Treetop Design and Print If you are looking for ethical printers Sussex based Treetop Design and Print are an experienced provider of digital, litho and large format print services for all requirements. From in-house graphic design and print through to mailing fulfilment. They offer eco printing services across the UK and same-day turnaround for businesses in Mid Sussex and Brighton. Visit the website for full details and get in touch for a quick quote. https://www.treetopdesignandprint.com/
Ingle & Rhode is an ethical fine jeweller, specialising in engagement and wedding rings. They use only certified recycled or Fairtrade gold and platinum in their jewellery, and only ethically-produced gemstones, including lab-created diamonds. They don’t agree with sweatshops or production lines. Their rings are all made individually in the UK, and their craftsmen and women are amongst the most respected in the industry. The exceptional quality of their materials and craftsmanship mean that they create exquisite pieces of jewellery backed by a Lifetime Warranty.
Ingle & Rhode believe that the finest jewellery shouldn’t be the preserve of the wealthy few, and offer exceptional value to all of their clients. They’ll work to your budget, whether modest or generous, to create a future heirloom. They understand that buying a piece of fine jewellery isn’t something you do every day. They provide expertise and advice in a relaxed environment, and they are committed to delivering an exceptional experience for all of their clients. www.ingleandrhode.co.uk
Address: 14 Gees Court, London W1U 1 JW (all visits are by appointment only)
Tel: 020 7499 2012 or email enquiries@ingleandrhode.com
Get in touch – info@victorycolours.co.uk or call 01258 841310 @victorycolours on Instagram
Carbon reductions play a big part in everything Darcica does from plastic-free fulfilment, route optimisation, reducing waste and innovation towards a zero emissions fleet.
Their services include:
They’ll maintain your online inventory, track and manage all your courier requirements, express parcels and shipments on one simple platform.
www.darcica.co.uk
Email: info@darcica.co.uk
Tel: 01869 322999
Green & Moore’s online accounting services mean they are also accessible to any business or individual in the UK. Being a vegan accountant and an environmentally friendly business, they love to work with other vegan businesses and environmentally friendly businesses.
Please get in touch on:
T: 07422 650034
Bamboo is an incredibly sustainable resource, growing up to 91 cm a day without the need for irrigation or pesticides. It also stores carbon dioxide, and produces 35% more oxygen than the equivalent area of trees. It can be used in a huge variety of applications including building, tableware, beauty products, clothing and more.
Whether you’re looking for eco-essentials or an eco-conscious gift, BambooBeautiful offer a wide range of products – from luxury scarves to children’s tableware, toothbrushes and beauty products to picnic ware.
Visit www.bamboobeautiful.uk
Snooty Catz believe living a more ethical and sustainable lifestyle shouldn’t be expensive and they endeavour to offer fabulous products at great prices. They are passionate about the environment and this reflects in their ever-growing range of cruelty-free, plastic-free, natural, vegan, made in Britain and fair trade products.
For 10% off use code GreenProviders10
Visit https://snootycatz.co.uk
Email: jayoffice@greenstat.co.uk
Tel: 01225 480556
Friendly Soap Natural, biodegradable soap and shampoo bars. Their products are vegan, cruelty-free and made by people paid a living wage, without using plastic or preservatives. They use a cold-process method handed down through generations of makers. Creating no by-products and relying on old-fashioned elbow grease, with every bar poured, cut and packed by hand in Yorkshire. Friendly Soap is biodegradable too, so it’s better for the planet even once you’ve used it. Friendly Soap hope to change buying habits by giving a more natural, sustainable and affordable option. www.friendlysoap.co.uk
Tapzo is the future of in person networking. A sustainable, efficient, modern and cheaper alternative to business cards. One card that lasts a lifetime. 8 Billion business cards get thrown out each year, these are coated in a plastic laminate making them non recyclable. There’s a better way for the planet and your wallet. Tapzo specializes in smart business cards that you tap onto a smartphone to share your details. Their mission is to provide an alternative method of networking that improves conversions while reducing environmental impact and cutting costs.
Email: hello@tapzo.io
Jungle Culture provide their products at wholesale rates to purchase worldwide and on top of this they also offer opportunities to custom brand their products for businesses, events and weddings. If you think your business could benefit from partnering with Jungle Culture, get in touch today using their email zerowaste@jungleculture.eco and one of their friendly team will get back to you with some options.
https://jungleculture.eco/pages/wholesale
Contact: zerowaste@jungleculture.eco
Social links:
Everyday Phenomenal is a London based women’s wear brand on a mission to make women feel phenomenal inside & out. They’re the first eco-friendly clothing brand that’s shifting the focus from how you look, to how you feel. That’s why all of their ethical fashion essentials link to their online mindfulness platform, The Circle of Feeling Good. Their collection is stylish and comfortable, made in the UK by talented seamstresses. https://www.everyday-phenomenal.com/
Contact
Email: info@everyday-phenomenal.com
Website: https://www.everyday-phenomenal.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wear.ep/
Entwistle are committed to sustainable printing. How to substantiate such a bold claim? Lets start with their services. They offer a really extensive range of green papers, boards, exhibition displays and pop up displays but what sets them apart from their competitors is their state of the art facility. Their Openshaw factory has green technologies incorporated at every turn and they use clean printing technology wherever possible.
