Our mission as a business is to make ecommerce as eco-friendly as possible. We want to lead by example so we’ve made a lot of changes, on both a small and large scale, in different aspects of our own operation to ensure our environmental impact, and the impact of our industry as a whole is as low as possible.
We’ll split this into three key sections: what we’ve done to our office and warehouse, what changes we’ve made to our despatch process, and what we’re doing to help businesses.
Changes We’ve Made To Our Offices and Warehouse:
We realised that it didn’t matter how eco friendly the rest of our operation was if our building was counteracting all of our hard work and letting us down. So, here’s what we’ve done:
- Installed solar panels – We’ve installed solar panels on the roof of our office and warehouse building which powers our hot water.
- Motion sensor office lighting – As our office is open plan, we didn’t want to waste electricity by lighting areas of the room which aren’t occupied or frequently used, so we’ve had motion sensors installed to detect when lights do and don’t need to be on.
- Natural/lumen sensor lighting in warehouse – We have a translucent ceiling in parts of the warehouse which allows us to use natural lighting for the most part. We had a lumen sensor fitted which turns on lights in occupied areas if the light falls below a certain level so we only use what we really need.
- A+ EPC rating – Our new build office and warehouse has an A+ EPC rating because of its excellent insulation, and all of the above mentioned factors.
- Bike racks & cycle to work scheme – With the average car emitting 4.6 tons of carbon dioxide a year, we wanted to encourage staff to commute to the office in an eco-friendly way, so we’ve had bike racks installed and are members of the cycle2work scheme.
And we didn’t stop there.
Changes We’ve Made To Our Despatch Process:
When you’re ordering your eco-friendly ecommerce essentials, the last thing you want is for them to arrive in eco-unfriendly packaging. We’ve been working really hard on this, and we’re now incredibly proud to say that we’ve eliminated single use plastics from our despatch process, and are only using recyclable packaging to send out your orders. This is what we changed:
- Use cardboard boxes instead of shrink wrap – To ensure your products together and ensure they arrive in excellent condition, we used to shrink wrap and strap products together so they stood a good chance whilst in transit. We made the decision to remove single use plastics from our despatch operation, so Instead of wrapping products in plastic, we instead pack orders into a sustainably sourced cardboard box as they can easily be recycled and biodegraded.
- Replaced plastic packing tape with gummed paper tape on all orders -When we started using cardboard boxes, we were using standard packing tape to seal them. But, not only can the standard plastic packing tape not be recycled, it also could affect the recyclability of the cardboard box itself. For obvious reasons we wanted to change this, so we’ve made the swap to gummed paper tape which can be recycled and biodegraded along with the cardboard box so there’s no need to separate them, and it also gives a more secure seal, so items are safer whilst in transit; win-win!
- Swapped to plastic free document wallets – Document enclosed wallets are a solid and prominent feature in ecommerce despatch processes; allowing recipients to find out what’s inside the package without opening it whilst keeping the important documents safe, secure, and in an easy-to-find place. They’re absolutely awesome, but they’re made from plastic. Having changed to cardboard boxes and paper packing tape, it didn’t sit right with us to keep using original document enclosed wallets, so we’ve sourced a completely plastic free alternative instead. It’s made from glassine paper, so it still offers all of the benefits we know and love from the plastic version, but with no plastic used at all.
- Give preference to carbon neutral couriers – We want to get your goods to you in the most reliable, economical and eco friendly way possible which is why we’ve chosen DPD as our main courier partner. Not only do they offer great service, but they offset all of the carbon from their deliveries, and are increasing the amount of electric vehicles they’re using to make deliveries too. With a government target of the UK being net zero by 2050, and our own personal target of being net zero by 2022, one of our main sources of carbon emissions is covered already as DPD are helping us achieve this.
What We’ve Done To Help Businesses Be Eco-friendly:
To make ecommerce as eco friendly as possible, we know a lot of the responsibility falls on the packaging that businesses use. Therefore as a packaging supplier, we’ve focused the majority of our attention on developing new features, sourcing the latest sustainable products and discontinuing products which do more harm than good. Here’s just a few of the things we’ve done:
- Discontinued biodegradable bubble wrap – We introduced biodegradable bubble wrap to our range a year or so ago, as we, like thousands of others, believed that oxo-degradable plastic was the packaging solution that operations were crying out for. However, we uncovered the ugly truth behind oxo degradable plastic and discovered it’s even worse for the planet than normal plastics, as it breaks down into millions of tiny pieces called microplastics, which can’t be recycled and ends up killing marine life. As soon as we found this out, we immediately discontinued the line and instead are providing sustainable cardboard alternatives.
- Introduced eco scores for all products – Knowledge is power which is why we want to give those in need of packaging absolutely everything they could need to make informed decisions on their ecommerce essentials, and take into account how eco friendly their choices are. As such, we created the Eco Score, which rates all of our products on a scale of 1 to 5 depending on how eco-friendly the product is. It’s based on whether a product is recyclable, biodegradable, plastic free, sustainably sourced, and carbon neutral. The higher the score, the better for the planet the packaging product is. Customers can sort all of our products by their Eco Score rating too, so they can easily see how sustainable their packaging materials are.
- Made it even easier to find and shop eco friendly products – As well as introducing the Eco Score for all products, we’ve made it even easier for businesses to find eco friendly packaging. We allow users to shop by the most important eco credentials for them, and by eco friendly product category, to help them find exactly what they’re looking for. And for those who aren’t quite sure what product they’re looking for, we’ve created a dedicated section of our help and advice centre for everything they need to know about eco friendly packaging.
- Created Priory Elements – We recognise and understand we have a huge responsibility as a packaging supplier to ensure we provide businesses with eco friendly products, particularly in areas where the only packaging options have heavily relied on plastic based solutions, so we created PrioryElements. PrioryElements are our own ranges of packaging products; all of them minimise the use of new materials, prevent unbiodegradable waste by-products, and can be fully recycled. We’re printing these products with all of their eco credentials too so recipients can see exactly how eco friendly they are, and can clearly tell what to do with them next. Each of the products in the different PrioryElements ranges are printed with a different endangered animal species to raise awareness for the threatened creatures, and act as our sizes too so they’re at the front of minds and customer conversations too. Our ranges so far include our completely paper padded envelopes, paper mailing bags to replace polythene mailers, and paper packing tape in place of standard plastic tapes. We’re also partnering with the charity organisation 1% For The Planet, and will be donating 1% of the sales of PrioryElements products to them to distribute to environmental charities such as Marine Conservation Society and The Ocean CleanUp.
This is by no means the end of our journey and our commitment to making ecommerce as eco friendly as possible, it’s really just the start. We’re determined and confident that we will reduce not just our impact, but the impact our entire industry has on the environment. The most important thing we’ve learnt is that no one positive change is too small and it inspires other larger scale changes to the way our business operates.
