Today is Earth Day so I thought i would talk a bit about our Environmental policy. As a small local independent business we all really feel strongly about doing our bit for the environment. At the start of last year we all sat down and talked through the ideas we had to make our little shop be a green as it possibly could be. We created a company plan to guide us, which also helps to remind us about recycling (usually our soup cans from lunch time!) and acts as a way to keep us focused. Some of the changes we wanted to make were easy to implement like making sure we were recycling our glass bottles, tin cans, paper and cardboard. Other ideas like switching all our lighting over to LED took a little longer as there is a cost implication to doing something like that. However we did manage it and now all our lights are LED and we have a sensor that turns the lights out when there is no one in that part of the shop.
Being a green company isn’t just about recycling though, we felt it went further in terms of the products we stock. We wanted to look at having some environmentally friendly products, which was hard as we didn’t want to change the product ranges we sold or the direction of the shop. We simply couldn’t get away from the fact that a majority of the brands we work with manufacture overseas, we could however look at the products that we source from our suppliers and our suppliers environmental policies. One of the suggestions we had around this was that we should try to stock at least one item from each supplier that would encourage the user to be more eco- friendly, so something as simple as a bag for life, or a reusable travel cup are examples of these types of products we sell.
There is of course the other end of the spectrum in terms of product – we work with a number of suppliers who manufacture here in the UK, which reduces the carbon foot print of these ranges. Wax Lyrical in the lakes create reed diffusers that are created with a non alcohol blend which gives a better fragrance and reduces further their carbon foot print. Traditional products such as soap bars are now recognised as better for the environment – a liquid soap has 10 x the carbon footprint of a bar of soap. (Thanks to https://insteading.com/blog/bar-soap-better-liquid-soap/ for the info on this)
We are by no means as green as we can be, and there is still so much that the retail industry can do to positively impact the environment. We are taking steps on our Eco journey and are trying to make a difference where and when we realistically can. We are just one small shop, but we hope that we can move forwards with our plans to be more green.. one step and a time:) You can keep up to date with our progress on our environmental page: https://magpiesnest.co.uk/community-environment/
If you have any ideas that you think we could try to help us become more green – please drop me a line info@magpiesnest.co.uk