UKVIA member is celebrating after achieving prestigious “carbon positive” status
With sustainability and environmental concerns high on the agenda for vaping, the TCF Group, which owns online and high-street vape retailer 888 Vapour and e-liquid manufacturer Juice Sauz, has announced it has achieved “carbon positive” status.
As well as implementing a comprehensive programme of recycling processes throughout its operations, TCF has also forged partnerships with leading climate groups to ensure it follows best practice and that its activities lead to the best possible outcomes for its carbon reduction ambitions.
CEO Liam Chapman explained that while vaping is clearly more eco-friendly than smoking, it still has issues when it comes to waste.
“In recent months, the disposable vape trend has grown exponentially, which has created a lot of single-use plastic and battery waste,” he said, “To combat the issue, we’ve introduced a ground-breaking battery and vape recycling system in each of our 888 Vapour retail stores. We were the first high-street vape store to implement such a measure, and we’re working closely with Biffa to ensure that as much vape waste as possible gets recycled and disposed of safely.”
The business encourages its customers to pop in and recycle all their used batteries, old kits and disposable vapes to help reduce the industry’s impact on landfills and the environment. They are also working hard to raise awareness of greener vaping choices, such as helping vapers switch to rechargeable products, advising them on how to recycle their e-liquid bottles and recommending that they buy UK made vape juice.
Across the TCF Group’s operations, everyone is encouraged to recycle as much as possible. This includes the use of recyclable packaging and bottles wherever possible, as well as recycling all of their wooden pallets, paper, suitable plastic and cardboard.
Liam continued, “When manufacturing e-liquid at Juice Sauz, we only use recyclable e-liquid bottles and encourage our customers to correctly dispose of them once empty.”
The climate initiative TCF say they are most proud of is its partnership with Ecologi – an organisation working hard to fight climate change by helping both individuals and businesses minimise their impact on the planet. They achieve this through tree planting schemes, including The Eden Reforestation Project and CO² reduction operations, which work to remove more greenhouse gases than we produce.
Liam said, “Our new partnership has led to the company and each of our staff members becoming climate positive, meaning the team’s entire carbon footprint is offset. This includes home emissions, personal and business travel, holidays, food and more. TCF Group has now been partnered with Ecologi for seven months and, so far, 3,321 trees have been planted in our own forests in Mozambique and Madagascar.”
The business has also offset over 200 tonnes of CO²e through its contributions towards a range of climate projects, including onshore wind energy schemes in Taiwan and the preservation of over 27,000 hectares of the Amazon Rainforest.
TCF also plans to fit solar panels and expand upon its existing electric car charging ports across its sites, starting with the Juice Sauz warehouse and head office in Lincoln. “We know we still have work to do,” continued Liam, adding, “but we’re dedicated to reducing our impact on the environment even further as the company continues to grow.”