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. Here's what we've done.

Our fuel-efficient fleet

At London Stone we see the need for a two-strand approach to tackling this issue. First, with information; secondly, by changing the way we operate in response to this information.

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. You'll find data on CO2 emissions in the dropdown menus 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.

Improvements

Stock clearance sale for damaged items

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.