Environmental
Policy
We
at Nicholsons have always been very conscious
of our effect on the environment
and this document highlights the current position
and shares our plans. We will always aim to
improve, and the spreadsheet at the end of
this document shows our targets for the year
and the progress we have made.
Reducing
We
will endeavour to plan purchases more carefully
to reduce waste and minimise errors. We will
measure accurately, buy exactly, seek the best
specifications, target value-for-money, and
reject goods if they are not correct. We will
store materials with greater care to reduce
damage and waste. We will advise clients wisely,
and endeavour to meet their needs exactly,
with thought and consideration, and not to “sell
up” at
the risk of the environment.
We
will monitor any waste arising from failures
to adhere to these principles, and report results
at our regular staff and management meetings.
We shall seek to rectify any areas of weakness
and set targets for the future.
Re-using
 We will re-use materials and recycle wherever
feasible. This will include all pots larger than
7.5 litres, and these to be washed and sterilised
ready for reuse. On site waste must be sorted
and recycled wherever possible.
We shall examine the feasibility of introducing
a wet heat treatment system to sterilise pots
on a cost-benefit basis, and check to ensure
that pot sorting on site minimises labour on
nursery.
During landscaping and renovation work, we frequently
have to lift old patio slabs, paving and flagstones.
These are returned to Nicholsons for storage,
and are often donated for use in schools and
community projects.
Other reclaimed materials, including soil and
hardcore, are re-employed wherever possible as
in-fill on the sites where we are working, as
part of the design process, and we also minimise
the unnecessary re-transportation of waste in
this way.
Recycling
 Any pot or similar material that is non-standard
or not easily reusable at the Nursery is inter-stacked
in reused crates or palleted and collected when
empty logistics or pot-company lorries are visiting.
Not until a load is full is it removed from the
site.
Waste
plastics, woven polythene, cardboard and plastic
containers are taken to a recycling depot in
Northamptonshire, where they are stockpiled
and baled. These bulk collections are then sold
on to re-manufacturers and turned into plastic
bags, furniture, traffic cones etc. We are actively
seeking markets or other suitable outlets for
all the materials that currently end up in our
waste skips, and we are introducing better sorting
methods and staff training regimes to ensure
better use of the skips and minimal tipping
to landfill of recyclable items.
We store wood waste on site, and once a full
load has been amassed, this is sent by lorry
to a depot in Abingdon for reprocessing. There
it is graded and suitable wood for chipping is
transported on to Sweden or Belgium for processing.
Pallet-grade softwood is kept in this country
for re-use or, if no longer of sufficient length
or quality, is shredded to create animal bedding.
Green waste is taken to our closest composting
site at Ardley for recycling. Where possible,
green waste is taken directly to Agrivert to
minimize diesel miles and reduce carbon footprint.
We are also encouraging our clients to look into
composting facilities of their own, to reduce
transportation cost and to devise sustainable
means towards the generation of composts and
soil enhancers.
 Woodchip material generated by our tree surgery
operations is stockpiled and then sold in bulk
as a renewable energy source to Combined Heat
and Power plants, including Slough Heat and Power.
Heating in the office is currently oil-fired,
but we are investigating the possibility of
installing an 85kW wood chip fired boiler system, for
the generation of hot water and heat for the
Nursery site, to reuse our own woodchips.
Timber from tree surgery operations is returned
to the yard to be processed into logs and kindling
for sale through Nicholsons
Firewood.
In
the Office
 Office
waste paper is recycled at every desk station.
Members of staff are encouraged to use “Print
Preview” to reduce printing errors and
waste. Office stationery is to be kept tidy and
reused wherever possible, particularly with regard
to lever arch files, ring binders, sleeves and
pockets. Staff are encouraged not to print needlessly,
especially emails, and not to produce duplicate
copies where one will do.
Stock
levels will be managed more accurately, and
over-ordering or unnecessary purchases must
be avoided wherever possible. All paper supplies
should be from FSC approved sources. Material
should be filed electronically, on the central
server, if at all possible. Our aim is for
a “paperless” office
by 2015.
