Measured sustainability…a calculated, deliberate approach to sustainability.

Areas where Barrows has made great strides in earning their green credentials include recycling up to 80% of their waste, only purchasing paper that contains 60% locally sourced sugar cane fiber, not using lead in epoxy powders used for displays, only buying recyclable plastics and ensuring that their waste water is not connected to city sewers but rather gets collected and processed offsite. Having made this progress Barrows was curious to understand how their focus on efficiencies and environmental sustainability could be measured and monitored.

GCX suggested that Barrows conduct a retrospective carbon footprint from the financial year 2007/8 and compare this to their financial year 2009/10. A carbon footprint assessment focuses on the carbon emissions inherent in a company’s activities and includes assessing the emissions relating to the usage of electricity, fuel, procurement materials, water, waste, paper, travel and transport (including an employee commute survey).

“The outcome of this assessment was very pleasing” said Ed Gluckman, Managing Director of GCX. From June 2007 – July 2008 Barrows emitted 7230 tonnes of CO2 and two years later from June 2009 – July 2010 they emitted 7022 tonnes of CO2. This is an absolute reduction of 3% over the two year period. What makes this reduction truly significant is that Barrows not only grew revenue and the numbers of employees significantly in this period but also established two new operations in the UK and Brazil that amounted to nearly 300 tonnes of CO2 in 2009/10. In fact if you only compare their South African operations then Barrows cut their emissions in SA by 7.5% while growing revenue. To put this achievement in perspective a cut of 502 tonnes of CO2 in their operational carbon footprint in South Africa is the same as flying from London to Cape Town about 505 times.

Key areas where Barrows reduced emissions by 150 tonnes or more over the two year period include packaging procurement, waste and electricity. In fact waste and packaging procurement alone accounted for a reduction in emissions of 357 tonnes of CO2. This reduction is a clear outcome of Barrows policy to minimize waste across its business. 

“In our experience most of our customers that are high growth businesses would not expect to be able to reduce their absolute emissions over a two year period.” said Gluckman. “Barrows have clearly created a culture of environmental stewardship and it is exciting to see that their management team views this as an important differentiator on the global commercial stage.”

“While our key motivation is to do what is right we are seeing more and more of our customers demanding insight into our environmental activities. The carbon footprint assessment conducted by GCX has given us an excellent insight into where we can cut further emissions and operating costs from our business. We were specifically surprised by the size of our electricity emissions and are now working with GCX to assist us in reducing this emissions source” said Lucien d’Avice, Chief Executive Officer of Barrows.