GOING GREEN
House of Happy Naturals
House of Happy Naturals based in Calne is owned by Fran House. Having launched her first range of‘ Happy not Smelly’ natural deodorants, Fran started her small business in October 2020.
Fran has had a passion for making natural products since her children were little. She became very interested in what we were consuming and putting on our skin and how this affected our skin. Initially Fran made the deodorant for her family and friends. Then she decided to get the recipe tested and launched it as a skincare product range. The products are made from natural ingredients, locally sourced, with four scents available; Fresh, Calm, Zing and Floral.
Is your business really green? The business is green because the ingredients are mainly whole food grade or organic and sourced as locally as possible. I only use recyclable or biodegradable packaging including recycled glass jars, biodegradable packaging and eco-friendly postage bags. The product labels are printed
Thrings locally on FSC certified paper( which means it is made of responsibly sourced wood fibre). Over the next quarter, I will be working with a local eco store to hold ' make your own deodorant ' workshops. Longer term for my business is a return-for-a-discount scheme as well as launching some additional scents in 2022.
Fran House, Founder, House of Happy Naturals
For more info: www. hohn. co. uk
Law firm Thrings, which has offices in Swindon, has also started to embrace a green way of working. Marketing Manager Lizzie Heffer explained that in 2019 it started an initiative called‘ Thrings Green’- a project to review ways of working, suppliers and offices in order to commit to becoming a more environmentally aware and sustainable business.
Is your business really green? Our environmental statement says:“ Thrings recognise our day-to-day business activities’ impact on our local environment in a number of ways. To mitigate this, we are committed to continually improving our environmental performance through a sustainable approach.” As part of this, our objectives include: |
• Minimising the use of business travel, energy, materials, waste and water.
• Recognising where we have been less successful and putting improvement plans in place.
• Raising awareness within the firm and encouraging staff engagement.
• Working with suppliers to improve environmental performance all round.
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We have already achieved the following:
• A reduction of copied print by 30 %
• A reduced number of print fleet devices across the firm by 27 %
• A reduction in confidential waste – 62 %
• A reduction in waste paper
• An increased number of stationery, cleaning and provisions products with environmental accreditation
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• EU Ecolabel products in washrooms
• A reduction of plastics used in the offices
Lizzie Heffer, Marketing Manager, Thrings
For more info: www. thrings. com
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Nanogreen Cleaning
Swindon’ s Nanogreen Cleaning is run by Craig Duff and Chris Horgan. With a team of 16, the company provides a service to commercial clients.
It sees itself as challenging the status quo, by putting the environment at the heart of its services which are traditionally based on harsh chemicals. The company finds cleaner, less impactful and more environmentally friendly ways to achieve the same outcomes.
Is your business really green? While we’ ve always been in the business of being green, we are also working on a number of targets to ensure our business model is as green as possible.
We’ ve reduced our single plastic use by 40 per cent over the last 18 months, our use of paper is minimal, we have changed to LED lighting and are we always conscious of where we can make improvements.
We are moving towards greener vehicles with our newest vehicle being a hybrid 1.0 eco boost, and where we haven’ t been able to meet the cost of a new fleet of electric vehicles, we are working with Ecologi to ensure we are planting trees to counter our vehicle CO2 footprint.
Within our business one of the selling points is the sustainability of our cleaning products; a litre of our multipurpose cleaner lasts four times longer than traditional cleaning products. Craig Duff, Co-Owner, Nanogreen Cleaning
For more info: www. nanogreen. co. uk
THE BUSINESS EXCHANGE 2021 13