Environment

iBottles is a wonderful family-run business that specialises in offering practical packaging solutions not only in the UK but also worldwide. We genuinely care about the world we live in and understand that our industry can sometimes have a negative effect on the environment. However, we believe in taking responsibility for our actions and have never shied away from that fact.

At iBottles, we are fully aware of our duty to protect the environment to the best of our abilities. We are dedicated to continuously improving our environmental performance in every aspect of our business. Moreover, we actively encourage our business partners and the wider community to join us in supporting these efforts.

We understand that certain aspects of our operations, such as energy consumption, waste generation, and company vehicles, can have a detrimental impact on the world around us. Nevertheless, we embrace and uphold strict environmental standards throughout our operations. We strive to go beyond what is required by law whenever feasible and assess our work processes to identify areas where we can minimise our environmental footprint.

By actively pursuing these initiatives, we aim to reduce our negative impacts on the environment while promoting sustainability in our industry. Together, we hope to make a positive difference and create a brighter, greener future.

 

View our progress so far: iBottles x Ecologi

 

Could we do more? Yes. Are we going to do more? Yes.

As an organisation that really does want to do more, our new initiative sees planting a tree for every order taken on our website. And as we often take over 1500 orders a month, we believe this will have a huge positive impact on the environment and is something we are very proud of.

 

Why plant trees?

Good question, but a pretty easy one to answer. Basically, trees are the oldest living organisms on earth, and there are over 3 trillion trees in the world. Unfortunately, billions of trees are cut down each year, and the global number of trees has fallen by almost a half since the start of human civilisation! Not good news, and whilst we can’t fix this on our own or get anywhere near to doing that, sometimes a trickle can become a flood, and hopefully other organisations and individuals can get on board.

At IBottles, we decided on this project as we see a real need to stop taking trees for granted, as they are organisms that have provided a range of benefits for humans, animals, and the world in general for centuries. We hope that every tree we plant will make a positive impact on nature, people, and our planet.

We think that trees are great. Here are a few reasons why:

·         Trees give us oxygen and absorb carbon dioxide: a single leafy tree can produce as much oxygen in a single season as 10 people inhale in a year - and by absorbing carbon dioxide, that makes woods and forests some of the best carbon sinks in the world.

·         Trees help to fight climate change: The less CO2 in the atmosphere means there will be less of a greenhouse effect, and so there will be less warming.

·         Tree roots prevent soil from eroding.

·         Trees help to clean our water.

·         Trees provide shade: They help keep us cool, and through evapotranspiration, cool the air around them.

·         Trees are food, as leaves decompose into nutrients for crops: This helps to feed livestock.

·         Trees provide homes and protection for a diverse range of wildlife and habitats

·         Trees support countless livelihoods and entire economies.

·         Trees hold immense spiritual, cultural, and social value for communities around the world.

·         Trees protect against flooding.

·         Indeed, contact with nature has even been found to be so beneficial that it is even being prescribed by doctors! Wellbeing and health are vitally important.

 

Planting trees - How do we do this?

We have teamed up with a 3rd party, who will be planting trees in various locations for us whenever we receive an online order, thus by placing an order with us, you are directly involved in the tree planting process which we think is a fantastic thing to do for the current and future generations.

We are not trying to reinvent the wheel by doing this as we know of other sectors doing this, but hopefully by committing to doing this, others in our sector will follow and have a positive impact on the environment.

We get one life and live in one world. That world needs looking after. We know that this is the tiniest of tiny steps, but can’t millions of tiny steps make a hell of a noise?

 

See the Forest grow HERE

We know our responsibility to protect the environment in which we operate. We commit to improving our environmental performance across all of our business processes, and try to encourage our business partners and those in the wider community to help support this effort.

We recognise these key impacts

Our energy use.
The raw material procurement process.
Our waste generation onsite and remotely.
The emissions we produce that go to the atmosphere and potentially the water courses.
General water use.
Our company vehicles and transport policy.
General procurement of all products, equipment and suppliers.

We will strive to:

Embrace environmental standards in all areas of operation and to exceed relevant legislative requirements where reasonably practicable.
Assess work processes and highlight where we can minimise impacts.
Minimise our waste through careful procurement and recycling processes.
Procure sustainable products wherever feasible [e.g. recycled, FSC or low environmental impact products and energy from renewable sources].
Broadcast our environmental position to relevant stakeholders.
Provide information, instruction and training for employees to be involved in good environmental practice and remedial actions.
Reduce accident and incident risks from environmental impacts for all people who may be directly or indirectly affected by our business processes.
Adopt and maintain a transport strategy that is environmentally friendly.
Include environmental and ethical methods when deciding investment opportunities.
Improve on developing solutions to environmental impacts.
Continually monitor and assess the environmental impact of all our operations.

If you have any questions about our Environmental Policy or anything else, we would be happy to discuss this with you.  Please contact us on [email protected].