Environmental Policy

AHS Limited recognises that concern for the environment should be a integral and fundamental part of the business. We are aware of the impact of our day-to-day operations on the environment: our main objective is to balance the need to achieve our business activities with a fully committed policy towards sustainable environmental improvement which will be measured through the following certifications held by the company:

BS EN 14001:2015 An Environmental Management System which will be implemented in line with our policy, maintained and continually reviewed and  improved to ensure we are a forward-thinking company with regard to the Environment.

FSC (Forest Stewardship Scheme) is a global certification system designed to promote responsible management of the world’s forests through management and chain of custody.

AHS are certified through the Chain-of-Custody scheme which traces the wood from the forests through all stages of processing and distribution. Our current certification runs from December 2014 to December 2019 and is subject to annual inspections and assessments to ensure continued compliance.

Company management has a specific responsibility for further policy development, coordination and evaluation of performance. The environmental policy will be maintained and upheld by designated managers to meet the commitment. Environmental aspects of our processes and activities will be effectively managed to protect the health & safety of our employees, customers and the public whilst contributing to the future well-being of the environment.

We will undertake to provide the necessary training and support to all employees to ensure that they understand and are able to fulfil the relevant aspects of the policy in their day to day work. The policy shall be publicly available. We are committed to minimising the impact of our operations on the environment by means of a programme of continuous improvement and we will:

• Set clear objectives and targets with the aim of continual improvement
• Conduct our operations to ensure compliance with all relevant environment legislation
• Supply goods from sustainable and renewable sources and grow our range of products manufactured from recycled materials
• AHS is committed to not selling any harmful chemicals such as weed killers or those that are manufactured without regard to the environment
• AHS is committed to ensuring that by the end of 2018 all our products will be 100% peat free, currently 98% of our products contain no peat
• Encourage suppliers to adopt high standards of environmental practices and procedures which meet our requirements.
• Prevent pollution through controls, training and risk assessment
• Reduce and dispose of all waste in a manner that minimise harm to our environment, currently all our office waste is recycled and wood from our warehouse and yard operations such as pallets and packaging are 100% recycled by our nominated contractor
• Control and reduce our dependency on natural resources such as fuel, water and electricity by using alternatives such as electric, green energy and using low energy lighting and office equipment, but we will continually aim to minimise energy consumption through effective energy management
• Recycle all office machinery through approved waste disposal contractors especially those providing reconditioned equipment to third world countries
• Use only certified recycled office printing paper
• Encourage staff to share journeys to and from work
• Increase from 80% to 100% of invoices and statements which are sent electronically to customers to save on paper
• Carry out and deliver a full Carbon footprint assessment of our business within the next 12 months
• All our bagged barks and composts are packed in 100% low density recyclable polyethylene.
• Reduce, wherever practical, the level of uncontrolled atmospheric emissions

Resources will continually be made available to ensure that our environmental policy is fully implemented throughout the whole company and our compliance manager and directors will carry out regular audits and reviews.