Putting the green into bottlegreen
The environment is extremely important to us and at bottlegreen we pride ourselves on working in the most environmentally friendly and energy efficient way possible. We are continually looking for ways to improve our green credentials and so far we have taken the following measures:
Production Facility
To make our production factory as eco friendly as possible we have designed a unique water recovery system, which enables us to use recycled water to rinse and sterilise our bottles before we use them. This has helped reduce our water consumption by 5 million litres per year!
What’s more, all of our electricity is sourced from an eco friendly 100% renewable source. All factory machines use high efficiency variable speed motors, resulting in more than 25% reduction in electricity consumption.
Recycling
We don’t like to waste materials at bottlegreen, so any faulty or used bottle caps, along with any cardboard waste, plastic wrap, glass, steel drums and scrap paper are sent for recycling. We also return all of our wooden pallets to our suppliers so they can be re-used again. Our plastic barrels are sold to local residents as garden water butts, with all the money being donated to our local charity, Winston’s Wish.
Suppliers
As a local food producer we try, where possible, to source as many of our products and ingredients locally to help reduce food miles. The water we use to blend our cordials and presses is drawn from our own borehole, and the elderflowers that we use to make our award winning cordials are supplied, as much as possible, from local farms in Gloucester and Kent. In addition, all of bottlegreen’s glass bottles are made in the UK, resulting in a saving of 260,000 road miles per year.
Office
We love to turn things off when we are not using them, so our entire central heating system (in the factory and main office) is controlled by a thermostat and time clock, which has helped to reduce bills by over 60%. All non-essential equipment is also switched off over night / weekend.
Distribution
As our products are distributed across the UK we aim to reduce unnecessary carbon emissions and road miles where possible. By switching to a local distribution company we have saved over 30,000 road miles this year, and all of our distribution lorries now run on a 20% bio diesel mix, helping to reduce the amount of fossil fuel consumption and lower our carbon footprint. What’s more we also ensure that our lorries are carrying maximum capacity whenever possible to reduce our delivery numbers.
These are just a few things that we are doing to help do our bit for the environment.
See www.recyclenow.com / www.ecotricity.co.uk or
www.direct.gov.uk/en/Environmentandgreenerliving on how you can help to do yours.