Environmental and Social Impact Report 2022
We’re measuring more than just our financial performance……
Hooked On Granite Ltd is an independent British business with a long history of providing the best equipment and advice to hillwalkers, rock climbers, mountaineers and expeditions to the greater ranges. We strive to be a ‘good’ business by considering the impact of our activities on people (social impact) and the planet (environmental impact), not just on profit. Our business was founded in 2005 but as custodians of two of the most established outdoor retail brands in the UK, we continue a combined 121 year path paved by some of the greatest climbers in the world.
We are in business to help people discover and enjoy the outdoor environment and we fully recognise the connection between encouraging people to get outside more and the impact this has on the environment. We do our best to be a ‘good’ business, focussing on minimising our environmental impact and striving to improve every year. We’re also proud to support three National Park charities: The Snowdonia Society and The Lake District Foundation and Fix The Fells whose tireless work helps to protect our stunning natural environment for generations to come. In addition, we support a number of charities committed to promote the advancement of health or saving of lives and to aid the prevention or relief of poverty, improving the life chances of children, young people and families by inspiring them to engage positively in their communities and helping mountain people to help themselves raise their standard of living and strengthen indigenous, community-based culture. We do this via the El Rio Trust (formerly The Frank Davies Trust), The Brathay Trust and Community Action Nepal.
You can read our 2019 report on Giving Back here
Our 2020 Sustainability Report is available to read here
Our 2021 Environmental and Social Impact Report is available to read here
As of September 2020, we started an annual process to assess the full environmental impact of our business. We’ve always aimed to be an environmentally responsible business, but that doesn’t count for much if we’re not actually measuring our environmental impact. We are very proud to maintain our Green Small Business Certification.
Environmental Impact:
As part of this process we continue to monitor our sustainable energy providers with all our electricity this year purchased from renewable resources.
Our warehouse has already switched to using paper based packaging where plastics e.g: bubble wrap that are already in the system cannot be re-used. All boxes we purchase have a certified FSC blend. We use a mix of paper and plastic tape depending which best suits the packaging as some items are packaged in DPD specific plastic packaging. These bags are made from 80% reclaimed material and are 100% recycable. Where we use new, clear garment bags - we use carbon neutral bags made from a renewable resource: sugarcane.
Our positive impact on energy consumption took a huge leap forward this year as we replaced and fully insulated the roof on our Ambleside shop. The vast majority of the original roof slates dating from the 1860’s were re-used with any replacements sourced from local Lake District slate quarries. 2022 remained a year that all of the electricity we purchased was from 100% renewable resources.
We continue to offer the Bike To Work Scheme and in Wales we recycle all of our electrical goods via an organisation that re-purposes working items and donates them to charities for continued use. Our continued commitment to offer brown paper bags instead of bio-degradable plastic bags at checkout is complemented by many customers not requiring a bag at all.
For a number of years now we have only stocked re-chargeable batteries where available.
In addition, we have created digitally and sustainably printed brochures to help customers understand how to better maintain their waterproofs and insulated clothing, allowing their garments to last longer. These communications are complemented by digital Buyers Guides available on our blog page and a series of podcasts; Outdoor Gear Chat.
Unable to find a solution we felt comfortable with for recycling clothing and equipment, we launched our own initiative across all of our shops encouraging customers to “Drop Off Their Old Gear”. Full details here. We are now able to accept in a range of textiles, footwear and clothing what we re-distribute to charities to re-use, manufacturers to re-purpose and specialists to recycle. Our shops in Wales are also a drop off point for Snowdonia Gear Repairs specialising in technical clothing and equipment repairs, complementing our already large spares range and repair tape.
Social Impact:
We have been delighted that through our longstanding charitable commitments we continue to make a significant positive social impact on both a local and global level.
We raised monies for The Lake District Foundation via Subscription, Branded Nalgene Bottles & Ali’s Maps and for The Snowdonia Society via Corporate Subscription & Branded Nalgene Bottles.
We also continued to pay a substantial amount to Community Action Nepal via Rental payments for our Ambleside shop & the selling of Doug Scott signed photographic prints, Nepali artifacts and a fantastic prize raffle held as part of our Expedition Event specifically designed to share knowledge and experience within our community for free.
Donations were also made to The Brathay Trust, The Martin Moran Foundation, The International Outdoor Education Research Conference, Ambleside Primary School PTA, The Armitt Museum, The Beacon Lead Climbing Aggregate, Tuesday Night Fell Running Series (Llanberis), Circo Arts at Y Ffestri to support the magnificent Llanberis Christmas lantern parade, Ambleside Christmas Lights, ICRC Ukraine Emergency Appeal (via our suppliers DMM), The El Rio Foundation, Red Cross, Cancer research Wales, Tenovus and The Unstoppable Project.
We have continued both the Joe Browns and Climbers Shop legacies of supporting small expeditions with the Cymru K7 Expedition and The Unstoppable Project Nepal Expedition and in partnership with the Brathay Trust the newly re-branded Ambleside 25k and 50k Trail races were a huge success.
Our Joe Brown Outdoor Academy website continues to grow and is packed full of outdoor equipment knowledge, outdoor skills and where customers can find fully qualified instructors to help them enjoy the hills safely – all for free.
In 2021 we hosted a women’s online technical clothing symposium raising awareness of outdoor athlete body shapes. This information was passed to our key suppliers who have all taken it on board and we are now stocking key items up to size 18 and 20.
We continue to work closely with a climber who has had to flee their country due to conflict, directly providing them with clothing, equipment and opportunities to get out into the hills.
Finally, we are very proud to support our staff by becoming a Living Wage Employer.