Cleaning and office products will be purchased
on the basis of quality, effectiveness and value
for money. Only buy ECO products in bulk and
buy all consumables from local supermarkets (Deddington)
or farm shops. We shall continue to support our
local organic dairy in North Aston.
Plants
We source with quality in mind from local suppliers
wherever possible. We only buy from continental
Europe when there is no UK equivalent and, in
such instances, we endeavour to achieve linked
deliveries.
We purchase in bulk to minimise packaging and
transport miles.
Compost
 One third of the peat used in horticulture is
used by the 'production' side, two thirds is
used by gardeners / public. National targets
for bagged products are that they should achieve
peat-free status by 2030 for professionals.
We
are carrying out peat-free trials and will move
across as soon as the compost does not reduce
the quality of the plants we grow.
 Our
preliminary aim is to achieve peat-free in
40% of our production and buying by 2020. We
are currently achieving a lowering of peat
usage in our standard production compost through
the introduction of sterilised wood fibre and
the use of loam, but we are still operating
at an unacceptably high percentage of peat
use and are striving to reduce this as a matter
of urgency.
Pots
The
pots that we use currently are produced from
98% recycled material.
At
present, the cost of using biodegradable pots
is prohibitive and our clients do not, as of
now, appear willing to meet this additional
cost. However, as demand increases, and costs
reduce, we hope to be moving towards a non-plastic
based pot by 2020.
We will encourage all our customers to return
their empty pots to us after use, so that we
can either re-use or recycle them.
Building
and Hard Landscaping, Tools & Materials
We
aim to use only local quarries for all of our
aggregate needs (Smiths of Bletchington). Where
materials cannot be sourced locally, we strive
to minimise fuel-miles. We have reduced our
use of Indian Sandstone, used for paving slabs,
from 95% a year ago, to less than 50% today,
and target to have eliminated this import need
completely by 2015.
We
aim to buy locally, where at all possible.
We will purchase sustainable products where
we can, and seek to obtain quality products
that will be more durable, appropriate to purpose,
and fulfil our needs more effectively.
Timber
 For tropical hardwoods all timber is FSC. Soft
wood to be tanalised to make it last longer.
Where timber needs to be long-lasting whilst
in contact with the ground, this timber to be
'redwood' not 'whitewood' (spruce). Exceptions
to this can be made only where a short effective
life-span is acceptable or desirable, such as
in tree stake use.
Such timber to be sourced, wherever possible,
from UK forests, ensuring suppliers provide 'non
spruce' where Hazard class 4 material is required.
Where this cannot be relied on, and where timber
is to be imported, it shall be from certified
forests.
Vehicles & Deliveries
 Company vehicles must be well serviced, low
mileage examples, offering best possible mpg
with low CO2 emissions. We will be carrying out
feasibility studies into the possible introduction
of alternative fuel types, including electric
and LPG.
All our vehicles are on a full servicing schedule.
Additionally, all fuel consumption is monitored
per vehicle and action taken if vehicles are
not running efficiently. All vehicles are checked
in-house fortnightly to determine efficiency
of performance, evidence of wear and tear, and
all-round condition.
Driving to appointments and meetings is to be
minimised and journeys should be combined wherever
possible. We will be introducing a staff training
course to highlight fuel-efficient driving techniques.
With good planning and support of our clients
and suppliers, we should strive for long lead
times and ensure that deliveries are linked and
more efficient.
Utilities
 Heating
within the office is thermostatically controlled,
and must be monitored daily to ensure that
conditions are neither needlessly too warm,
or too cold to hinder staff performance. The
Plant Sales cabin is heated by a heat conversion
unit. All doors must be kept closed.
We are also currently researching the possibility
of installing an 85kW Chip fired boiler which will produce
hot water that will be distributed via an underground main and
will be used to provide heat and hot water in our current offices,
the Plant Centre building, the new Orchard Barn and the house.
