Environmental Sustainability Initiatives

You might think that the world of horticulture is, by its very nature, environmentally sustainable.  This is not always the case.  At Frosts Landscapes, we are constantly on the lookout for initiatives and methods to make the biggest positive impact on the environment.

What does that mean in practice? It means maintaining and developing the wide range of initiatives, schemes, working practices and professional accreditations we already have in place, whilst always seeking to improve on these to help protect our increasingly fragile environment.

Professional Accreditations and Compliance

We have the Lloyds Accredited ISO 14001 (2015) Environmental Management System in place.  In addition, we meet compliance requirements for the FSC Assurance (Forest Stewardship Council) for timber requirements on all projects. We work with clients to achieve Gold BREEAM-compliant status on many large projects (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessments Method).

Environmentally-conscious Travel

By Feb 2020, all our vans will be Euro 6 standard (AdBlue) that is London ULEZ compliant.  Our 6-seater vans reduce travel emissions by 50% because two teams are able to travel in one van.  We also use a minibus to transport staff on large projects and help to cut down on travel emissions. 

Where possible, our staff use public transport to travel to sites. Our Senior Management staff drive hybrid cars.

Green office and responsible sourcing practices

Dual screen technology throughout our office continues to contribute substantially to our ongoing commitment to reduce waste paper, as does our centralised office printing system.

We ensure that our extensive supply chain enables materials to be sourced near the contract, thereby reducing traffic and carbon emissions.  We use Fairtrade stone materials from companies we trust,  to ensure that products are ethically sourced.

Onsite green awareness  and project initiatives

Our commitment to reducing unnecessary waste begins even before our team arrives on site: our experienced estimating systems reduce over-ordering and help in minimising site construction waste.   Once onsite, we ensure that almost 100% of all green waste produced is recycled.  We always subscribe to full compliance and investment in any Reduce, Reuse, Recycle initiatives on landscaping projects, and promote the use of recycled materials to clients as standard.  We demonstrate the innovative use of site-won materials (soil) on projects and we use peat-free compost wherever possible.

We install (through specialist sub-contractors) state-of-the-art irrigation systems with dial-in technology, to ensure optimal efficiency in water consumption.  To promote a sustainable and green approach to watering, we promote the use of grey water for watering trees  and we install tree gators to reduce traffic and carbon emissions for tree-watering commitments.

Because we are heavily invested in our commitment to encourage natural wildlife to completed sites, we actively promote the introduction of hibernacula, bee hotels, bird boxes and wildlife corridors on projects wherever appropriate.