Merryhill made a strategic decision in 2007 to do what we reasonably could to play our part in moving towards a more sustainable future. We decided to make best use of our social, environmental and economic resources to help contribute towards a wider goal of sustainable development.

We began by addressing the way in which we managed the environmental impact we had as a business, and we undertook to achieve a recognisable Environmental Management System accredited to ISO14001. This we achieved in early 2008, and as an element of that system, we have now embedded challenging environmental objectives for our business, particularly in relation to energy usage, recycling and supply chain.

In 2008 we undertook a review of our supply chain, and identified suppliers who we believed held a more positive view of engaging with us in our environmental objectives. We challenged those suppliers who made little effort to engage more to help us identify ways in which we could for example reduce the amount of packaging that came into the business.

As a result of our review, Merryhill drafted a Sustainable Procurement Policy, setting out clear standards that we expected from our supply chain. This document can be viewed on our website. Examples of change include our stationary suppliers. We went from using two national companies who delivered multiple times per month from large distances, to a local supplier who now delivers just once a month.

Merryhill’s most ambitious programme is currently underway; In late 2009 Merryhill secured significant European grant funding to join an influential programme called PLATO: Sustain. This is a 2 year development programme aimed at just 160 SME’s across the country, and aims to promote best practice in sustainability within these businesses. Facilitated by some of the UK major businesses, such as SONY and Scott Wilson, our focus is boosting the way in which we do business so as to have a raised contribution towards a sustainable future.

We are focussing right now and into 2011 on our practices in for example energy usage, transport, waste management and procurement.