Businesses using St Helens Chamber Business Growth Programme for Environmental Support, are finding that there is actually a by-product to becoming a sustainable business. That by-product is improved efficiency. With improved efficiency comes lower costs, which in turn improves the bottom line.
St Helens based Palletland Ltd is a great example. It has been committed to reducing emissions and becoming more sustainable since 2015, when it invested in emission reducing plant and machinery.
Managing Director Thomas Slater explains: “We identified that there was a great opportunity for us to grow and we invested heavily in the business. The site was extended, we bought new machinery and we invested in a Biomass System. The system enabled us to use our waste timber to heat the factory, and to power our wood drying kiln.
“I care passionately about the planet and the environment from a personal point of view and I wanted to bring that into the work environment as well. When I found out about the support from the Chamber it was too good an opportunity to miss really.”
Business Growth Programme can provide 12 hours of fully funded environmental consultancy. The aim of the project is to work with businesses to develop an environmental strategy to get them on the path to Net Zero.
The consultant worked with Thomas to review the whole company operation. The current carbon emissions were calculated, and then a plan was developed to help Palletland work towards its Net Zero goal.
Heaping praise on the support Thomas says: “It more than met my expectations. I knew that some aspects of the business could be less wasteful, and were costing us money, but I never realised how much. It massively opened our eyes to where we could save money and become more efficient, and of course greener.”
Numerous actions contributed to the energy savings, but the primary saving involved the kiln. Although its heat is generated by the Biomass system, its fan power comes from the grid.
Thomas explains: “We identified that we could reduce the fan speed by 24% without any negative effect on performance. This saved us over £1000 per month.”
So can Palletland achieve its ultimate Net Zero target?
Thomas unsurprisingly has no doubts: “We recycle everything that comes on our site, we are in the process of making all our processes the most environmentally friendly they can be. We have further investment plans for more efficient machinery, and we’re looking at adding to the 200 solar panels that we already have. I’m not just aiming for Net Zero, I want Palletland to be the best, and that means I want us to be Carbon positive even before 2050.”
If you would like to find out more about Palletland, visit its website
The Business Growth Programme is funded by the European Regional Development Fund. It provides 12 hours of fully funded support in a range of consultancy disciplines and is available to St Helens SMEs operating in a business to business environment.
