ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY

Our mission is to create & sell environmentally friendly, beautiful bath, body & home products that make people happy and leave little or no footprint on the planet.

Nature has always been at the forefront of our minds given the Bramley range was first inspired by the British countryside surrounding us. Right from the beginning we set out to change the crazy over use of plastics. With the introduction of refillable, full size products into our own pub, this led the way for many of our customers to do the same.

From day one we have never compromised on the quality of products and only use the most natural ingredients available and won’t use anything that mother nature wouldn’t approve of.

With global warming, deforestation, and the sheer scale of plastic pollution, now more than ever, we all need to work together to protect our beautiful planet. At Bramley we are proud of everything we do to create a more sustainable way of life and have made huge steps to ensure our products are eco-friendly. But we will never be complacent; we aren’t perfect, we know it’s a journey, but we can assure you we are committed to choosing the most eco-option wherever we can.

INGREDIENTS

All our ingredients are bio-degradable and are safe to be washed into rivers and oceans making Bramley safe for the environment as well as your body. Wherever possible we use certified organic ingredients.

Essential Oils

We use the purest and highest quality essential oils in all our products. All our essential oils are fair trade, wild crafted, grown sustainably and sourced carefully with integrity. We have recently introduced a number of essential oils and hydrolots into our formulations that are grown in our Apothecary Garden which is 13 miles away from our manufacturer. For more information about the therapeutic effects of our oils and how they are used please visit our ingredients glossary.

Base Ingredients

Our base ingredients are naturally derived from raw items such as sugar, corn and coconut and our wax comes from soya and rapeseed. We believe in the power of nature and are committed to finding naturally derived ingredients proven to deliver results.

Ingredients we avoid

Harmful and unethical ingredients are widely used in the beauty industry. At Bramley we understand that what we put on our skin actually ends up inside us so it is really important to ensure that it is of the utmost quality. We do not use any of the following ingredients: Petrochemicals, Sulphates (ALS, SLS), Artificial Colours, Artificial Fragrances, Parabens, Microbeads. Silicones, Propyleneglycol, Phthalates, PEGs

Palm Oil

Palm oil is not bought as a standalone ingredient in our manufacturing process, it may be a fraction used within our botanically based compounds, avoiding synthetic and petro-chemical alternatives where possible. We are against the use of non-sustainable palm oil and our suppliers have confirmed this principle. The industry works with palm oil as it is vital in order to be able to produce robust surfactants and emulsifiers. Where it is used in any compounds, our manufacturer will only source from companies that are members of the RSPO (Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil). This organisation ensures that all the palm oil produced and sold under its name comes from sustainable sources and does not lead to more rainforest destruction. It should be noted that palm oil is still one of the most efficient crops to grow to produce emulsifiers and surfactants to be used in cosmetics. Palm oil plantations yield more useful raw material to produce materials than any other crop (yield on average five times the volume of alternative crops).

MADE IN BRITAIN

We are a British company, the Bramley range was conceived, created, and everything is manufactured in the UK and we use British suppliers wherever possible. We produce in small batches so that there is no wastage and the quality of the products is the best it can be.

PACKAGING

Avoiding single use plastic is a key priority for us. We offer our products in bulk sizes of 1L and 5L, as well as 20L for our wholesale customers, so that bottles can be refilled. We have also introduced fully compostable refill pouch options where possible. Where plastic is used, it is 100% recyclable and biopolymer meaning sugarcane is used in the manufacturing process rather than fossil fuels. The caps we use on our products are made from PCR plastic, ranging from 30% - 100%. We use 99.7% PCR aluminium in our tubes and we are aiming to introduce PCR plastic into our bottles and 5L conatiners by Summer 2025.

Orders are carefully wrapped and packed in paper shred and cardboard with minimal excess. We’ve created mindful tissue paper which can be coloured in by children or adults alike.

Our wholesale orders are packed using 100% recycled void fill paper, however on occasions, where something is delicate and needs extra protection, we do use paper honeycombe wrap sleeves and loose fill which is made from GM free starch and is 100% biodegradable and fully compostable. Any pallet wrap that is used in our warehouse is 100% recycled and all tape that is used is recyclable paper tape.

Our gift boxes are made from FSC certified board where possible. Our inks are a mixture of soya based and Canon digital powder inks. The laminate on our boxes is biodegradable. We hope that our beautiful village boxes are too special to be thrown away and can be repurposed (they make a great addition to a toy box!)

