Sustainability 2021
We’re measuring more than just our financial performance…….
Hooked On Granite Ltd is an independent British business with a long history of providing the best equipment and advice to hillwalkers, rock climbers, mountaineers and expeditions to the greater ranges. We strive to be a ‘good’ business by considering the impact of our activities on people (social impact) and the planet (environmental impact), not just on profit. Our business was founded in 2005 but as custodians of two of the most established outdoor retail brands in the UK, we continue a combined 118 year path paved by some of the greatest climbers in the world.
We are in business to help people discover and enjoy the outdoor environment and we fully recognise the connection between encouraging people to get outside more and the impact tourism has on the environment. We do our best to be a ‘good’ business, focusing on minimizing our environmental impact and striving to improve every year. We’re also proud to support three National Park charities: The Snowdonia Society and The Lake District Foundation and Fix The Fells whose tireless work helps to protect our stunning natural environment for generations to come. In addition, we support a number of charities committed to promote the advancement of health or saving of lives and to aid the prevention or relief of poverty, improving the life chances of children, young people and families by inspiring them to engage positively in their communities and helping mountain people to help themselves raise their standard of living and strengthen indigenous, community-based culture. We do this via The El Rio Foundation (formerly the Frank Davies Trust), The Brathay Trust and Community Action Nepal.
You can read our 2019 report on Giving Back here
Our 2020 Sustainability Report is available to read here
As of September 2020, we started an annual process to assess the full environmental impact of our business. We’ve always aimed to be an environmentally responsible business, but that doesn’t count for much if we’re not actually measuring our environmental impact. We are very proud to maintain our Green Small Business Certification.
Environmental Impact:
As part of this process we continue to monitor our sustainable energy providers.
Our warehouse has already switched to using new paper based packaging where plastics e.g: bubble wrap that are already in the system cannot be re-used and from this year all boxes we purchase have a certified FSC blend. We use a mix of paper and plastic tape depending which best suits the packaging and continue our research into the murky world of which is best: paper or sustainable plastic packaging.
Our positive impact on energy consumption included continuing to offer the Bike To Work Scheme, our raft of sustainable Covid security measures continue and in Wales we have recycled all of our electrical goods via an organisation that re-purposes working items and donates them to charities for continued use. Our continued commitment to offer brown paper bags instead of bio-degradable plastic bags at checkout is complemented by many customers not requiring a bag at all.
For a number of years now we have only stocked re-chargeable batteries where available.
In addition, we have created digitally and sustainably printed brochures to help customers understand how to better maintain their waterproofs and insulated clothing, allowing their garments to last longer. These communications are complemented by digital Buyers Guides available on our blog page and a new series of podcasts; Outdoor Gear Chat.
This year we also launched our successful: Green Friday campaign where we focused on the many items we sell which are either recycled, contain recycled content or generate a charitable donation to an environmental cause. We included a list of terms that customers could look for to better understand what they are buying and pledged 5% of all sales generated across the last weekend in November to environmental charities resulting in a donation of over £4600.
Social Impact:
We have been delighted that through our longstanding charitable commitments we have still been able to have a positive impact even during another year of lockdowns:
We raised monies for The Lake District Foundation via Subscription, Branded Nalgene Bottles & Ali’s Maps and for The Snowdonia Society via Corporate Subscription & Branded Nalgene Bottles.
We also continued to pay a substantial amount to Community Action Nepal via Rental payments for our Ambleside shop & the selling of Doug Scott signed photographic prints and Nepali artifacts.
Donations were made to The Brathay Trust, The Martin Moran Foundation, Y Bartneriaeth Awyr Agored/The Outdoor Partnership, Ambleside Primary School PTA and Barrow Women’s Community Matters.
In February we launched the Joe Brown Outdoor Academy which is currently a website packed full of outdoor equipment knowledge, outdoor skills and where customers can find fully qualified instructors to help them enjoy the hills safely.
In June we hosted a women’s online technical clothing symposium raising awareness of outdoor athlete body shapes. This information was passed to our key suppliers who have all taken it on board and are making adjustments to their future ranges as a result.
We are also working closely with a climber who has had to flee their country due to conflict, directly providing them with clothing, equipment and opportunities to get out into the hills.
In the grand scheme of things, we are a very small company. Our size, however, means we can have a direct positive impact on both our local and global environments both environmentally and socially. We have no need to “greenwash” because we are in full control of our decisions, as is every other small business out there.
Be responsible, buy local where you can and support small businesses as together, we can all make a massive difference.