Environmental Policy:
Sash Windows Northwest Ltd recognises that day-to-day operations can impact both directly and indirectly on the environment. We aim to protect and improve the environment through good management and by adopting best practice wherever possible. We will work to
integrate environmental considerations into our business decisions and adopt greener alternatives wherever possible, throughout our operations.
In all our activities we aspire to:
- Comply fully with all relevant legal requirements, codes of practice and regulations.
- Prevent pollution to land, air and water.
- Reduce water and energy use.
- Minimise waste and increase recycling within the framework of our waste management procedures.
- Identify and manage environmental risks and hazards.
- Involve customers, partners, clients, suppliers and subcontractors in the implementation of our objectives.
- Promote environmentally responsible purchasing.
- Provide suitable training to enable employees to deal with their specific areas of environmental control.
- Improve the environmental efficiency of our transport and travel.
- Establish targets to measure the continuous improvement in our environmental performance.
All the timber used by Sash Windows Northwest is either FSC or PEFC certified and is purchased from suppliers who source timber from around the world.
FSC ( Forest Stewardship Council ) is an independent, non-governmental, not-for-profit organization established to promote the responsible management of the world’s forests.
The PEFC Council (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes) is an independent, non-profit, non-governmental organisation, founded in 1999 which promotes sustainable managed forests through independent third party certification. The PEFC provides an assurance mechanism to purchasers of wood and products that they are promoting the sustainable management of forest.
Trees for Life is an award-winning charity working to help restore the Caledonian Forest, which formerly covered a large part of the Scottish Highlands. Just 1% of the original forest survives today. Since 1989 they have been helping to bring this forest back from the brink, both through natural regeneration and by planting trees. The long term vision is to restore the forest and all its constituent species, to a 600 square mile area west of Inverness. We now have our own grove where trees are planted both on our behalf and also for our customers.
In 2008 our manufacturers installed a wood burning furnace to heat the premises. They now recycle all our off cuts from production, which heats the work space and in turn reduces the amount of waste disposal to land fill. Prior to this the site was heated using a combination of a very old and inefficient oil fired boiler and a gas space heater both of which are now redundant.
Old timber frames and windows are removed from site by our installers and are then brought back to our workshop and dismantled. The glass and old iron weights are removed and the iron weights will be recycled into component parts for new projects.
All other waste is removed by a registered carrier and is sorted and recycled.