Entwistle have 200 solar panels and use 100% renewable electricity. In 2021 they became carbon neutral. They have ISO 14001: 2015 accreditation for Environmental Management and their ESG policy is class leading.
Ethical Money helps conscientious investors avoid fossil fuels, weapons and other unwanted sectors and only invest in companies working towards a sustainable future. Fully FCA regulated investments for your pension, ISA, investment account, Bond or Trust. Lower your carbon footprint with ethical investments. Independent advice from regulated advisers helps you pinpoint investments that align with your beliefs. Ethical solutions are now easier to access and with competitive costs and performance there is no need to compromise your returns for your beliefs.
Get in touch to find out more on 023 8000 3456
Fair Trade Gift Vouchers are relaunched.
Did you know, I now have a range of attractive Fair Trade Gift Vouchers to suit every pocket, from £5 pounds upwards?
Redeemable on-line, these vouchers make a great present as there is such a wide range of Fair Trade gifts to choose from when you shop at The FAIR Trade Store.
Great news! There is no expiry date, so the lucky recipient can take their time shopping.
• Available as a traditional paper voucher, or go ‘paperless’ with a virtual voucher and you will receive your voucher code by email.
• All vouchers are supplied with a unique code for you to manually redeem at the website Checkout.
• Makes an ideal gift whenever you shop for an ethically-minded family member or friend!
• Available to purchase in values of £5, £10, £20, or £50, or multiples thereof.
• Use them as full or part payment for your online transaction. So it’s that simple!
Furthermore, they are suitable as a staff reward or incentive, ideal for the employer looking to boost their ethical credentials.
Order online at or contact Paul for a personalised service to discuss your exact requirements. I am here to help.“Thanks for reading my Blog post. So I hope this news has made shopping for ethical gifts even easier for you” – Paul
Sleep Organic is an online luxury bedding store with a difference! They create and provide original design duvet covers, matching pillowcases and flat and fitted sheets. They exclusively use certified organic and fairtrade cotton of the finest quality (percale and sateen) giving you peace of mind that your night’s sleep won’t cost the earth! In addition to classic white, navy blue piping and stylish silver line embroidered duvet covers, they offer cat, dog and bunny themes for the animal lovers among you. Their embroidered lavender flowers design is also a popular choice. Come visit and see for yourself! www.sleeporganic.co.uk
Contact: customer.service@sleeporganic.co.uk
Telephone: 020 7965 7362
Ingle & Rhode is an ethical fine jeweller, specialising in engagement and wedding rings. They use only certified recycled or Fairtrade gold and platinum in their jewellery, and only ethically-produced gemstones, including lab-created diamonds. They don’t agree with sweatshops or production lines. Their rings are all made individually in the UK, and their craftsmen and women are amongst the most respected in the industry. The exceptional quality of their materials and craftsmanship mean that they create exquisite pieces of jewellery backed by a Lifetime Warranty.
Ingle & Rhode believe that the finest jewellery shouldn’t be the preserve of the wealthy few, and offer exceptional value to all of their clients. They’ll work to your budget, whether modest or generous, to create a future heirloom. They understand that buying a piece of fine jewellery isn’t something you do every day. They provide expertise and advice in a relaxed environment, and they are committed to delivering an exceptional experience for all of their clients. www.ingleandrhode.co.uk
Address: 14 Gees Court, London W1U 1 JW (all visits are by appointment only)
Tel: 020 7499 2012 or email enquiries@ingleandrhode.com
Bamboo is an incredibly sustainable resource, growing up to 91 cm a day without the need for irrigation or pesticides. It also stores carbon dioxide, and produces 35% more oxygen than the equivalent area of trees. It can be used in a huge variety of applications including building, tableware, beauty products, clothing and more.
Whether you’re looking for eco-essentials or an eco-conscious gift, BambooBeautiful offer a wide range of products – from luxury scarves to children’s tableware, toothbrushes and beauty products to picnic ware.
Visit www.bamboobeautiful.uk
THTC has also produced merchandise for hundreds of charities, bands and businesses including UB40, River Cottage, QPR In The Community, The Angola 3, World Land Trust and Asian Dub Foundation.
For more information find THTC on thtc.co.uk or @thtcclothing (Twitter / Insta), ‘THTC1’ on Facebook.
