5 things we did to make our workshop greener

We are always looking for new ways to make our workshop a little greener and more sustainable. Why? Because it’s not only good for the environment (and future generations) but great for our bottom line as well.

So, however big or small your workshop, here are 5 things anyone can do to make their workshop a little greener.

1. Switch to a green energy supplier

One of the easiest thing we did was to switch over to a green energy provider. Many electricity companies will proclaim to be green, but there is only one that I know of which actually lives up to this claim by self-generating and supplying 100% renewable energy. Ecotricity (and no we are not getting paid to promote them) are Britain’s greenest energy supplier, and it is super easy to switch over to them.

2. Buy local, buy sustainable

Whenever possible, we try to buy materials locally (reducing delivery emissions and cost) and responsibly. A good example of this is with our main raw material – wood. We will always try and buy wood from our local timber yard and make sure it has been FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified. FSC certified means it has been harvested from forests that ware responsibly managed, socially beneficial and environmentally conscious. 

3. Get creative with your offcuts

Despite doing everything possible to reduce waste from our work, we will always produce quite a lot of wooden offcuts that can often seem useless. But as the old adage goes – one man’s waste is another man’s treasure – we have often found that someone can make use of our offcuts, no matter how small or oddly shaped they are. So why not post your offcuts on local social media pages or, you can get even more creative and developed your own range of offcut furniture.

4. Re-use packaging

We haven’t had to buy packing materials for quite a while now and there are two reasons for that. The first is because we keep all of the packaging that we have received from our suppliers and re-used it to package our smaller orders. For the much bigger items that we are transporting or delivering, we wrap them up in removal blankets (made from recycled fabric) which can be used over and over.

5. Recycle anything that’s left

Lastly, anything we cannot reuse within our own workshop or community, we try and make sure it’s not going to landfill, but getting recycled instead. So, our last tip, is to check if your waste supplier recycles your waste or not, and if they don’t, switch to someone that does. Our suppliers (CSH Environmental) have a “zero to landfill” target and their new state of the art facility diverts 90% of waste away from landfill at present.

We know that there is loads more we can still do to reduce the environmental impact of our workshop – a few areas we are still looking into are, greener options for paint, how to better use our sawdust and options for workshop heating that won’t cost the world, literally.

Any more ideas, tips and tricks always welcome!