Walton Marine supports The Green Blue initiatve which gives us practical advice and information to help us think and act in an environmentally conscious way. By taking a few simple steps, we can keep future costs down and sustain high quality water and local environments. Backed by the British Marine Federation and the Royal Yachting Association, The Green Blue is testing out practical projects, conducting research and providing advice, to help keep marine businesses and recreational boating green.

Walton Marine has looked at what we can do to reduce our impact on our planet, and strive to be carbon neutral. First we went back to school and learnt the three R’s: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.

Reduce: less is more
As well as saving money (which was nice), this is the best way to leave a liveable planet for future generations of inhabitants.
Switch off: This website works 24 hours a day - but we don’t. So when we don’t, we switch everything off at the wall - we hate those little red stand-by lights.

It's the economy stupid: When we purchase new equipment we check that only the most energy efficient models are bought.

Travelling without moving: We encourage staff to use clever technology so we can work more, and commute less. Being a dynamic company we found this easy – instant internet messaging, video conferencing, email and intelligent phone systems - we can all work and stay in touch even though some people haven’t left their homes. The ‘greenest’ mile is the one you don’t travel.

Paper cut: We don’t like pens and paper; we use electronic documents as much as possible.

Reuse: Like in the olden days We even reuse free stuff. Wind is free and you can reuse it again and again. Our green energy supplier invests in more new wind turbines than anyone else so they reduce more and more carbon. And best of all, they matched the price of our old carbon belching supplier. We’ve even encouraged our staff to use our green energy supplier for their homes. See www.ecotricity.co.uk

Printer cartridges are refilled instead of buying new ones. Any paper we use is reused, by turning it over.

Recycle: Paperless office (well almost)
When we do use paper, we buy recycled. And then we recycle that (except toilet paper).

Carbon Neutral
We’ve got close to zero on our carbon emissions. We also insist that our boat builders and equipment suppliers make the same effort as we do and for those in manufacturing we ask them to add up their carbon emissions and if necessary purchase offsets as a last resort. See www.climatecare.org

We are then carbon-neutral (It’s as if we’re not even here)

Finally - Play Fair
When we have a drink of tea or coffee at work (As well as only filling the kettle with the amount of water we need, to reduce energy use) we like to think that the person who grew and harvested it can afford the basics for their family – that’s why all our tea and coffee is fairtrade. See www.fairtrade.org.uk

Stuff you can do with your boat