The Business Exchange Swindon & Wiltshire Edition 45: Oct/Nov 2019 | Page 15

GOING GREEN
Giant Peach
A Wiltshire company which puts ‘green’
at the heart of its business is the digital
marketing agency Giant Peach. The
company, based in Wylye, has already won
an Absolute Carbon Reduction Award from
The Planet Mark Awards for a 41 per cent
reduction on its carbon impact in one year.
The team hold events around green and
ethical issues, one of the upcoming themes
will be sustainable fashion.
The government and organisation like
the Soil Association have called on leading
names in UK fashion to start to take
sustainability more seriously, the latter has
produced a report showing that consumers
are looking for sustainability and that may
affect future buying decisions. Brands
including M&S, Primark and ASOS have all
responded favourably.
Giant Peach founder James Read said,
“There is room for improvement, the fashion
industry was worth £32.3 billion in 2017
with the UK being the biggest consumer of
clothing in Europe it is integral that everyone
does their part. With the pressure from
both government and shoppers for more
sustainable and ethical fashion, it is truly ‘en
vogue’ for companies to take responsibility to
make a change.”
Good Energy
Good Energy, which employs about 300
people from its base in Chippenham
has always been all about the
environment and clean energy. In
August this year the company was told
by the regulator Ofgem it would be
permanently excluded from the price
cap being imposed on other energy
providers. On average its customers
(about 250,000) pay £1, 422 a year for
their energy against a price cap of
£1,254 at time of writing.
The reason the company has been
exempted is that it can trace all of
its energy back to entirely renewable
sources – and the regulator believes
people are willing to pay a premium for
that. Expansion is on the cards for the
company with plans for a new HQ in
Chippenham going ahead which could
lead to the creation of up to 100 new
roles.
Juliet Davenport, CEO, said, “When
the energy price cap was introduced
at the start of the year we were given
a temporary exemption while the
regulator further examined the market
and the ways that our tariffs support
renewable generation.
“Our model supports the purpose
we have always says it does powering
the choice of a cleaner, greener future
together.”
The need to be greener in business
practice is gaining ground in many
sectors. Some businesses have a
green ‘charter’ which they share with
customers.
Rays Ice Cream
Hadi Brooks is the founder of Rays Ice
Cream, an artisan ice cream producer
based in Swindon which supplies ice cream
through two Wiltshire shops, a pop-up
summer shop this year at the McArthur Glen
Designer Outlet and across many wholesale
outlets including foodie pubs, hotels and
other providers of food and meals. Rays
Ice Cream has a green charter where the
company states its public commitment to
being more ‘green’. This includes:
• Customers being able to bring their own
ice cream tubs to fill up – subject to certain
hygiene restrictions.
• 20 per cent off hot drinks if a customer
brings a reusable cup.
• a commitment to switch to paper bags
once current stock has gone, the cost will
be 10p a bag.
• plastic totally removed from drinks’ fridges.
• moving now to biodegradable tubs.
• all spoons, straws, lids, milkshake cups are
now compostable from PLA material
We’ve made a real effort over the last
few months to behave in a way that’s more
responsible to our planet. It’s something
that matters to me and many of my staff
personally. We only have one planet and
we all need to live here so we should all be
doing our bit to look after it.
“We’ve also noticed an increase in the
number of people requesting, for example,
non-plastic straws or to fill their own tub with
ice cream. I think increasingly people will
start voting with their feet and businesses
which are not addressing green issues will
see sales suffer in the end,” Hadi said.
(plants not plastic).
Up Close & Personal
A company doesn’t have to be
large to do its bit. Billy Morrison is
a specialist bra fitter who runs Up
Front & Personal from her studio
in Burbage, near Marlborough.
Her business is just over a year
old. She recycles the discarded
bras of her clients.
“I encourage my customers and
social media followers to recycle
their bras by bringing them to me.
I collect and pass them to Sue
Allen (of Wiltshire based company,
Microbz) who takes them out to a
project in Africa that she is involved
in called Vision Zambia.
“The bras are donated to
women and girls who need
them. Wearing a bra reduces the
likelihood of a woman or girl being
raped because she appears more
well to do.
“Some are taken apart and used
for other things by small business
owners. I like the fact that I know
that the bras are going to make
a difference. Small businesses
supporting each other is a
wonderful thing.”
In September, Billy collected
bras, tights and pants, new and
second hand, for women in Cuba
who are desperate for underwear.
“It’s such a pleasure to be able
to recycle bras and underwear
because I hate throwing stuff away
items which could be reused,”
Billy said.
“It is so easy to take it for
granted that our undies drawer is
full and on hand.
I am happy to go through
someone’s bra collection to see
how they fit a whether they should
let them go. One lady had 54 bras -
we reduced it to ones that actually
lifted and supported and she was
left with five.”
GREEN GB WEEK IS 4TH -8TH NOVEMBER 2019
To find out more visit: greengb.campaign.gov.uk/#whatiscleangrowthandwhyactonclimatechange
Follow the hashtag on social media: #GreenGB
THE BUSINESS EXCHANGE 2019
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