Environmental Policy

Pure Outdoor operates primarily within the upland areas of the UK many of which are ecologically and scientifically important. At the same time these areas are increasingly susceptible to damage through growing visitor numbers and climate change. As such we acknowledge our responsibility to maintain and protect these environments, both by carefully considering and mitigating our direct impact as well as promoting and supporting positive actions on the part of our customers.

 

General

 

To ensure that there is a legal basis for us to pursue these goals our Articles of Association include a requirement that we “have a material positive impact on the environment, taken as a whole”. Furthermore, in every action we take, we are required to consider “the impact of the Company's operations on the community and the environment and on affected stakeholders”.

 

We are therefore committed to continuously reviewing our environmental impact and taking steps to reduce it wherever possible. To fulfil this commitment we will:

 

  • Donate an equivalent of 5% of our sales annually to the Pure Outdoor Foundation, a charity whose stated purpose is “To promote, for the benefit of the public, the conservation, protection and improvement of the physical and natural environment throughout the UK by enabling people of all backgrounds to learn about the natural world.”
  • Encourage all employees, customers and other stakeholders to consider their environmental impact and suggest improvements
  • Implement small changes to our practices immediately
  • Record more significant changes in a regularly updated action plan giving specific deadline dates for completion
  • Provide transparency by making all our environmental actions and associated action plans freely available to the public

 

The following sections provide an overview of our current environmental actions and ongoing improvements. Details of our future intentions can be found in the Environment section of our current action plan (below)

 

Facilities

 

Since moving into our base in 2018 we have:

 

  • Significantly improved its thermal properties by installing new windows and replacing the roof with a system containing embedded insulation
  • Swapped to energy efficient, thermostatically controlled heaters which can be operated remotely allowing us to heat only the required areas
  • Replaced all lighting with low-energy LED based bulbs

 

On an ongoing basis we:

  • Regularly review our energy supply tariff. Our current supplier uses 76% renewable sources
  • Have procedures in place to ensure that all lighting, heating and appliances are switched off when not in use
  • Monitor energy use so we can in the future set reduction targets

 

Transport

 

Staff are encouraged to reduce unnecessary journeys by considering the following:

 

  • Attending staff meetings virtually where appropriate
  • Using venues that are close to the meeting point during courses
  • Arranging car sharing wherever possible during courses
  • Reduce corporate travel to essential journeys

 

To encourage customers to use public transport where possible we offer the following benefits:

 

  • Course times are arranged to coincide with public transport timetables
  • A discount voucher sent by email
  • Lend out, free of charge, camping equipment for the duration of the course
  • Offer a local pick up service at the beginning and end of each day

 

 

Consumables

 

We actively consider the environmental impact of all the products we consume as a company. Our purchasing is guided by the following practices which we apply whenever possible for both our training centre and virtual office facilities:

  • Centralise purchasing to reduce shipping (from an approved supplier list)
  • Buy from UK based suppliers/manufacturers
  • Use suppliers/manufacturers who prioritise minimal, recycled and recyclable packaging
  • Reduce the use of chemicals and use low-toxicity, cruelty-free cleaning products
  • Prioritise purchasing organically or locally grown, fair-trade foods and beverages for the café
  • Where available use chlorine free / unbleached paper products
  • Employees are provided with a list of environmentally-preferred vendors for office supplies
  • Buy from certified B Corp companies whose ethos aligns with that of Pure Outdoor

 

We consider the end of life when purchasing all products and we currently do the following:

 

  • No longer produce and distribute an annual brochure. All content is available online
  • Provide education and training in the use of all equipment provided to clients and staff to ensure longevity
  • Reduce the use of non-recyclable packaging, replace disposables with permanent mugs, cutlery
  • Recycle all cardboard, paper, plastic, glass and metal
  • Recycle/Repurpose end of life climbing equipment. By using companies such as Handicrafti. We currently recycle all of our climbing ropes.
  • Identify, reduce and correctly dispose of hazardous waste materials. We presently use alkaline and NiMH batteries (rechargeable NiMH where possible), which at the end of life are collected and taken to a local disposal facility

 

Workforce

 

  • Engage with local sub contractors

 

Environmental Action Plan 2024/2025

 

During this coming year we aim to:

 

  • Add a sustainability email to our post booking process, to help educate participants about sustainable practices and the best green transport options
  • Recycle cotton products through the Teemill Remill scheme
  • Offer further discouns and promotions to anyone travelling on public transport

 

ARCHIVE Environmental Action Plan 2023/2024 

  • Build secure bike storage to encourage the use of public transport and travel by bike
  • Build an online course to help raise awareness of environmentally sound practices when it comes to outdoor activities
  • Publish an Environmental Risk Benefit Analysis for all activities

 

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