General BELL are Carbon Neutral

Date Posted 25 September 2023

We are now proudly Carbon Neutral! Our future ambition is to achieve Net Zero status and we hope to become an inspiration for local businesses in their efforts to operate in an eco-friendly manner, by inviting them to our offices in Normanton and showcasing our sustainable initiatives.

These are our long-term goals, but in order to reach our objectives, we are taking steps in the here-and-now to move towards a sustainable model of business practice. By the end of this year, we aim to move to fully sustainable packaging, implement fully paper free processes throughout the business, ensure that no disposable cups, plates, or cutlery are used throughout the business, and much more. This is our starting point, and we are confident that we will meet our aspirations and continue to move forwards.

The next 5 years are set to be an important period, with the company targeting ISO 14001 Environmental Management certification and a move to all electric company cars, amongst other directives. Our Scope 1 and 2 calculations have been completed by a third party, and the results showed that we could reduce our carbon emissions by switching to hybrid or electric vehicles which is a target we are working towards. We now have 12 hybrid or electric vehicles as part of our fleet which has already reduced our carbon output by 31 tonnes in the last three years.

In manufacturing, a certain amount of carbon output is to be expected and cannot be reduced. When a business has reduced as much as possible, they can still be considered ‘Carbon Neutral’ by offsetting that carbon by investing into carbon reduction projects, such as reforestation and hydropower plants. These projects take carbon out of the atmosphere and the amount that a business needs to offset correlates with the amount of money which needs to be invested. We have invested the required amount into the Salto Pilao Hydropower Plant Project in Brazil to offset our carbon for last year, and we are now certified as Carbon Neutral.

We aim to have our Scope 3 emissions calculated shortly, and we have set ourselves a target of becoming Net Zero by 2030. We have also recently put a new waste management and recycling process in place to allow us to become a zero waste to landfill site, and we are currently working on making our packaging plastic free and fully recyclable.

Reducing our use of raw materials and cutting carbon dioxide emissions is becoming more and more important. In a circular economy, products are used again and again, meaning that we are able to cut down on waste and look after the environment. Living in accordance with circular economy values ensures that we protect finite raw materials, resulting in a lesser impact on the environment.

With this in mind, we have launched our innovative Firestay Geo product! The Geo aligns with circular economy ideals and is at the forefront of sustainable thinking within the industry. Our Geo product boasts a housing which is designed to remain in the ceiling for life, requiring zero waste to landfill, and the product is designed to be purchased alongside our Geo-Mod. The product is 90% reusable, with the other 10% being recyclable rather than requiring disposal.

AMA Research estimates that 20 million Downlight units are released into the UK Lighting market per annum, with only 25% of the material used currently being recycled. The Firestay Geo is an innovative product, challenging the current position of the Downlight market.

With reference to our future aims for circular economy focussed products, we are aiming to introduce further products into the market and we are researching opportunities with this in mind, with a long-term approach being taken towards ensuring that we find the right products and have the right processes in place to ensure their success.