 |
Shop by Brand |
 |
|
|
Departments |
|
|
|
Company Info |
|
|
|
| Environmental Policy |
 |
|
|
Eco-Essentials put the environment at the heart of its operations because we are deeply concerned by the loss of habitat, depletion and wastage of precious natural resources, climate change, pollution and the general negative effects caused by Man which is affecting life on earth. Our Blue Planet simply cannot continue to support life if humans persist in this materialistic and wasteful madness.
At Eco-Essentials, we analyze all our activities for their environmental impact and we promote sustainable living practices. Our environmental policy will help to reduce carbon emissions, pollution and waste, protecting our planet for future generations.
Shopping at Eco-Essentials and using our Products for Sustainable Living will help you to minimise your environmental impact too...and if you're not already doing what we do, then why not adopt some of our practices below to help protect the planet from climate change?
Waste Minimisation
We have adopted the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle philosophy for our waste.
We try to minimise our waste wherever possible by choosing products that have minimum packaging which is reusable, biodegradable or recyclable.
We do not agree with the use of disposable items and prefer reusable/ refillable items.
We do not agree with the use of plastic carrier bags. We shop with a "bag for life" and decline plastic carrier bags in shops.
We opt for paperless billing where possible.
We only print documents when absolutely necessary and our clever canon printer can print on both sides of the paper.
We have reduced our junk mail by registering with the Mailing Preference Scheme and we opt out of receiving marketing information from companies we deal with. We have also registered to opt out of Royal Mails Door to Door Scheme - I was shocked to hear from the postman that he receives £1200.00 per annum to deliver leaflets (Junk Mail) from companies. He did not seem to understand that we all pay for waste disposal in our council tax.
We sort all our waste:
We compost all suitable waste. We've just built a third composter out of old wooden pallets.
The Green Cone munches up all our cooked food waste.
We reuse as much waste as possible.
We recycle used batteries and store light bulbs which could be recycled but there aren't the facilities available here.
We store our cooking oils to prevent them from going down the sink and take them to the household recycling centre. We considered making biodiesel with our waste oils but it would probably stink like a chip shop so that's out due to the sensitive nose. Mass biodiesel production creates land usage issues causing food shortages and increasing food prices - it's not the answer to replace crude oil and can seriously affect the environment.
We are members of Aberdeen Freecycle - a group where we can give away our unwanted items or take other peoples items to prevent them from being landfilled.
We donate unwanted items to charity so that someone else can use them.
We collect used stamps for charity. Recently Freecycled to a member collecting for Guide Dogs for the Blind.
Sadly we only get a monthly paper collection here but we store all our plastic bottles, tins, tetra pak, glass etc and take it to the recycling centre when we have a car load.
Our waste minimisation policy ensures that only a tiny amount of rubbish goes to landfill.
Packaging of Orders
We try to keep the packing we use for postal orders to a minimum whilst protecting the products and have invented ingenious ways of folding over boxes to reduce the void fill required.
We re-use anything we have to hand - stock boxes, scrunched up sticky label backing, brown paper, amazon boxes, polystyrene cheese puff things, biodegradable cheese puffs which can be dissolved in water but we hope you re-use or Freecycle them.
We have never purchased plastic packaging but we do reuse plastic packaging.
All our bubblewrap is reused, we collect it from the fruit department of a supermarket or from local people to prevent it going to landfill.
All our card wrapping is lovingly cut by hand from used boxes.
We order custom made boxes of various sizes and continually adjust the sizes to fit our needs. We find it quite disgusting if a company sends a tiny item in a huge box, it's a disgrace.
We sometimes reuse envelopes. We used to receive used envelopes from locals but due to my sensitive nose, the paper absorbed various scents from households and were making me ill. Also, we were sticking on so many labels to cover up old addresses it just didn't work out.
Any packaging we purchase is to be paper-based with the intention of it being reused, composted or recycled.
Our envelopes do not contain windows because the plastic windows cannot always be recycled.
Our invoices are printed on A5 paper to conserve resources and we use either FSC certified or Chlorine-Free 50% recyled paper.
We use biodegradable cellotape on the majority of our orders although we usually end up with brown tape from the box manufacturer and so we feel obliged to use it.
We do not routinely give away bags with our products.
We promote the reuse of bags wherever possible and we may reuse bags from other shops which are not biodegradable but can be reused or recycled.
We reuse packaging wherever possible but we try as much as possible to use scent free packaging when people purchase unscented goods.
Product Packaging
We make it a priority to choose products where the packaging is kept to a minimum and can be reused, composted or recycled.
Plastic bottles should be made of one of the plastics that are recyclable in the UK (i.e. HDPE or PET).
Energy Efficiency
We use energy-efficient light bulbs (CFL's) which are Energy Saving Trust (EST) approved.
We switch off lights when we leave the room.
Electrical appliances which are not in use are switched off at the socket and are never left on standby.
All battery-operated equipment is fitted with Ni-MH rechargeable batteries where possible.
When we boil the kettle we only heat enough water for our needs.
Our hot water tank is fitted with an insulating jacket.
We had our loft insulation topped up with Knauff Insulation with Ecose Technology to about 300mm. This stuff is fab -no formaldehyde or off-gassing from polymer glue as it uses sugar binding stickiness instead. Much better for indoor air quality and apart from the first few days there is no odour or indoor pollution.
We changed our outdoor lighting to movement sensor activation lights so there is little light pollution or energy wastage.
Water Efficiency
The old toilet cistern is fitted with a water saving device (Hippo the Water Saver) saving a third of the water used for each flush.
Dripping taps are fixed immediately.
Taps are not left to run unnecessarily.
All sinks are fitted with plugs.
Locality of Items
We try to find local suppliers wherever possible.
We try to use goods which are manufactured in the UK wherever possible.
It is impossible to only stock UK made products and we like to support small businesses that benefit the environment.
Pollution
We use plant based and biodegradable cleaning products which do not harm the environment.
We support the REACH initiative because we believe that many chemicals found in household items are harmful to health.
We believe that there are safer alternatives and that these alternatives should be used at all times.
We prefer organic farming methods.
Ethical issues
None of the products we stock are tested on animals, nor are the ingredients.
We do not agree with Nuclear Power.
We use an ethical bank because we do not want to support activities such as the weapons trade, nuclear initiatives, animal testing, genetic modification, the chemicals trade, or the tobacco trade for example.
Transport
Eco-Essentials do not use any vehicles to travel to work. Travelling is done on foot and the local Post Office is close by and it's good exercise. Usually we'll load up the old buggy with parcels when we can't carry them all. Again, this reduces the environmental footprint of Eco-Essentials.
The Future
The owners of Eco-Essentials are trying to be more self-sufficient. We are learning how to grow vegetables and inherited fruit trees and bushes and we use organic methods as much as possible. We just planted green manure for the first time and spread volcanic rockdust over the veg patch to remineralise the soil so we're hoping for huge potatoes next year. It's fun learning how to preserve the glut. The oven dried tomatoes were amazing and the home made plum wine went down pretty well too! We planted a meadow for the insects and birds but the seeds didn't all germinate so the weeds took over again. Oh well - better luck next year. We'll install a few more water butt's over winter. We are looking into various options for becoming more self-sufficient including solar panels, wind turbines, and grey water recycling but that all costs big bucks and payback is poor. Let's concentrate on the lifestyle first and foremost!.
|
|
|
|
|
|
