Environment and Sustainability

 

Rolawn is proud of its reputation for professionalism, reliability and integrity and, as a responsible producer we want to play our part in creating a greener, healthier future for everyone.

We are working hard to reduce our impact on the environment and move our business toward becoming nature positive. Environmental sustainability is a broad and complex area, and we hope that, by operating with transparency and delivering products that help our customers to reduce their own environmental impact, we can help create a better world.

Our Environmental Policy sets out how we will work towards reducing our impact on the environment and work with others to create a positive future, and on this page you will find an overview of our environmental journey to date and what we plan to achieve.

The difference we've made to date

Environmental Sustainability Infographic

Carbon

Grown and manufactured in the UK, our products have low embodied carbon. In addition, our development of younger, thinner turf has enabled us to further reduce embodied carbon through lower inputs of fertiliser and fuel use, as well as by improving haulage efficiencies.

Conscious that the extraction of peat is a significant factor in atmospheric carbon and in the loss of biodiversity, all of our landscaping products have been peat free since forever.

Waste

We have succeeded in repatriating 27% of pallets and have recently started to manufacture our own to further reduce haulage emissions.

All of our bulk bags now contain 30% recycled materials.

Energy

Our onsite solar farm generates over 225,000 kWh per year and delivers up to a third of our energy requirements.

Transitioning to electric – electric vehicles are used wherever possible and we are in the process of updating to LEDs in our warehouse and workshops. In early 2024, we converted our topsoil bagging plant from diesel to solar power.

Biodiversity

Our topsoils utilise single-source, natural sandy loam which greatly boosts micro-organisms and fungi to improve soil fertility and health.

We have gained independent verification from the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC®) that our bark products are responsibly sourced.

Our sister company, BioScapes, manufactures products that are specially designed to boost biodiversity in outdoor spaces and that have been proven to deliver net gains in biodiversity.

Health & wellbeing

Rolawn supports Greenfingers Charity which is dedicated to the creation and improvement of the gardens at UK children’s hospices and our staff team gets involved in various fund-raising activities throughout the year.

Giving something back

Logo for the Treefo scheme showing strapline Turning Feedback into Forests

We are proud to be one of the first companies to participate in the Treefo scheme. 

Set up by the independent review platform Feefo, in partnership with leading climate solutions specialists, Ecologi, the initiative means that for every review collected, we fund the planting of a tree.

The challenge ahead

Just as we do in all areas of our operations, we aim to lead the industry in environmental responsibility, continuing to look for ways to improve our efficiency and reduce our impact.

To maintain our ISO 14001 environmental accreditation we conduct regular internal audits ensuring that we are adhering to and improving on the required standards. Regular external audits then confirm our compliance, resulting in ongoing accreditation.

The same applies with our Green Achiever accreditation, we must demonstrate that we are actively building on our environmental achievements to maintain our accreditation, annually.

Carbon

Grown and manufactured in the UK, our products have low embodied carbon. In addition, our development of younger thinner turf has enabled us to further reduce embodied carbon through lower inputs of fertiliser and fuel use as well as by improving haulage efficiencies.

Conscious that the extraction of peat is a significant factor in atmospheric carbon and in the loss of biodiversity, all our landscaping products have been peat free since forever.

Waste

We have succeeded in repatriating 27% of pallets and have recently started to manufacture our own to further reduce haulage emissions.

All our bulk bags now contain 30% recycled materials.

Energy

Our solar farm generates over 225,000kwh per year and delivers up to a third of our energy requirements

Transitioning to electric – all our fork lifts are electric, we are in the process of updating to LEDs in both warehouse and workshops, and moving to fully electric bagging and stacking.

Biodiversity

Our topsoils utilise single source natural sandy loam which greatly boosts micro-organisms and fungi to improve soil fertility and health.

We have gained independent verification from the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC®) that our bark products are responsibly sourced.

Specially designed to boost biodiversity in outdoor spaces, our BioScapes products have been proven to deliver net gains in biodiversity.

Health & wellbeing

All of our barks and mulches receive rigorous testing before selection to ensure they are free from contaminants.

Rolawn supports the Greenfingers Charity which is dedicated to the creation and improvement of the gardens at UK children’s hospices and our staff team get involved in various fund-raising activities throughout the year.

The challenge ahead

Just as we do in all areas of our operations, we aim to lead the industry in environmental responsibility, continuing to look for ways to improve our efficiency and reduce our impact.

To maintain our ISO 14001 environmental accreditation we conduct regular internal audits ensuring that we are adhering to and improving on the required standards. Regular external audits then confirm our compliance, resulting in ongoing accreditation.

The same applies with our Green Achiever accreditation, we must demonstrate that we are actively building on our environmental achievements to maintain our accreditation, annually.