Our Sustainability Goal
At Folens, our objective is to reduce our impact on the environment and become carbon neutral by 2025. We can achieve this by changing our behaviours and business practices by focusing on the three pillars of sustainability –the reduction of energy, waste and water.
We have been working with an environmental education provider, Fifty Shades Greener, since the beginning of 2022 to help us achieve our sustainability goals.
Our Commitment
“Working with teams like Folens is what makes my job so enjoyable, the commitment demonstrated from the CEO to the Green Manager and every green team member is second to none. A sustainable future and NetZero industries is possible, all we need is commitment, effort and a willingness to do better. Folens has embraced this challenge and is setting the pace for other companies to follow”. Raquel Noboa, Founder & CEO, Fifty Shades Greener
“I am delighted that we have launched this initiative at Folens. Our collaboration with Fifty Shades Greener has enabled us to put a clear sustainability goal and action plan in place. I am very proud of the enthusiasm and commitment the Folens team has shown to making a real difference and reducing our carbon footprint.” Andrew Miller, CEO, Folens
Our Green Team
We have appointed a Green Manager to ensure that the action plan to reduce energy, waste and water is implemented. “Setting sustainability goals is so important for every business. It is really exciting to see the results that even small changes can make to our use of energy, water and our reduction of waste. I’m looking forward to implementing even bigger changes over the coming months.” Gerard Boland, Green Manager, Folens
The Green Team is made up of 20 volunteers from across the company, whose job it is to track the resources we use each month and identify where we have made reductions and what further improvements we can make in the future.
Our Achievements so far
Over the last few years we have promoted a sustainability culture among employees with recycling, paperless processes, personal drinking bottles and mugs, compostable cups etc. With the launch of Folens Goes Green, we conducted detailed audits of the energy and water we are using as a business as well as the waste we are producing. We used this to develop our sustainability plan and since the start of 2022 we have already been able to implement some improvements. We have started the process of replacing our diesel car fleet to EVs. To date we have purchased 7 EV cars and we have already replaced our delivery van with an electrical van. We also installed solar panels in Folens in late June. Our solar installation is projected to provide 50% of our energy needs annually.
Next Steps
We have lots of exciting plans for the months ahead. These include:
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Continuing the process of switching our Sales Rep diesel cars to electric vehicles
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Providing all employees with Green Skills training to enhance their own sustainability awareness
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Check out our social media channels for updates on our most recent achievements.
Other Green Initiatives
Folens hive with OpenHive
We are partnering with OpenHive as part of our own sustainability goals by sponsoring a dedicated Folens hive. This initiative aims to help the native black bee to thrive again in Ireland. Our hive is supposed to have a population of roughly 50,000 bees by mid-summer.
OpenHive combines modern and sustainable beekeeping techniques with the traditional art of keeping bees to help the Irish black honeybee thrive and to produce high quality, local Irish honey.
All-Ireland Pollinator Plan
We are very proud to be a business supporter of the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan. One third of our bee species are under threat of extinction because of the reduction in flowers across the Irish landscape. The idea behind the plan is to create an Ireland where pollinators can survive and thrive. Companies such as ours can sign up to the plan and take steps to help for example planting bee-friendly plants and shrubs.
Our Books & Paper
All our books are printed on officially certified paper from sustainably managed sources in line with FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) or PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification). We made changes to the covers of our Christmas Annuals back in 2019 so that they are now 100% recyclable. Digital versions are available for all our Teacher Guides, solutions and lesson plans as well as eBooks for Post-Primary student textbooks.