Visit thtc.co.uk
Express English College has received some excellent news to kick off the academic year. The college has been accredited by Green Standard Schools as an environmentally friendly language learning school! We are delighted to have had our serious commitment to protecting the environment formally recognised by a global, not-for-profit organisation dedicated to preventing disastrous climate change.
Climate change has been an undeniable backdrop to the pandemic. With the recent confirmation from the World Meteorological Organization that the world’s weather-related disasters have increased five-fold since 1970 (McGrath, 2021) and the United Nation’s confirmation that human impact is unequivocally at fault (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2021), a disturbing acceleration of climate catastrophes has been globally evident throughout 2021.
Dramatic flooding swept through swathes of Germany, Belgium and other parts of Northern Europe in July, devastating unprepared urban areas (McGrath, 2021). Air pollution has been found to slash the life expectancy of billions of people by six years at minimum (Carrington, 2021). Record-breaking wildfires ravaged vast areas of land in California, Siberia, Algeria, South Africa, Greece, Turkey, Italy and France; many countries – spanning most continents – suffered deadly wildfires on a regular basis throughout the year (Pultarova, 2021; BBC News, 2021). Climate change anxiety is now a common emotion for many of us as we witness the all-too tangible effects of a shift in seasons and an alarming intensity in weather patterns. The impact of climate change on mental health is now being officially recognised by major psychiatry organisations (American Psychiatric Association, 2021).
In Manchester, EEC’s home, 2021 has seen torrential downpours last for weeks, oppressive heatwaves and too-oft overcast skies shroud the city. A report from Transport for Greater Manchester’s Low Emission Strategy makes for sobering reading. By 2040, if global carbon emissions are not drastically cut and offset, Manchester can expect intense rainstorms, increased flooding, the spread of invasive species and an increase in heat-related deaths (Cox, 2015).
EEC, as a provider of internationally-focused education, has long been committed to reducing its carbon footprint. Language education can have a more deleterious effect on the environment than other areas of education. It’s a well-known fact that total immersion in a country of the target language is a superior method of language learning (Memrise, 2020). However, as students fly around the world to study this can lead to a greater increase in carbon emissions resulting in a very negative impact on the environment. Even a short flight, such as returning to London from Berlin, emits around 0.6 tonnes of CO2e – three times the emissions saved from a year of recycling (Timperley, 2020). EEC is pleased to offer online courses for students who want this option to benefit from our excellent education provision.
Language learning also typically goes through a huge amount of paper as students work through thick grammar workbooks, dictionaries and endless print outs. The environmental impact of paper production is mammoth: 40% of the world’s commercially cut timber is used for paper; 30 million acres of forest are destroyed annually by paper deforestation and 10 litres of water is needed to produce one piece of A4 paper (The World Counts, n.d.).
EEC wants to be part of Manchester’s commitment to become zero carbon by 2038 (Manchester Climate Change Agency, 2021). We have been working hard on our environmental policy for some time. We are fully committed to ensuring the college undertakes positive actions and promotes a suitable educational ethos that contributes to global environmental sustainability. The college believes that unnecessary waste/wastage, needless use of fossil fuels and careless or uninformed attitudes to recycling, repurposing and reusing have no place in a forward-thinking educational organisation. Therefore, we foster values that help to raise awareness of environmental dangers and embed actions and procedures that contribute to a responsible use of, and care for, the earth’s resources.
Our environmental policy was a big factor in assuring accreditation from Green Standard Schools. A few of our policies that they found particularly noteworthy included our commitment to becoming totally paperless by December 2021. Through significant investment in electronic learning resources, using Dropbox to store all files and our adoption of a ‘green approach’ to preparing lessons we are successfully on track to meet this commitment. All classrooms are fully equipped to teach interactively and we ask students to recycle their course books by returning them to us at the end of their course. There really is no need to print or photocopy anymore!
Another area in which we scored top marks is in the reduction of our energy consumption. We have successfully reduced our electricity usage by a whopping 41% and our water usage by 11% since 2020. All lighting in the building has been changed to LED lights and TVs are set to auto switch off if not being used. We also use energy companies that supply 100% of their energy from renewable resources.
The little things matter when it comes to the environment. We are hot on recycling round here at EEC, and we encourage all our students and staff to use the different recycling bins in our leisure/kitchen areas. We don’t provide any needless single use plastics, such as plastic cups, instead asking our students to bring their own reusable water bottle or use the provided reusable cups. Our water is filtered, so no need to buy a bottle of mineral water! We also ensure that no toxic waste products enter the drains from the college by only using bio washing-up liquid, hand wash etc. We also try to shop locally and sustainably for all our products.
Following on from a £137m project to transform the city’s walking and cycling routes (BBC News, 2019) Manchester can boast one of the UK’s best cycling networks. EEC is proud to support this with our environmentally focused policy aimed at reducing the amount of public transport and car journeys undertaken by students and staff. We are very happy to pay 10% of the cost of a bike for anyone working or studying at the college.
