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Environmentally Different

Us!  This is what we do.

Ceri orgainises garments for World in Need, Karen recycles everything that moves including the tea bags, Jenny collects the vilene for Willen hospice, Helen in a founder member of the Milton Keynes Fairtrade Forum, Natalie cycles to work and volunteers at the hospice, Lisa shouts "this is the way of the future", Marlene pays our suppliers on time, fairly, Paul (IT support) cycles to us, Alison (bookekeeper) organises Northamptonshire South Freecycle, Jenny designs  our ethical flyers, and Ros our newest member is already coming up with wonderful new ideas e.g. growing plants for the dyeing of fabrics here on Rose Lane Farm!  Watch this space.

Bagging of garments

95 percent of all the bags we use to package our garments are biodegradable. We are the only corporate clothing company that we are aware of that invests in this option.

Re-use of spoilt garments and old uniforms - World in Need

As manufacturers, on occasion, some of our embroidery and printing is not up to the standards we expect. This means that an otherwise perfect garment could be wasted. It is our company policy at Cotton Roots to find use for all of these garments.

We work with the Charity World in Need who can promise that the garments will not be used in the UK. This is important to us as our customers, for security reasons, may not want clothing with their company or school logo to be used in the UK.

We give all customers the opportunity to “opt out” of our scheme, but so far no-one has. We think this is great news!

www.winint.org

Re Branding re-use of uniforms

Occasionally some of our larger customers need to collect uniforms and distribute new ones. This may be because the company has been bought by another and so a different uniform is required. We offer to take this clothing back and collect it for World in Need.

Case study 1 – Meter-u www.meter-u.co.uk

When Meter-u, (a major meter reading organisation) re-branded, we worked with Gary Thomas their manager and collected all their old uniforms, which were then brought back to us. We checked and sorted the garments before organising transport to World in Need.

Case study 2 – FSG Facilities Services Group www.fsguk.co.uk

When Circle Britannia (a major facilities maintenance company) re-branded to FSG, we worked with Declan Clarke their procurement manager to devise a way to use branded old stock during the transition period. We agreed to duel-brand the stock, the style depending upon the garment. Then, with our stock management system, we devised a way to dispatch uniform so that each FSG employee had a dual-branded item amongst their single branded stock. This system was in place until all old stock was used. In this way FSG staff were happy, FSG were happy, we were happy and no garments made their way to landfill. Winning all around.

Re-use of our waste

Where we cannot use for some of the by-products of our manufacturing process we try and find another use for them.

Willen Hospice

During embroidery we use a fabric Vilene backing to hold the garment firm while it is in the frame. This is then torn off and discarded. We collect and donate this waste to Willen Hospice who can sell it and raise funds.

Local schools

We often have small amount of rayon thread left on spools. Local schools and universities use the spare thread.

Universities

We also collect our offcuts of FAIRTRADE and organic fabric. We have found university students really appreciate these pieces of material for use in often ground-breaking fashion designs.

Allotment

One member of staff is a keen gardener so we collect our old tea bags and she uses them on her allotment.

Cardboard

Our cardboard is donated to schools when it is useful, otherwise it is sorted for recycling.

Purchasing pre-used items

Whenever we can we purchase items which are pre-used.

Of course this saves us money which we think is great for business. Some of the items we are proud to have bought pre-used:- boxes, office furniture, pallet trucks, racking and picking boxes.

Energy

We purchase our electricity from Ecoctricity. After much research we selected Ecotricity as the energy supplier most committed to renewable energy.

Transport to work

We try and recruit locally where possible. One member of staff regularly cycles to work while two others diligently try to cycle as often as possible. Every little helps!

Printing

We have recently found a printer that uses vegetable oils. Of course we use recycled paper throughout the company which is FSC managed.