The company is aiming to complete a pan-European carbon reduction programme across operations in some 14 countries, working in partnership with The CarbonNeutral Company.
In the UK, Eden Springs is a market leader in the water cooler industry distributing more than 110,000 water coolers to some 60,000 customers. The company has a turnover of £30m and employs 350 staff in the UK, with 150 based at its HQ in Blantyre, central Scotland.
The company worked with Swiss experts Quantis International, one of the international leaders in this field, to analyse the entire life cycle of the business, with the UK-based operation playing a key role. All aspects of the business were analysed and improved – from transport, production, cooler selection and office behaviour.
Through the process of becoming CarbonNeutral, a range of environmental improvement programmes were identified which were immediately implemented across UK business operations, including:
To reduce the remaining greenhouse gas emissions to net zero, Eden Springs has purchased carbon credits from two offset projects through The CarbonNeutral Company. This means that for every unavoidable tonne of carbon generated by Eden Springs’ products and operations, a tonne of carbon is prevented from entering the atmosphere by supporting the development of a run-of-river hydro power project in India and a methane capture initiative in China.
Eden Springs UK managing director Jean-Marc Bolinger was a major driver behind the CarbonNeutral programme. He said: “As a company, we fully understand that water is one of our planet’s most precious resources and we are acutely aware of the importance of protecting it. As industry leaders, we are committed to promoting an environmental programme to reduce CO2 emissions, which has now been strengthened with this CarbonNeutral certification.
“Being the first in our industry to achieve CarbonNeutral certification for both our company and products demonstrates our long term commitment to environmental responsibility – and we firmly believe that our new CarbonNeutral status will give us a very strong competitive edge in the market and act as a major motivator for our staff.”
He added: “We take great pride as a company that we have taken this lead in the industry, and it helps us define our position as market leaders. We believe that taking this initiative pre-empted what will eventually become imposed on companies by the Government and are proud that through our own initiative we have set a benchmark for a new industry standard in environmental practices.”
The CarbonNeutral programme has been implemented at a time of major expansion for Eden Springs’ UK operation. Over the next three years, the company plans to double in size through a combination of internal growth and acquisitions. This includes planning to invest more than £20m into a growth programme targeting a turnover of £60 million with around 500 employees – with the largest concentration of jobs being based in Scotland.
Jonathan Shopley, managing director of The CarbonNeutral Company said: “By adopting emission reduction targets that are as ambitious as its expansion plans, Eden Springs has positioned itself as an industry leader. Companies that follow this example, and not only understand their carbon footprint, but do everything necessary to reduce it in a way that is effective and efficient for their business, will leap ahead of their competitors and be well positioned for a low carbon future.”
Eden Springs’ three year plan includes extending the product range to include a wider range of coolers, a partnership with Brita for mains fed-plumbed in coolers and a high-end micro bottling unit in partnership with Vivreau. This follows a successful launch in 2010 of the company’s own point of use coolers. Other activities include the launch of hot beverages/coffee with manufacturers Lavazza and Kenco (Kraft) to bring fresh, high quality hot beverages/coffee service into the workplace and an innovative partnership with SodaStream.
Source: Eden Springs UK
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