William Garvey Ltd is committed to supplying furniture and joinery in such a manner as to cause the minimum possible disruption to the environment. (see also "why teak?")
A safe and pleasant workplace means everything from having an effective health & safety policy, through ensuring that everyone receives the training they need, to planting a two acre walnut orchard on some spare land beside the workshop. It is about how we think of ourselves and the way that we want to live. Measuring this is difficult, but our remarkably stable workforce is some evidence that we are successful.
The most effective way of reducing the environmental impact of what we do is to make things out of the best materials, in the best way possible, so as to maximise their useful life.
Where we can, we buy timber from FSC certified sources. The position is improving with increases in the amount of timber which is available by this route. We use a lot of teak in our bathroom and kitchen work and this merits careful discussion. Please see the notes on Teak.
Solvent based glues and finsihes can have a heavy environmental impact. Manufacturers do provide guidelines and instructions, which we are careful to follow. Waste solvent materials are recycled according to guidelines from the UK government's Environmental Agency.
Minimising production waste doesn't just reduce environmental impact, it also helps reduce costs and hence prices, and improves profitabillity. Focusing on it is an essential part of the craftsmanship of our staff, and can even enhance the integrity of a design.
Most of our waste is off-cuts too small and numerous to use, and sawdust. We use this by incinerating it for heating. Burning (waste) timber from sustained forests has a neutral long term environmental impact, unlike burning fossil fuels such as gas, oil or coal.
We recycle all the office waste paper, and minimise the use of paper. We have no photocopier. Recycling non paper packaging is more difficult but we are on the lookout for a way to do this.