As humans, we have an immense impact on the environment, and the time for talking about this is over. It is time for action. We have a responsibility as business owners to do what we can to reduce our carbon footprint. And by doing this, we also help our customers to reduce theirs. At London Stone we see the need for a two-strand approach to tackling this issue. Firstly, there is information; secondly there is changing the way we operate in response to this information. Read more about this.

Our fuel-efficient fleet

Information

Last year we committed to evaluating the carbon footprints of our product ranges. We have made significant progress, with data mapped for 50% of our products. We started the process with our fastest-moving lines. This included our Italian porcelain, Indian sandstone, and Indian limestone ranges.

We have made the decision to display the information that we received on these products on our website. When browsing, our customers will soon be able to view the carbon data for many items. This will help you make informed choices and design the garden you want, with those priorities in mind.

This information will also give us a benchmark against which to further drive down emissions in the future. We can review this data annually and directly compare to see if the steps we have taken are having the desired results.

Charging points for electric vehicles across our sites

Improvements

We're making lots of small changes to the way we work to reduce our impact on the environment where we can. Here are some we have implemented this year.

  • We now sell damaged or defective products at discounted prices at our Trade Counter. Previously these products would have been disposed of by other means, with the result that they often ended up in landfill.
  • As a company we operate according to the principles and values of LEAN. A core objective of LEAN is to eliminate waste and to recognise the importance of people, both customers and team. The objective is to maximise flow of value to customer, through eliminating waste and improving our processes. The team evaluates our processes daily to give better value. This elimination of waste is what feeds back into our environmental improvement plan.
  • The disposal of waste timber from packaging is now done onsite. We shred the timber before disposal, which significantly reduces the number of vehicles required for movement of the waste. Previously this waste would have ended up in a skip. However, once recycled, the timber is now used as biomass fuel.
  • As a company we are encouraging the leasing of electric vehicles by staff and adding charging points at our sites, as well as at our showrooms for customers to use. Additionally, 27 of the 30 forklift trucks across our sites now run on electricity, as opposed to diesel.
  • Finally, our fleet is fuel-efficient with Euro 6 Emissions Standard engines. These are less harmful to the environment and have a lower CO2 output compared to an older fleet.
Stock clearance sale for damaged items

Pledges

This is just the start of our journey and there is lots more to do.

We will be looking to complete the carbon footprint mapping for the remainder of our products and hope to do so by end of year. We will also complete the mapping of our UK operations. Again, this will give us a benchmark to review each year to confirm we are driving down emissions.

When sourcing new products, we will also be looking at their environmental impact and carbon footprint, ensuring that they are in line with our sustainability values. New products will be assessed before bringing them on board. If we feel that the environmental impact is outside what we deem to be acceptable, we will seek alternative suppliers or see what can be done to improve the carbon footprint.

Check back and see how we are getting on with our carbon emissions journey.