Environmental sustainability focus at The Shower Lab
There are many companies that simply pay lip service to their focus on being environmentally friendly and sustainable. But we are trying a different approach. We want to be transparent about where we are, what we want to achieve and how we plan to do it. This kind of structured and detailed approach is at the very heart of The Shower Lab. It is what sets us apart from our competitors in our products and our customer service, and we feel it should be no different with our social awareness and environmental sustainability projects.
Understanding our impact
To make real change, we have to have a full understanding of where we are now so we are in the process of dissecting our processes, our products, our packaging, our production and our offices to determine exactly what we use and why. Already underway is a project to reduce the use of plastic in our packaging. We have done away with environmentally detrimental bubble wrap and have switched to environmentally friendly paper packaging. Eco-friendly, recyclable and reusable, the paper alternative is sustainable, biodegradable and more than suitable for the task at hand. As is its counterpart, tape. We have chosen 100% recycled paper tape with a natural latex adhesive backing. The high tac self-adhesive is equally as effective as the plastic tape we have moved away from, and yet this small change improves our carbon footprint immeasurably.
Changing our sustainability status
The big question is, what next? We are currently in the process of developing biodegradable cardboard corners that protect the corners of our glass during transport. These have to be durable and resilient enough to prevent any cracks or shattering should accidental slips occur, so it is a challenge. But it’s one we are taking on with gusto.
We are also testing paper strapping that is used to secure products for transport and delivery. We have traditionally used plastic strapping and finding a suitable plastic-free alternative that is strong and durable enough to replace it has been troublesome, but we are making progress.
The next level of sustainability
These are just some of the activities we're doing to try and reduce our carbon footprint but there is much more to come. We are examining our production procedures and techniques to ensure we are aware of our impact. The results of this will ultimately enable us to explore improvements.
We are examining how we function at a business level too. From the production line to the senior leadership team, no one will escape our sustainability improvement scrutiny. Indeed, our CEO, Sales Director and Area Sales Managers have already made the switch to hybrid or full electric-powered cars. As such, we have installed a charging point at our head office and will encourage other staff members to make use of the charge station should they choose to make the switch too.
We will also be sharing our research and insights with our partners in an attempt to share best practices. The Shower Lab continues to partner with like-minded businesses of an exemplar level who have the same laser focus as us. That focus will always be on quality. We are now simply extending our vision to include sustainability.