We have also made a concerted effort to systematically bring environmental education into our learning syllabuses. No one can know too much about the environment, and it is imperative that everyone is as informed on environmental issues as possible in the fight against climate change. This is why we use course books with a weighting towards environmental awareness, such as National Geographic Life and Cambridge Empower books. Additionally, the majority of our extracurricular activities have minimal environmental impact in terms of public transport and energy usage. We are also pleased to support the National Trust by offering our students 10% of the price of an annual membership fee.
EEC is the first school in Manchester and only the third English language school in the UK to be accredited by Green Standard Schools, something the college is exceptionally proud of. As a member of Green Standard Schools we can be assured that our reputation as an outstanding English-language educator is being enhanced through our support for the environment.
EEC and Green Standard Schools share a mutual ethos that environmental education is paramount in the fight to minimise the harmful effects of climate change on our planet (Green Standard Schools, 2021). As a member we must honour the twelve environmental commitments set out by Green Standard Schools and will also have access to their digital platform of teaching resources. Watch this space to see how our English teachers plan to incorporate these resources into lessons! In the meantime, let’s all keep educating ourselves on – and talking about – the environment. And don’t forget to recycle!
You can learn more about Green Standard Schools here.
References
American Psychiatric Association. (2021) New APA Poll Reveals That Americans are Increasingly Anxious About Climate Change’s Impact on Planet, Mental Health. Available at: https://www.psychiatry.org/newsroom/news-releases/climate-poll-2020. [Accessed 2 September 2021]
BBC News. (2021) Algeria forest fires: At least 65 people killed as fires spread. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-58174918. [Accessed 1 September 2021]
BBC News. (2021) France wildfire: Thousands evacuated as blaze rages near Riviera. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-58243066 [Accessed 1 September 2021]
BBC News. (2019) Greater Manchester unveils £137m of cycle and walking projects. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-47657811. [Accessed 2 September 2021]
Carrington, D. (2021) Air pollution is slashing years off the lives of billions, report finds. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/sep/01/air-pollution-is-slashing-years-off-the-lives-of-billions-report-finds. [Accessed 1 September 2021]
Cox, C. (2015) Nightmare climate-change vision of Manchester 2040: Flooding, invasive species and heat-related deaths. Available at: https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/climate-change-vision-2040-manchester-10250908. [Accessed 1 September 2021]
Green Standard Schools. (2021) [online] Available at: https://greenstandardschools.org/About. [Accessed 2 September 2021]
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (2021) [online] Headline Statements from the Summary for Policymakers. [online] Available at: https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGI_Headline_Statements.pdf [Accessed 2 September 2021]
Manchester Climate Change Agency. (2021) [online] Available at: https://www.manchesterclimate.com/ [Accessed 2 September 2021]
McGrath, M. (2021) Climate change: Big increase in weather disasters over the past five decades. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-58396975. [Accessed 1 September 2021]
McGrath, M. (2021) Climate change: Europe's extreme rains made more likely by humans. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-58309900. [Accessed 1 September 2021]
Memrise. (2020) Immersion language learning: The best way to learn Spanish. Available at: https://www.memrise.com/blog/why-immersion-is-the-best-way-to-learn [Accessed 1 September 2021]
Pultarova, T. (2021) The devastating wildfires of 2021 are breaking records and satellites are tracking it all. Available at: https://www.space.com/2021-record-wildfire-season-from-space. [Accessed 1 September 2021]
The World Counts. (n.d) A useful but wasteful product… Available at: https://www.theworldcounts.com/stories/Environmental_Impact_of_Paper_Production. [Accessed 1 September 2021]
Timperley, J. (2020) Should we give up flying for the sake of the climate? Available at: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200218-climate-change-how-to-cut-your-carbon-emissions-when-flying. [Accessed 1 September 2021]
Snooty Catz believe living a more ethical and sustainable lifestyle shouldn’t be expensive and they endeavour to offer fabulous products at great prices. They are passionate about the environment and this reflects in their ever-growing range of cruelty-free, plastic-free, natural, vegan, made in Britain and fair trade products.
For 10% off use code GreenProviders10
Visit https://snootycatz.co.uk
Email: hello@sproutconsulting.co.uk
Slay My Print produce high quality wall art and picture frames for your home. They create affordable and stylish prints, from quirky typography designs to beautiful photography posters. Slay My Print care about the environment and reducing their carbon footprint is at the forefront of everything they do, including the use of FSC certified materials, recyclable packaging and donating the equivalent of one tree for every order to the TreeSisters, a UK registered reforestation charity. They also produce all of their prints in local markets meaning that your posters will be delivered using the smallest amount of carbon emissions possible!
