Bio-health – herbal medicine company is green to the core.
Rochester based Herbal Medicine Company Bio-Health,produces vitamin and mineral food supplements. The green ethos is core to business. Products are sold on their purity, customers want to know they are getting true natural healthcare, but also there is a concern for the protection and sustainability of plant types.
Since 2004, a positive sustainability policy has paid big dividends, not only through good environmental management and resource efficiency, but through enhancing the image of the company and thereby winning lots of free advertising and promotion.
The comprehensive programme runs through every aspect of its operations, starting with a Green Policy Statement and Green Purchasing Questionnaire that is sent to all suppliers.
ENERGY and WATER
Eco Managers, one each for the factory and the office, monitor utility use, encouraging everything from switching lights off to saving water. Water saving equipment in the men’s toilet cut water use by 80%, saving 70 cubic metres a year, or nearly £500 over five years.
WASTE
The war on waste included re-using all paper, then shredding it to provide packaging materials, replacing costly and less sustainable plastics. All waste product ingredients and ‘household’ waste went to a composter; plastic waste was given to a local school for art lessons; waste sacking and plastic sheeting went to local allotments holders. Waste to landfill plummeted from 1 large skip a fortnight to 1/2 skip a month, with savings in 2004 of £150 per month. Rising landfill charges and tighter waste regulations mean these easures will continue to reap huge savings.
PR and ADVERTISING
Perhaps the most profitable outcome of all has been the publicity Bio-Health has won because of its environmental management programme. Multiple award-winners, the directors have been invited as speakers or guests at several high profile events, and featured in newspapers and magazines about sustainability in business. They have often rubbed shoulders with large corporate firms and multi-nationals, and are in their own words: “punching way above their weight”.
“Our programme has already given us bottom line savings in excess of £25,000 in the last four years and, of course, will continue. Perhaps most importantly, it has also raised our reputation in our own industry and outside,” says June Crisp. “We have achieved PR and advertising equivalent, worth well over £200,000, way beyond the resources of a company our size and I hope we can provide an example to other small businesses”.
Contact Email:
Organisation:
Business Link, Bio-health
Organisation’s website:
http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/southeast
Keywords relating to this case study:
Waste, energy, water, health, pharmaceuticals
South East groups case study relates to:
Business and economy
