Name: Coniston Stonecraft
Business Description: Locally quarried slate products from the English Lake District
Key issues addressed: Energy, packaging, company administration
“Becoming a certified Green Small Business enables us to be recognised for our efforts to do the right thing. It validates us in our customers eyes”
Name: Chroma Marketing
Business Description: Sustainable marketing services
Key issues addressed: Transport, energy, paper, company administration (banking, insurance etc).
“Becoming a certified Green Small Business aligns perfectly with my plans for being a sustainable business”
Name: Ventorq
Business Description: Creating and executing ecommerce solutions and digital marketing campaigns.
Key issues addressed: Client relationships (avoiding those involved in fossil fuel extraction), transport, energy, company administration.
“Primarily, the Green Small Business process provides us with a clear plan of action to improve the sustainability of the business. Having a live action plan means that you can continue to consider and improve on your efforts. The discussion with Tim raised issues I’d not thought of before and introduced resources that would have taken me time to find. Hopefully the certification will encourage other businesses and clients to consider their environmental impacts further and position Ventorq as a trustworthy and responsible business that doesn’t place profit above ethics..”
Name: Mossford Construction
Business Description: Do-it-all, Essex-based construction company.
Key issues addressed: energy use, water use, sourcing of materials, vehicle emissions, waste & recycling, advice to clients, banking & company pension scheme
“The Green Small Business process really helped me concentrate my mind on the essentials of documenting all the thoughts and processes that we currently do or would like to do in three clear documents. It made the whole thing much more straightforward than the big company options. It’s also good to have a third party look at what we do and give feedback and advice. Money well spent and look forward to continuing our association.”
Name: Frankly Delicious
Description: Making the world better one chocolate bar at a time
Date certified: 1 June 2020
Key issues addressed: Sourcing of ingredients, packaging, energy use, company administration.
Feedback: “The certification will provide a talking point and will back up the environmental values Frankly Delicious. No planet = no chocolate!”
Name: Rothay Manor – hotel and fine dining
Description: A beautiful, rural, English hotel that provides luxury accommodation and fine dining in a stunning setting.
Key issues addressed: Energy use, water consumption, waste management, company administration, customer transport emissions
Feedback: “Clear and concise actions so we know exactly how to make the right changes”
Name: Land and Sky Media
Description: A unique specialist production company, producing innovative documentary film, photography and remote location media.
Key issues addressed: Energy management, company administration, travel emissions, promotion of environmental causes
Feedback: “The whole process was really smooth and simple and we are delighted with the results. It was really reassuring to find that we are already doing many of the things we can to mitigate our environmental impact. To have an environmental policy drawn up for us and a clear EMS developed has saved us a lot of time and given us really achievable targets to work towards. Having a Green Small Business accreditation in place gives us increased credibility and allows us to show to clients and collaborators that we can deliver on our values.”
Name: Fly – MarTech Made Easy
Description: A specialist Marketing Technology Consultancy for Small Organisations.
Key issues addressed: Office energy use, printing, web hosting, emissions from vehicles, company administration.
Feedback: “I see this as a great first step for us, in baking sensible and meaningful environmental policy into the business. It also allows us to demonstrate to our clients, particularly our not-for-profit audience, that we do mean what we say. In turn, this is a win, win, win; good for us, good for the planet and good for the bottom line”
Name: Rubix Construction and Development
Description: A dynamic and forward-thinking construction company focusing on delivering high quality residential projects across South London.
Key issues addressed: Construction materials, site waste, emissions from vehicles, company administration.
Feedback: “Green Small Business has given us a clear and achievable plan on how to be more ‘green’. It is making us think more carefully about how we do things, and has given us a framework on how to make improvements. This will not only benefit the environment but also hopefully make the business more efficient and cost effective.”
Name: St Marks Stays
Description: Inspired Days & Bespoke Stays for pet-friendly, group accommodation in Cumbria
Key issues addressed: Energy use for lighting & heating, emissions from guests’ travel, waste & recycling.
Feedback: “The Green Small Business approach gives us a structure to work with and aim for, rather than feeling the task of being green feeling too big to achieve and beyond our finances. Our customers will appreciate the changes we are making by being able to show the certification and it will attract like minded collaborators into our business. It was a very straight forward process and we are so glad we invested in this.”
Name: right2work
Description: A Community Interest Company (CIC) offering a diverse range of work, learning and opportunities for people across Cumbria & Lancashire. With a dedicated staff team that work with over 200 people each year, they began more than two decades ago and over that time have supported over 2,000 people into training or work.
Key issues addressed: Energy use for lighting & heating, sourcing of ingredients, waste and recycling.
“A truly inspirational and deeply green organisation, demonstrating their commitment to go even more deeply green!”
Name: Shed 1 Gin Distillery
Description: Award-winning gin distillery on the edge of the English Lake District
Key issues addressed: Sourcing of ingredients; Packaging; Water & energy use; Company administration
“It was great to get some affirmation for our efforts up to this point. What we found useful was the extra research that Green Small Business did for us and pointing us in the right direction. I feel if I need some advice in the future, I can get in touch with them and discuss.”
