra cost financially, but we believe this is a good investment for the longevity of the business and of course for the environment.
Turnstyle Designs is a proud member of the North Devon UNESCO Biosphere. The scheme allows businesses to show commitment toward conservation, local development, and awareness-raising for North Devon through donations. As a company, we pledge to be part of a community helping nature to thrive. We have continued our support for 1% for the planet and Plastic Free North Devon in again their efforts to educate a wider audience and make continual improvements for our local community. All of the local and national charities that we choose to support all provide health, social and economic advantages to the wider community.
Find out more: https://www.turnstyledesigns.com/sustainability/
In our efforts to improve we do as ever rely on our hardworking employees and we hope that to both those involved in making the improvements and everyone else around seeing what we have implemented we have passed on a positive message which will encourage them to make changes of their own.
Our customer base is not local, and we export product all over the world to areas where we have no knowledge or visibility of what they do with their waste. We know the packaging materials we use will be discarded in some way and by replacing plastics have greatly increased the chances they will be recycled. If unfortunately, they end up in landfill we have used the most environmentally friendly material we can to limit the impact of waste.
We have achieved a great deal by taking our time to make changes to small elements at a time and now that we stand back we are proud to have removed all plastic from our own packaging processes. This could be improved further if our supply chain were to follow the same journey that we have been on although this is a much more difficult challenge. When reviewing new suppliers, we plan to make this a key part of the conversation and it will therefore become part of the selection process. In the same vain we hope to review with some of our existing suppliers areas where they can make improvements.
Find out more about Turnstyle Designs Ltd on their member profile page here
Member-created content 1 year ago | From members