CASE STUDY
of over 2,000 domestic and commercial products. Carbon Trust research reports that 66% of the UK population are more likely to buy products and services with a low carbon footprint.** Chris Harrop continues: “This is a great continuation of a very ambitious carbon reduction programme for Marshalls. When we started working with the Carbon Trust three years ago, we wanted to work with a reputable partner and we knew we were making a big commitment. But there’s no point in only carbon labelling one or two products. This is about providing information and a choice of products for our customers to compare.”
As a landscaping specialist, product development has also been high on Marshalls’ sustainability agenda. Over recent years, the company has developed
THE KEY TO SUSTAINABILITY E
very organisation has their version of what sustainable business means to them. In essence, it’s about operating a successful and profitable
business whilst minimising impact on the environment and looking after the people and communities the company works with in the UK and overseas. A balancing act between economic, social and environmental impacts.
SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MODEL For hard landscaping specialist Marshalls, the key to sustainability is tailoring impact management to the organisation. The way Marshalls balances the economic, social and environmental aspects of the business relies on its Sustainable Business Model – a framework which encompasses integrated management systems, membership to the
United Nations Global Compact and British Standards accreditation. Chris Harrop is Group Marketing Director at Marshalls. He says: “Sustainability for Marshalls is based on our sustainable business model – we pick two projects per area of the model and make sure we do those really well. We also make sure our work is externally verified by trusted organisations like British Standards and the Carbon Trust. On a day to day basis, it’s very much about minimising our impact, maintaining safety levels, developing new products and giving customers what they need to make an informed choice.” According to Populus, 73% of the population are very or fairly concerned about the environment. More importantly for a landscaping company, those with the greatest interest in/enjoyment of gardening are most concerned about the environment *. With consumers more conscious than ever about the effect they’re personally having on climate change and the future of the planet, there is a growing need for companies like Marshalls to give their customers the information they need to make their buying choices.
MARSHALLS – A CASE STUDY In 2009, Marshalls committed to reduce carbon emissions by 80% by 2020, in line with Government targets. As part of this commitment, Marshalls worked with the Carbon Trust’s Carbon Labelling Company to develop the carbon footprints
32| SUSTAINABLE FM | JUNE 2010
a range of paving products which has reduced the CO2
embodiment of its
overall Concrete Block Paving portfolio by up to 39%. More recently, Marshalls launched Noxer Priora paving which has been specially formulated to help improve air quality and reduce the risk of pollutants, particularly nitrogen oxides (NOx) which can increase the risk of respiratory disease.
Chris Harrop says: “Marshalls isn’t about developing one or two eco-friendly products. Our aim is to give our customers the products that fit with their lifestyles and takes their concerns into consideration. With carbon labelling, the aim is to reduce our carbon impact on all labelled products. For driveways, we have a range of paving solutions that will cope with the need to reduce the volume of water running from driveways directly into urban drains which has been a real problem over recent years. We look at the issues affecting our customers and we develop good quality products that deliver solutions.”
EXTERNAL VERIFICATION Part of a sustainable business model also means looking at external verification to ensure data and sustainability claims are backed up by reputable third parties in a bid to avoid greenwash – the practice of promoting environmentally friendly programmes to deflect attention from an organisation’s environmentally unfriendly or less savoury activities(
Dictionary.com). Many companies can be found to set their
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