Background
A specialist horticultural business, Eric Wall Ltd began growing tomatoes under glass on a two and a half acre site back in 1977. Thirty-four years on the company operates over 28 acres near Arundel, grows over 5,000 tonnes of tomatoes each year and is justifiably proud of its sustainability credentials.
The challenge
Whilst Eric Wall Ltd’s whole company ethos is based around good environmental and commercial practices the company had no formal way of proving its methods or sharing its successes with the outside world. When Sainsbury’s invited it to become a direct supplier the company thought that the natural synergy between the way the two organisations worked had helped tip the balance in its favour. To help retain a competitive edge Eric Wall Ltd needed to formalise its corporate responsibility plan and quantify the environmental savings its ongoing investment had achieved.
“We knew Eric Wall Ltd provided us with fantastic, British grown tomatoes, and consistently supply us with great quality fruit,” said Sainsbury’s Horticultural Manager Jo Hipperson. “But corporate responsibility is at the heart of our business and we aim to encourage long term relationships with suppliers able to demonstrate similar business ethics. We believed in Eric Wall Ltd and invited the company to attend a supplier workshop designed to nurture long-term sustainability”.
The response
James Dorrell, of Giraffe Innovation ran the workshop and was excited to discover such a forward-thinking horticultural business. A leading environmental management consultancy, Giraffe helps organisations to reduce costs and environmental impact as well as improving commercial efficiency.
“It was immediately obvious to me that Eric Wall Ltd took its corporate responsibility seriously,” said James. “It was clearly a great place to work – I had never come across a horticultural business with so many long term employees – but crucially it also realised the potential commercial benefits of running an environmentally sustainable business. Yet, whilst the systems were working well for the business their combined environmental savings were unknown”.
Giraffe referred the Sussex-based company to the Interreg IV A 2 Seas and SEEDA funded programme, EcoMind, which supports companies that want to develop environmental innovation and sustainable design and is delivered by South East Design. This programme then funded a three-day consultancy to quantify Eric Wall Ltd’s CO2 savings and further strengthen the company in line with Sainsbury’s stated values.
“With Giraffe’s help it was easy to see just how closely our business model fitted in with Sainsbury’s own five core values,” said Paul Faulkner, Commercial Manager, Eric Wall Ltd. “We value our staff very highly and, unusually for the horticultural industry we have a stable workforce. In fact some staff members have been with us for over 20 years, and their expertise is crucial to our ongoing success. Our staff share in our profits and benefit from monthly bonuses. In return we benefit from their accumulated experience. In particular this helps us to spot potential pests and diseases at very early stages and allows us to grow without recourse to artificial pesticides.
“We are also very much aware of our environmental responsibilities. 30% of our production costs are related to energy so there are sound commercial as well as environmental reasons to spur us on. We knew our investments were saving money, with Giraffe’s help we now know just how much ongoing benefit these investments are also making to the world we live in.
“In recent years we have installed new boilers, saving 630 tonnes of CO2 every year; put in a rainwater capture and irrigation system, saving over 27 million litres of water and 4.6 tonnes of CO2 every year; composted all tomato waste, saving 13,000 tonnes of landfill, and creating 900 tonnes of compost to help reduce fertiliser consumption; moved to a new system of ground cover saving 29 tonnes of plastic and 11 tonnes of CO2 equivalent over a three year period; and introduced thermal screens to cut down heat loss, a further saving of 129 tonnes CO2 equivalent.
“In total our ongoing investment in the environment has allowed us to save the equivalent of around 306 tonnes of CO2 and 28,000 metres cubed of water every year as well as diverting 1,300 tonnes from landfill. We are all immensely proud of our achievement.”
The outcome
Eric Wall Ltd’s proven commitment to the environment and its staff has clearly impressed Sainsbury’s. “Eric Wall Ltd can now clearly demonstrate that they share our values,” said Jo Hipperson. “The company is a shining example to others in their industry and we look forward to a continuing relationship.”
Paul Faulkner is also delighted with the outcome of Giraffe’s work. “There is no doubt that the process has been most beneficial,” said Paul. “We now have solid facts to back up our successful business practice and these will be of immense help in developing the business. It has highlighted the role corporate responsibility has played in driving our business forward for all the right reasons.”
Download the Eric Wall Ltd case study
Tags: EcoMind, eric wall ltd, South East Design, sustainable design
info@southeastdesign.co.uk
