Our Green Message

Environmental Policy

As a destination Garden centre, we are committed not only to protecting and improving the physical environment around our business and beyond. We are delighted to announce our Gold status from Green tourism in April 2024- We don't just say we are green, we are GREEN.

We recognise the impact of our own business activities on the environment in doing this and work to limit the day-to-day impact of our own actions by: Complying with all relevant environmental regulations and legislation, minimising our waste production by promoting reduction of waste, re-use and recycling wherever possible.

We ensure our use of natural resources is sustainable and continuously strive to improve our resource efficiency including our energy and water use with continued focus on investing in new, green technologies.

We aim wherever possible to procure goods and services which are environmentally responsible including their packaging and transport. We support and utilise local services and suppliers wherever practical.

We actively seek suppliers who recognise their impact on the environment and look to positively influence our supply chain with products matching our climate focus.

We educate our teams in best practice surrounding waste management and focus on practical steps to increase environmental awareness. We have a "Sustainability group" who meet to discuss challenges across the business regularly, seeking solutions to improve our future sustainability and achieve targets set for waste reduction.

We want our team and customers to join us on our green journey.

Ben Laing

Director

Threaplands Ltd

Ben@threaplands.com

View our food provenance statement by clicking HERE

View our waste management policy by clicking HERE

View our equality, diversity and inclusion policy HERE

View our environmental purchasing policy HERE

Our Sustainability Achievements (Reviewed March 2024)

Gold award from green tourism. Read about green tourism HERE

Full LED lighting throughout our building including our car park (utilising light sensors), marquee and external sales area. We have sensors installed to allow less used spaces to turn off automatically when not in use.

Biomass boiler which heats our entire building including office accommodation and provides tops up our hot water demand. We use only sustainable timber harvested from forests within 60 miles of Threaplands which is never force dried.

With our PuroWIN wood chip boiler, we have a revolutionary heating system. Never before has this fuel been used so cleanly, safely and intelligently to supply heat. The zero-emission gasification boiler offers impressively smart and safe technology and by chipping the timber ourselves on site, we remove processes and double handling where usually, commercial boiler systems use timber which has been kiln dried before use or pellets which go through intensive processing before use .

Solar thermal panel installation which provides our building with hot water using only the energy from the sun.

Underfloor heating maintains a comfortable, constant heat throughout our building using low temperature water from our biomass boiler meaning we don’t require large scale gas heating.

We have installed low energy, high speed hand dryers in our toilets moving away from paper roll which requires intense processes and bulky shipping.

The very fabric and design of our building oozes with green design. Our twin skin roof has over 300mm of insulation sandwiched in layers to keep the warmth generated in the building. The roof also sports large roof lights designed to fill the large, airy space with carbon free light from the sun. Our external walls, all 130mm thick hold high performance rigid foam insulation with the same foam insulation under our heated floor meaning our entire building is wrapped in a warm blanket of insulation. Smaller windows with automated blinds prevent solar glare from the south with large, high-performance double-glazed units surrounding the building including large North facing windows letting natural light enter.

Every roof space including our canopied sales area and marquee restaurant space collect precious Scottish rain, harvesting it in a 30,000 ltr underground storage tank which then sends water to our toilets flushing all toilets and urinals with rainwater and to our outside taps where our plants are also watered with chlorine free rainwater.

All our equipment from fridges to ovens, computers and tills are low energy and switched OFF when not in use.

Recycle and re-use- Our food waste and paper products including napkins, straws, sugar packets and sauce portions are sent for making compost to be utilised on local farmland. Our cooking oil is collected and turned into biofuel, every scrap of paper, cardboard, glass, metal and plastic (where possible) is recycled and even our landfill goes to be separated and recycled wherever possible.

We use local where we can, from the trades who built and maintain our building to producers, we can boast an impressive line up of locals. Our menu is bursting with produce from suppliers in Moray and further Scotland. Our large scale commercial suppliers work with us in reducing waste from packaging, supporting local and using joined up thinking to reduce unnecessary transportation and handling of stock.

We have provided safe and secure cycle racks to best offer alternative options for travelling to Threaplands including the installation of a new cycle/ walking path joining Elgin to Fochabers and beyond with direct, safe access to Threaplands for families and enthusiasts.

We have welcomed more nature with the installation of a bug hotel, bird boxes, wildflower areas and honey bees. 2024 has seen the arrival of 2 hives at Threaplands which we hope will lead to our very own honey production in 2025.

Our Goals (reviewed 2024)

Install solar PV panels to harness energy from the sun to produce electricity

Install Electric vehicle charging in our car park. On average 23,000 vehicles pass us daily- Lease agreed

Plant more trees surrounding the garden centre

Work towards further recognition and awards for our efforts

Build a new Bike shelter for staff including charging points for electric bikes

Install destratification fans

Install vestibules to prevent draughts

Install voltage optimisation

Upgrade delivery vehicle and forklift to electric once 3 phase installed

Properly measure our carbon footprint and create a detailed path to NetZero