How We Try to Run a Greener Small Business

We’re a small family business, not a corporation with a sustainability team, so our approach to this is practical rather than performative. Over the years we’ve made a handful of changes that reduce waste and energy use without making a big song and dance about it. Here’s what we actually do.

Solar panels on the workshop

We have a 2.4kW solar panel system on the office in Southern Scotland. It’s not enormous, but at that capacity it generates somewhere between 2,880 and 4,320 kWh per year depending on the season — enough to make a meaningful dent in our grid consumption. At the UK average carbon intensity of around 0.233 kg CO²/kWh, that works out to roughly 0.67 metric tonnes of CO² saved annually. Scotland’s grid is cleaner than the UK average thanks to a high proportion of wind generation, so the real saving is likely a bit higher.

It also means we’re less exposed to energy price spikes, which as a small business is a practical benefit as much as an environmental one.

Paper-based application tape

We switched from plastic application tape to paper-based alternatives a few years ago. Application tape is the transfer medium used to move vinyl graphics from their backing to the surface — it’s used on every single order we send out. Switching to paper reduces the plastic waste associated with every job, and paper tape performs perfectly well for the vast majority of what we produce.

Recycled packaging tubes

Rolled graphics are sent out in cardboard tubes. We source these from a local business that supplies recycled tubes, which means we’re not buying new material when reclaimed material works just as well. It also keeps the supply chain local, which matters to us.

Offcuts to local craft groups

Vinyl cutting produces offcuts — there’s no way around it. Rather than binning them, we collect the usable pieces and pass them on to local craft groups who can put them to use. It’s a small thing but it means the material gets a second life rather than going straight to landfill.

What we haven’t solved yet

Vinyl itself is a plastic product, and that’s not something we can change at the moment. The alternatives — natural rubber adhesives, bio-based films — exist in limited forms but aren’t yet available at the quality and range required for the work we do. We keep an eye on what’s developing in the materials space. If something genuinely better becomes available and practical, we’ll use it.

We’re not claiming to be a green business in any marketing sense. We just try to make sensible choices where we can, and to be honest about the limitations where we can’t.