Name: Chatham House – The Royal Institute of International Affairs
Business Description: World-leading policy institute with a mission to help governments and societies build a sustainably secure, prosperous and just world.
Key issues addressed: Vehicle emissions (including air travel), building energy use, hospitality & catering, influence.
“Our Green Small Business EMS allows us to more clearly demonstrate as an organisation that we adequately address the environmental impact that we have, help us formalise more clearly our environmental credentials as well as demonstrate to our members / stakeholders / suppliers that we are serious about this important area.”
Name: Amaze Property / Boathouse Design Studio
Business Description: Owners and operators of the stunning Boathouse Design Studio, a Grade II listed building right next to Teddington Lock Footbridge, London.
Key issues addressed: Energy use, waste, vehicle emissions
“Green Small Business provides us with an incentive to go greener and is a good promotional tool, setting us apart from other co-working spaces.”
Name: Abbey Office Solutions
Description: An office and business solutions provider, based in Totton and near Southampton, Hampshire, UK.
Key issues addressed: Energy use; Paper use; Office waste; Packaging; Vehicle emissions; Company Administration.
“We developed the EMS ourselves using the Green Small Business Making it Easy Pack. The pack was very clear and easy to use. We needed this to know where to start.
Green Small Business certification will show our customers that we care about our environmental impact and that we have been certified by a reputable company.
We were looking for a way to make us stand out from our competitors on the environmental side of things but found that the ISO14001 route too costly and time consuming. A lot of the detail was irrelevant to our size of business. Green Small Business has given us an ideal platform to develop our EMS system that is relevant to us. It was a quick and straightforward process and Green Small Business were a great help in advising me on some of the sections. I would definitely recommend Green Small Business.”
Business Name: Outerspace
Business Description: Creating stunning and meaningful landscape architecture. Creating spaces that balance the needs of people and biodiversity.
Key Issues Addressed by Green Small Business: Energy use, company administration, specification of materials for clients.
“Thank you so much for the policy and environmental action plan. They are great and show an understanding of our business and the realities of running a business. The process was very good. In the space of a 40 minute phone call we went through all key aspects of the business. It will work as a great way of keeping us in check with our own environmental plans and a way of letting clients know about our plans and aims.”
Business Name: Miller Clear Architects
Business Description: A small design-led architectural practice, specialising in residential and mixed-use projects. They have a passion for providing practical, inspiring solutions which are as ‘green’ as possible.
Key issues addressed: Advice to clients, specification of materials, energy use.
“Tim put together an easy to manage action plan that breaks down the different aspects of our business practice into manageable and achievable targets. We can concentrate on achieving small things, such as choosing the right kind of recycled paper, whilst maintaining our overall ambition of running an ethical green business. The action plan is a fantastic way for small businesses with limited resources to achieve an ambitious green business plan that has an integrity rooted in establishing key green and ethical principles”.
Name: Properly Partners Ltd
Business Description: Estate Agency
Key issues addressed: Vehicle emissions, office supplies, waste
“I am hopeful that being associated with Green Small Business will lead to extra credibility and recognition within our industry and from clients. I am also pleased that we can contribute to sustainability and hopefully can inspire others within our industry to follow suit, as it certainly isn’t prominent at the moment.”
Business Name: wave
Business Description: Wave is a design co-operative working in print and digital media. They work with people who do inspirational, positive things.
Key issues addressed: Advice to clients, energy use, paper use.
“The policy and action plan have been very useful. The Green Small Business logo is now proudly on our website”.
Business Description: Creators of all things cake whose aim is to bring you great products using the best ingredients.
Key issues addressed: Sourcing of ingredients, packaging, packaging waste and energy use.
“We decided to do it because it’s a good thing for the business. Hopefully it will save on costs and we want to be doing something to contribute to helping the environment – we want to make sure we are doing as much as we can. It looks at energy use and things like that to see where we can make savings. The process is really simple and straightforward and a good starting point for businesses to make changes in how we do things. It’s been really convenient and the initial work really doesn’t take much time. Time is really precious and this didn’t take up much of our time. It’s given us a prompt to look into these things like heat systems further. The report also highlights the good things businesses are already doing – there is no criticism and it is a very supportive document for the business.”
Name: Lamabuild
Business Description: A family run construction company, carrying out building and refurbishment London-wide and working with private and commercial clients and with design-led architectural practices.
Key issues addressed: Sourcing of materials, waste & recycling, advice to clients
“It’s really important that we are aware, and are seen to be aware of what we are doing and want to do to ‘Green’ our business. Eco matters are at the forefront of most responsible people’s minds so it can only improve our reputation with architects and clients.”
Name: Cova Security Gates
Business Description: UK-based manufacturer of Perimeter Security Equipment.
Key issues addressed: Energy use, waste, resource use
“We were delighted to get our certification sorted so quickly. It brings environmental awareness and forces the company and our staff to be more conscious of their and the company’s impact on the environment.”