Sustainability and minimising our impact on the environment

We are all now becoming increasingly aware of the effects our choices of packaging and delivery are having on the planet, its wildlife and habitats.

Here at Garden Wildlife Direct we are passionate about being environmentally conscious. Sustainability is, and will continue to be, an integral part of our business and we always aim to act in an ethical, transparent and responsible way.

100% Recyclable Packaging

Due to the continual customer complaints and costly damage claims caused by the paper packaging unfortunately not being robust enough during transit, we have had to make the tough choice to move back to plastic packaging. However, we are still committed to minimising the environmental impact and reducing our carbon footprint.

The good news is all of our packaging is 100% recyclable. The plastic products we do use are made from a minimum of 30% recycled plastic and we are working hard to increase this further. We encourage our customers to reuse the bags where possible before putting in their recyclable waste. The other added bonus is that plastic bags, if unopened, are a better form of storage as they prevent moisture being seeped into the bird feeds.

We are committed to continuing to work closely with all of our packaging manufacturers to identify the most environmentally friendly options, including hopefully soon compostable plastic packaging.

DPD - Officially The UK’s Greenest Carrier

We also continue to work with DPD as our carrier. They are leading the way in the UK with greener deliveries. Currently they have the largest fleet of electric delivery vehicles and use HVO (hydrotreated vegetable oil) in their larger lorries. This means that your delivery has a reduced carbon impact compared to all other delivery companies.

Carbon Neutral Web Hosting

Our hosting provider (the company that provides the servers you are using to view our site) is 100% carbon neutral too. In fact their entire business from their data centre's (servers), offices and other operations are all carbon neutral. This formed a large part of the reason why we picked them to host our website.

Ongoing Commitment

Our commitment doesn’t end there, as we are constantly looking to reduce the our environmental impact further with initiatives such as:

  • Shredding all of our excess cardboard and using it as packaging material to protect feeders and accessories in transit. This has reduced our cardboard waste to zero.
  • Reducing the size of the paperwork sent out to our customers to massively reduce paper waste.
  • The shrink wrap that we use, when required in the distribution centre, is all recycled.
  • Turning off light and computers at the end of each day, and reducing the reliance on paper within our office, to minimise our environmental impact.
  • Paperless automation processes.

And we will continue to look to further improvements.