Environmental Policy and Ethics
Our business, Made in Stroud Ltd, was set up with the intention of supporting local food and drink producers and local artisan makers, and our environmental and ethical policies are integral to our business, and are our main motivators.
Here is our Environmental Policy, with an idea of how we implement it on a practical level.
Made in Stroud Ltd runs farmers markets in Gloucestershire and Wiltshire and other occasional events in the community.
We encourage local farmers, growers and producers to sell their produce locally, reducing food miles, promoting the consumption of local products, maintaining traditional skills and keeping local businesses trading. We aim to create a sense of community in our work.
We work with local organisations and individuals to promote the consumption of local produce and to encourage environmental best practice through education, encouragement, and by providing information and facilitation through the provision of guest stalls at markets, projects with local schools and the community and special events & seasonal celebrations.
We work with local community farms and other groups in the hope that the community may forge closer links to the land and food production.
At Made in Stroud, we recognise that our business activities have the potential to harm the environment. As a company, we are committed to making continuous improvements in the environmental performance of our activities.
The company is committed to recycling 100% of its waste paper, cardboard, plastic bottles, cans and glass and has provided stallholders and employees with recycling facilities for all the above at Stroud farmers market and in the farmers' market office.
We do not deal in company plastic carrier bags, but instead sell re-usable bags. We also encourage the re-use of plastic carrier bags at our markets by providing visible recycling points for customers and stallholders to deposit their clean, used carrier bags for use at the events.
The company considers the environmental and social impacts of its branded products and is committed to sourcing only fairly-traded or ethically-traded branded products wherever they are available. We only buy fairly traded cotton bags and tea towels (from Bishopston Trading) and ethically traded jute shopping bags. (from Canby) The company will not engage in buying branded products which are unnecessarily wasteful of resources or do not have a significant use. (For example, branded biros, plastic carrier bags)
We conserve resources through efficient use and careful planning. We source office stationery made from recycled paper wherever possible, and seek to reduce waste in our office by re-using waste paper and providing comprehensive recycling facilities.
Working with local suppliers means that the environmental impact of their products and transportation is reduced compared to main-stream retailing. Packaging is also reduced in many cases. Through our newsletter to stallholders we will continue to provide information on the benefits of environmental business practice.
Every year, we will review our performance in implementing our environmental policy and will look at ways of becoming a greener business.
Kardien Gerbrands
Managing Director