Sponsored by
Greening Celtic Sheepskin
I
n March 2010, Celtic Sheepskin, a manufacturer of sheepskin footwear and a cataloguer of natural clothing, footwear and homewares, announced it had achieved ISO 14001 accreditation, fortifying
its commitment to minimising its carbon footprint. And its green credentials don’t stop there. General manager, Karl Headleand, talks to Catalogue e-business about the £6.9 million company’s carbon neutral delivery initiative and its waste recycling projects.
Q. How long did the ISO 14001 process take, and how long until you achieved a return on investment? A. We began the process at the end of August 2009 and completed it the following March. ISO 14001 is principally a recognised set of rules we use to manage the environmental aspects associated with our business to enable us to reduce our environmental footprint on society. Put simply, we review our business and produce a list of issues that can or do have a significant impact on the environment; we then check for relevant legislation to ensure compliance and look at ways to reduce the impact of those aspects. The certification lasts for 12 months and has to be externally audited on an annual basis. It’s difficult to measure the ROI as a
direct result of implementing 14001, but if we are successful in reducing our waste-to- landfill by 10 percent within the targeted 12 months, then that alone would cover the cost of the ISO within three years. More importantly, there are the intangible benefits—happier staff who are assured that we’re doing our best to make as little impact as possible and of course, increased custom from those wanting to buy from an ethically minded company.
Q. What was the biggest challenge in achieving this standard? A. We were already reasonably eco- friendly before the ISO, so it was all about ensuring we implemented the correct procedures to comply with the standard. Getting to grips with the idea of being regimented and formal in checking the procedures was perhaps the biggest aspect of this. We’re a
laid-back company, so making that jump from walking around the warehouse and conducting informal chats to deal with incorrect recycling, to instead completing a set of noncompliance reports was alien at first, but we adapted quickly.
Q. What does having the ISO 14001 accreditation mean to Celtic Sheepskin? A. It’s a great achievement and something we can all be proud of. It justifies and cements the choices we’ve made to try and reduce our impact on the environment—from packaging to finding alternative uses for waste that would otherwise go to landfill.
Q. We’ve heard of your carbon- neutral delivery, what’s this? This is a service offered by Parcelforce. It is simply a case of paying extra to invest in The Woodland Trust, which carries out carbon sequestration projects—removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Unfortunately it’s not currently viable to completely eliminate carbon emissions for our couriers, but this is certainly a step in the right direction.
Q. What else are you doing to become more eco-friendly? This year’s main objective is to reduce our waste-to-landfill by 10 percent. We have two main waste streams— sheepskin and rubber off-cuts—and we are aiming to reduce both. To do
this we will not only continue to use as much of the sheepskin—used in our footwear—as possible, but we will also maintain the craft shop on our website
that sells bags of the off-cuts as well as giving some away to craft workshops and schools. Using help from Business Link South West, we’re currently in the process of testing our rubber for
suitability as a material to use in vacuum moulding and making into various products. It will be a great project if it is successful because it will halve our waste- to-landfill, and turn our waste stream
into a revenue stream—doubling the benefit! What’s more, we have recently
transferred onto a green energy tariff, meaning that for every unit of electricity we use, our energy supplier will match it
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40