Art is Eco-friendly
At the artrepublic gallery we understand the
responsibility we have as a business to reduce our carbon footprint by taking
the steps where possible to become more sustainable and reduce any negative
impact we might have on the environment. We are not perfect, but we are making
small changes every day to improve our processes and hope to be a fully
sustainable business in the very near future.
“We don’t need a handful of people doing zero waste
perfectly. We need millions of people doing it imperfectly” – Anne Marie Bonneau
What we already do:
We now offer a rewarding, recycling service where if customers bring back
the packaging their artwork came in, they can receive a £10 voucher for their next order (£25
for multiple artworks). That includes any cardboard tubes, foam corners, bubble
wrap and paper.
The packaging we use is reused as much as possible until it is no longer
fit for purpose. At this point we recycle our packaging using Brighton Paper
Round. www.paper-round.co.uk. Last
year we recycled 4,360kg and saved 6,140kg of CO2.
All the energy we use is from renewable sources: Squeaky cleaned us up and Opus gave us solar power!
We partner with sustainable printers: Generation
Press were awarded Environmental/Sustainability company of the year
at the Digital Printer Awards
The frames we use are made from FSC wood - The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) logo on
a wood or wood-based product is an assurance that it is made
with, or contains, wood that comes from FSC
certified forests or from post-consumer waste.
We go paperless as much as we can - Payslips are emailed to our employees
rather than printed and we use our laptops during meetings to avoid printing
any documents unnecessarily. Any paper that we do use we make sure we recycle.
We made the switch to a 100% recycled toilet paper company who donate 50%
of their profits to help build toilets and improve sanitation in the developing
world.
We signed up to the Refill scheme – Our Brighton gallery is now one of the
locations you can top up your reusable water bottle!
What we are planning to do:
- Switch our bubble wrap to a recycled plastic alternative bubble
wrap.
- Create a carbon offset for the emissions created by our delivery
van.
- Use our influence to encourage the use of sustainable printing
methods where possible.
- Improve the recycling and management of waste from the frame
production process.
- Continue to find ways of making small changes within the business
to become more sustainable
Art is Eco-friendly
Over the years we have become a disposable
society and lost the art of buying for life. More people are rejecting this
throwaway mindset and making more considered purchases that have more
longevity. The purchase of art is environmentally friendly, energy efficient
and easy to maintain. It is not something that needs to be regular serviced
like your car or your home, so the initial investment has no extra upcoming
costs to consider.
It is not another commodity that outlives it
usefulness with an expiring shelf life. In fact, art gets better with time -
Often increasing in value it is a more worthwhile investment than buying an
abundance of plastic items which you will soon lose their charm and end up in
landfill.
You are also investing in a person. With each
purchase the artist can continue to create and bring joy to more people through
their talent. The world needs artists and this is something that has been
recognised by the Own Art scheme which is a 0% loan initiative supported by
artrepublic. Own Art is helps support the artists of today by encouraging sales
of their work to new buyers