Environment
We’re leading a shift in how the washroom hygiene sector thinks about sustainability. Through ongoing assessment of our operations and clear environmental targets, we’re committed to making a measurable difference — not just a stated one.
Calabash Mint aims to:
Minimise production of waste and increase recycling rates by following the waste hierarchy (reduce-reuse-recycle).
Minimise consumption of energy and water.
Minimise the environmental impact of activities on site.
Minimise the emissions from vehicle use.
Promote the use of materials and products with recycled content or from sustainably managed sources.
How we put this into practice:
Comply with environmental law and regulations.
Work continuously to improve the effectiveness of our environmental management.
Provide appropriate environmental training for all employees.
Constantly review the suppliers, chemicals and processes within our operations.
Seek to prevent pollution before it is produced.
Reduce, reuse and recycle wherever possible.
Monitor our environmental performance regularly to ensure we meet the standards.
Calabash Mint upholds its position as a UK leader by conducting all operations in a manner that is protective of the environment and health & safety of employees, customers and the community. We foster and promote environmentally sustainable business practices through participation in industry groups, government agency forums, advocacy and citizen groups in the development of practical legislation.
Vehicles
We endeavour to control the level of harmful emissions, wherever practicable.
We have changed our vehicles to hybrid or very low emissions vehicles or are changing them upon renewal of the leases.
All of our vans are diesel (getting better mileage than traditional gasoline engines and diesel fuel requires less refining).
Sustainable waste management
Offensive Waste, also referred to as Non-Infectious Waste, can be a complex waste stream to manage.
Once our service drivers collect waste from clients, it’s transferred to our waste disposal partner Grundon. Using their Sterilwave machines, the waste is reduced in volume by up to 80% before being converted into RDF (Refuse Derived Fuel) — a renewable fuel source generating energy for the national grid.
Resources
We promote the use of water saving facilities to minimise consumption of valuable water reserves.
We promote the use of energy efficient systems, and reflect this in our choice of factory and office accommodation.
Suppliers
We endeavour to purchase only from suppliers who share our concern over the environment, and ensure their own operations reflect this requirement.
Products
Whenever possible we use products from sustainable resources. We are encouraging our clients to switch to non–aerosol air fresheners. With no propellants, solvents and CFCs they are safe to use and recycle. With low VOSs they’re ideal for green building and LEED certification requirements.
Resources
We promote the use of water saving facilities to minimise consumption of valuable water reserves.
We promote the use of energy efficient systems, and reflect this in our choice of factory and office accommodation.
Batteries
Our activities requires the use of a large amount of batteries.
Whenever possible we promote the use of rechargeable batteries, providing and charging the batteries in our warehouse.
Once the batteries life has come to an end we dispose them in recycle containers and are taken to an approval recycling centre.
Management system
In our commitment to preserve and minimise the impact of our activities on the environment we have implemented an environmental management system (ISO 14001:2015) and a quality management system (ISO 9001:2015). These tools help us to control, monitor and standardize our procedures towards a better environmental practice.