PROGRAMS TO REDUCE END OF LIFE

Pallets

We use a local company to recycle our pallets. They collect these in bulk and they are then re-sold back to businesses. This ensures the pallets do not end up in landfill or being burnt.

Cardboard Packaging

Our Warehouse has a compactor, all of our cardboard packaging is bailed + collected in our packaging container in the car park. Once we have reached 3 tonnes of packaging, Ecogen collect the packaging and recycle 100% of this to ensure that nothing is being sent to landfill. They issue a Certificate of Destruction to give peace of mind that this has been appropriately recycled. This cardboard is then sold back to corrugated board and tissue paper mills.

Plastic Packaging

We have a 5L Jerry Can returns scheme, whereby customers are able to return their plastic jerry cans to Bramley. We collect & store these. We then return these to a company called GrassRoots Recycling, who turn this plastic into garden furniture.

5 Litre Refills

We are one of the pioneers of refills within our industry, offering 5L and 20L refill jerry cans to both our business customers and consumers. This helps to eliminate the use of single use plastic. All of our products are refillable.

Compostable Refill Pouches

We are working with On Repeat to offer our core range in fully compostable refill pouches. These breakdown in 32 weeks, in home compost. This has helped us to save 28 tonnes of plastic over a 12 month period. 

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPROVEMENTS AT BRAMLEY

We have made lots of small changes over the past few months to increase our environmental efficiency and our impact on the environment at Bramley HQ. We have introduced low flow taps, hippo bricks in our loo and switched to energy efficient lightbulbs. We use natural light where possible, we had 2 large windows installed in our office so during Summer days we spend most of the day with the lights off! All of our computer equipment has automatic sleep modes and all electronics are switched off at the end of every day. We have also switched our energy tarrif to a green 100% renewable energy tarrif.
We use 'Who Gives A Crap' loo roll and 'Bower Collective' refillable cleaning products as well as our own Bramley Hand Wash, Hand Cream & Hand Sanitiser in the bathroom & public areas. We harvest rainwater in a water butt (a repurposed bulk container drum) to water our plants and fill up the dog bowls for our office doggies! We operate a ‘Keep it Green, Keep it on the Screen’ policy where possible in our office. We have a mixed dry recycling collection. All of our plastic, paper and aluminium waste is recycled. Our glass is also recycled. All of our cardboard is bailed and stored in our container until a collection is arranged. Our team have all switched their internet browser to ‘Ecosia’, who use 100% of their profits to plant trees accross the world. We also purchase all rail travel tickets through ‘Train Hugger’. For every ticket purchased via their platform, they plant a tree (in the UK) through the Royal Forestry Society. At the end of each year, we receive a report to see how many trees and of which species we have planted.

SUPPLIERS 

We have worked with the majority of our suppliers for over 10 years. We try to use local suppliers where possible. In 2023, 55% of our purchases were made with suppliers based within 50 miles of Bramley HQ (45% within 30 miles). Our aim is to increase this to 75% by Summer 2025. We screen our suppliers before committing to work with them. We like to ensure that our environmental ethos and goals are aligned. Our suppliers are screened for their water usage, energy usage & waste usage where possible. We try to use low energy emitting suppliers where possible. We regularly perform quality assurance reviews with our suppliers, so we can be sure that our customers are receiving the highest quality products possible.

SOCIAL CREDENTIALS & COMMITMENTS

We have always believed that a commitment to the planet should include a commitment to animal welfare. All of our products are vegan friendly and cruelty free. Our formulations (where applicable) are Leaping Bunny approved and Vegan Society accredited. We have been working with both of these companies for many years.

ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

We have an internal environmental management system where we have been tracking our water, waste and energy usage since 2020. Each year we review our usage and set ourselves reachable targets for the following year. Our reduction targets for 2024 are: Energy - 5%, Water - 4%, Non-Haz Waste - 5%, Recyclables - 3%

OUR CARBON FOOTPRINT

Following our ‘SWMAS Make It Net Zero’ Carbon Report our total Carbon Footprint (Scopes 1&2) from April 22 - March 23 was 8351.97 kg C02e. This equates to 484kg per employee, or 8.19kg per m². This puts us at ‘lower than average’. In August 2024 we embarked on our Carbon Neutral jouney. We are working with ‘My Carbon’ to measure our environmental impact for April 23 - March 24 and calculate our Scope 1, 2 & 3 emissions. Our aim by the end of 2025 is to reduce our carbon emissions, offset the emissions that are measured and certify these offsets. This is a project we plan on carrying out year on year, with the aim of increasing the accuracy of this report over time, with help from our significant suppliers.