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Writer's picturecharlierobinson111

Why is our Carbon Footprint so important and how do we measure it?

Your carbon footprint is the amount of carbon that is produced because of your actions and choices. The greater the amount of carbon that is released into our atmosphere, the worse the impact on climate change.

Sadly, the UK is heavily reliant on activities that rely on us burning fossil fuels (like coal, oil, and gas) to produce goods, enable manufacturing, and power almost everything we do! This means almost everything we eat, buy, or use releases carbon into the atmosphere. Therefore, it is so important to make sustainable choices, to help minimize the impact our lives have on your local community and the planet.

FILLING GOODS CARBON CONTRIBUTION


Once carbon is released into the atmosphere it is exceedingly difficult to eradicate it. That’s why we try to reduce our carbon emissions, before seeking ways to offset them. Our mission to live sustainably and minimize our impact on the environment is evident in everything we do. Filling Good and its volunteers are committed to making a positive impact on the planet which is why our annual carbon count is just a mere 4.5 tonnes of CO2, just over a third of the amount produced by an average UK citizen (source: pawprint.eco)

HOW DID WE CALCULATE OUR CARBON FOOTPRINT?

One of our volunteers, Dave Hampton (The Carbon Coach), kindly helped us calculate it, using the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol.

This model categorizes greenhouse gas emissions into three key areas:

Scope 1: direct emissions from owned or controlled sources.

Scope 2: indirect emissions from electricity, steam, heating, and cooling.

Scope 3: includes all other indirect emissions that occur in the value chain.

Filling Good's yearly carbon impact is outlined in the charts below:




HOW DID WE KEEP OUR CARBON IMPACT SO LOW?

All our electricity comes from a renewable energy provider, our volunteers are committed to the environment so the majority of them walk or cycle to the shop, and even the spills from the refills get swept up and fed to Sophie's chickens! Lots of our materials and equipment are donated to the shop like stationery, and the kettle & hoover. We recycle all our flexible plastics at Sainsburys. And, even when we go to the loo, we only ever use sustainable loo rolls made from bamboo!


To take a deep dive into our carbon calculations check out the full report >>>


HOW DO WE OFFSET OUR CARBON CONTRIBUTIONS?

As a not-for-profit, community-run initiative we decided to invest a substantial proportion of our profit in two charities, Tree Sisters and Gold Standard.


This means in 2022 we have not only offset the small amount of carbon (4.5T CO2) generated by Filling Good, but compensated for a massive 516T of CO2, the equivalent amount of carbon produced by 41 UK citizens!!!


To find out more about our Carbon Conscious donations, just click here.

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