Again it will benefit from the Government's Renewable Heat Incentive
which is another way of encouraging use of renewable energy.
We have a source of woodchips both from the Tree Surgery Waste,
but also from the waste pallets that we get and we will be able
to turn this into usable energy. This will allow us to become
completely free of the need for Oil for our heating purposes.
All filament bulbs have been exchanged for low-energy
wherever possible. Exterior lights are on timers
to achieve best compromise between security/safety
and energy consumption.
 All
the water used for irrigation on the nursery
is from our own 6000m3 reservoir. The water is
collected from the site roofs, including the
barns and polytunnels, and runoff from around
the nursery is channelled into the reservoir.
Water is filtered and chlorinated to ensure all
disease is removed. Plants on the nursery are
checked daily for watering requirements and
only watered as required.
We have started
installing Photo Voltaic (PV) cells which will generate over 40,000kWh
per year and should make us virtually self-sufficient
on electricity needs. These are being installed on our
large steel barn in the Nursery which faces due South
and is ideally placed to trap the sun's energy. The scheme
will benefit from the Government's Feed in Tarrif which encourages
the use of renewable energy.
We have also investigated the potential for wind-generated
power.
Wildlife &
Statutory Requirements
We
grow our plants under UK legislation, with
particular attention to reduced pesticide input
by crop monitoring. We use Integrated
Pest Management wherever possible. Our aim
is to reduce usage by a further 30% by the
end of 2012
Habitats
Directive 2004
Nicholsons
adhere to Natural
England guidelines relating to the
protection of European Protected Species.
Nicholsons
Forestry specifically adhere to Forestry
Commission (England)/ Natural England Guidelines relating
to European Protected Species in all their
operations.
This
legislation protects all seventeen Bat species
found in England, as well as Dormice, Great
Crested Newts, Otters, Sand Lizards and Smooth
Snakes.
Offences
under the legislation are summarised below:
- Damaging
or destroying the breeding site or resting
place of a protected species (even if unintentional
or even when the animal is not present)
- Deliberately
killing or injuring a protected species or
destroying its eggs
- Deliberately
disturbing a protected species in a manner
that:
- either significantly affects its ability to
survive and breed;
- or, as a consequence, significantly affects
the local population.
We
are compliant with the Wildlife
and Countryside Act 1981 with
regard to Nesting Birds.
Forestry
Act 1967
(as amended) &
Town & Country
Planning Regulations
The
above regulations are the primary means by
which tree felling is controlled. We secure
the necessary permissions and licences prior
to our felling operations whenever they are
required.
Environmental
Impact Assessment Regulations (Forestry) (England & Wales)
1999
Whilst
this is not a well-known piece of legislation,
it does regulate new planting, deforestation
(the clearance of woodland to other uses),
and the development of forest roads and quarries.
The regulations apply to all such operations,
whether grant-aided or not, and thresholds
are used to guide foresters on when to seek
permission under this legislation.
We
will consult with the Forestry Commission where
the thresholds are likely to be exceeded, and
apply on behalf of our clients to secure their
consent.
UK
Forest Standard & Forestry
Commission Guidelines
The
UK Forest Standard outlines the Governments
vision for sustainable woodland management. Standard
Notes contained within it give a helpful overview
to best practice, which draws heavily from other
Forestry Commission Guidelines and Practice Guides.
We follow these in our business; specifically
those relating to the protection of water and
water courses, landscape, archaeology and management
of ancient and semi-natural woodlands.
We
are aware of the Environment Agency’s
Legislation on Bonfires and have the statutory D7
Exemption Certificate, which we
are happy to display if requested.
We
follow good practice procedures in the event
that we encounter Japanese
Knotweed during the course of
our work.
We
always stop work if any change in profile in
the soils we are working with looks to be man-made,
and we seek the advice of the County Archaeologist,
with clients’ permission,
if we ever encounter material or finds of archaeological
interest.
If
you would like further information about our
Environmental Policy, or wish to discuss any
aspect of our plans, please do not hesitate to Contact
us.
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Fax:
01869 340350