GOING GREEN
HB Designs
Charlotte Hill-Baldwin and her husband Tim run HB Designs of Devizes, specialist designers and makers of British bicycle parking products and bespoke buildings, all created with sustainability in mind. The company began in 2003 and was incorporated two years later.
Charlotte said,“ Our whole ethos is one of recycle, reuse and renovate, only replace responsibly. We believe in the mantra of‘ do it once and do it well’. Our customers can be schools, businesses, local authorities or even homes where there’ s a need and desire for sustainably produced, functional and practical parking solutions for bicycles which will last for many, many years.
“ We are passionate about making it easy for people to get on their bikes and get to and from work or school, and we would love to see a cycle centric world.”
Tim first got the idea for specialising in this area when he rode his mountain bike to a meeting in Bristol and couldn’ t find anywhere to park his bike that protected the bike itself and also felt secure and as safe from theft as possible.
“ The availability of secure, beautiful, practical bike racks or parking buildings was appalling, even the location was not somewhere he felt was safe for his bike,” Charlotte said.
The designs the couple have developed have all come from their Wiltshire base, are patented, use sustainably sourced materials and match the needs of the relevant environment. For example
Nanogreen Sustainable Cleaning
their urban rail rack is designed to have visibility around and underneath so nothing can be‘ hidden’ in the bike rack. Recently they have launched their product for the new, very popular‘ e-bike’. For more info: www. hbdesigns. co. uk
For more info: www. nanogreen. co. uk
This small team based in West Swindon is run by Founder Craig Duff who is passionate about running a business which has social impact and considers its environmental responsibilities. Using eco-friendly products, Nanogreen provides cleaning and fogging services for home owners, commercial premises, private landlords, tenants, local authorities and schools.“ When I decided to start Nanogreen there was only one thing at the time that concerned me about cleaning; that was my health. I have always had asthma and so a number of the cleaning chemicals can cause asthma to rear its ugly head.
“ Initially, it was a health thing, and a‘ me’ thing … but quickly it became an‘ us’ thing! As I was using green sustainable products for their biodegradability and biological enzymes it dawned on me the overall impact I was having on my slice of the world and my environment.
“ Then one day, a client rang me asked me to quote for a house clean, when I asked how she heard of me she stated specifically‘ you’ re the guy that uses environmentally friendly products aren’ t you?’
“ It made me think more about what I wanted to achieve and how I could have more of an impact. Today Nanogreen has constantly worked towards the goal of using environmentally friendly and sustainable products for all cleaning purposes, so much so we have recently changed our product supply to 100 per cent environment and sustainable cleaning products.“ 100 per cent?!!” I hear you shout, yes, even the containers we use to hold the cleaning products are made from sugar cane and can be recycled, our cleaning products are enzyme based and biodegrade leaving only water when flushed away in the drains.
“ We use recycled business cards, although we are now looking at new technology for one-time electronic business cards.
Our only shortcoming is electric vehicles; the commercial side of electric motoring is not great but
Recycling Technologies it is getting better. As soon as it is practical to do so, we’ ll go electric.“ For us what started out as a small idea to help me, is now one of the key factors in why we are winning new contracts and large clients, because they share our values and ethos in looking after the environment.”
This Swindon based company is at the cutting edge of green tech both locally, nationally and even internationally. Its stated mission is‘ we want to make plastic a more sustainable material through innovation and technical excellence’.
The team are known for their pioneering modular technology to recycle difficult plastic waste such as cling film and crisp packets. This process, using a machine known as the RT 7000 creates a substance called Plaxx which can be recycled into other plastic goods thus avoiding such waste going into landfill or being incinerated.
Recently the company has signed a joint development agreement with INEOS Styrolution to develop and advance the recycling of polystyrene in Europe.
For more info: www. recyclingtechnologies. co. uk
THE BUSINESS EXCHANGE 2020 13