SUSTAINABILITY
Bulldog Tools have been manufacturing and supplying British made gardening, contractors and farming tools since 1780 in Wigan, England.
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Whilst many products are manufactured in the UK, some component parts and complete items are bought in from other countries under our strict supervision, either to be finished at the Bulldog Wigan facility or for distribution to our customers.
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The company strives to reduce our environmental impact and constantly tries to assess sustainability throughout the supply chain, from raw material production to end user experience.
Longevity
All Bulldog tools are designed and built to last. This is fundamental to our sustainability strategy, as ensuring that our tools last for years means that they don’t need to be replaced very often (if at all). This differentiates us from other suppliers who offer poor quality product and then replace without question, resulting in much higher environmental costs when their tools break and must be replaced.
Spare Parts
Bulldog Tools try to keep stocks of as many replacement parts as possible to avoid tools being thrown away when they only have minor issues. This includes replacement blades, handles and rake tines for some tools and where possible nuts, bolts and springs, allowing many of our tools to continue to have useful working lives long after our competitor’s products have been discarded.
Location
Many of our manufacturing and assembly processes occur in Bulldog’s Wigan facility, which allows us to ship more efficiently (see below) and means that many of our tools are produced to order and transported to customers from Wigan not shipped from around the globe.
Efficient Transport
We work hard to make sure containers are shipped full and arrive exactly when required. Because many of our tools are manufactured and assembled in the UK, Bulldog can ship component parts rather than complete tools which is a much more efficient use of container space and significantly reduces our carbon footprint.
Sustainable Timber
All Bulldog timber is taken from sustainable sources and many items are FSC certified. This assures our use of environmentally appropriate forest management practices in the production of our wood and helps ensure compliance with timber regulations as well as meeting consumer demand for eco-friendly products.
Plastic
The company has embarked on an ambitious plan to reduce or completely remove plastics from our packaging, replacing it with paper throughout our supply chain from factory to customer. The factory has already started supplying tools in paper packaging removing all plastic wrapping and where plastic is required (eg. for blade protection in retail environments) we are in the process of sourcing PET recycled plastic alternatives. We aim to have updated the packaging of all bladed items to more sustainable alternatives by the end of 2024 and all new product packaging is being redesigned to show how it can be recycled or otherwise used again.
Wigan Site
Our factory has been fully audited for power usage and all lights have been changed to LED bulbs to reduce power usage and are triggered by motion sensors which switch off when no one is in the vicinity. We have also installed a ‘one switch for all’ system, which when switched off at the end of the day automatically switches off all machinery and lighting in the factory with no machines left on standby overnight. Production flow processes are continually monitored to reduce time, energy and help realise new efficiencies with higher quality raw materials sourced and used to generate less waste in the process or reaction. All packaging cardboard is collected and recycled, wood waste shavings are given to local stables so that no wood waste goes into landfill and 98% of invoices are delivered digitally to cut down on paper usage. Recently dual flush toilets have been installed throughout the site to reduce water usage.
Vehicles
The company now only purchases hybrid or fully electric vehicles for staff use. All sites are equipped with charging points for electric vehicles, and we are currently working on a salary sacrifice scheme to enable staff to purchase electric vehicles privately.
Suppliers
Where manufacture of component parts or finished items is performed by a secondary supplier (primarily in India and China), we continuously work with those suppliers to encourage them to manufacture in an environmentally responsible way, specifying that where possible, items should be recyclable and reusable. Where possible, we use suppliers who have ISO14001 environmental management system certification.
Helsby
A 9-acre site adjacent to the M56 motorway in Cheshire located close to the Bulldog factory. The site is currently designated as Green Belt in the local development plan and is a combination of forestry and marshland. Our intention is to increase the woodland area of the plot to offset the company’s carbon footprint with much of the site being left to ‘rewild’ providing secure habitat for wildlife, reversing biodiversity loss. Based on figures provided by the Rewilding Britain charity, we estimate that the Helsby site could sequester 28.5 tonnes of CO2 per year.