A local furniture retailer is proving that going green can also be good for the bottom line. Prestige furniture, at Heathfield, has introduced a package of energy-saving initiatives which have shaved around £5,500 off the annual running costs. The most spectacular saving has come from simply swapping 450 50-watt showroom light-bulbs to energy efficient 9-watt bulbs. The initial cost of £2,380 was recovered within the first year and is showing savings of £2,670 a year. The firm is also saving on air conditioning costs as the new bulbs do not generate as much heat. Now it is giving away a free low energy light bulb with every lamp sold to try to convert customers. In the warehouse Prestige has taken out two rows of mercury lights and is substituting the remaining 400-watt to 200-watt bulbs. Just as gratifying are the savings on recycling plastic packaging and polystyrene. By installing a plastics bailer and polystyrene compactor Prestige has cut its landfill waste by 90 per cent, saving more than £2,000 a year. As previously reported in this paper, compacting the polystyrene is only half the story. Once it has been squashed into brickettes, it is taken to a plant in Wales to be converted into a wood-like product by mixing it with recycled rubber. Prestige wants to start selling garden furniture made from the stuff and is talking to Channings Wood about prisoners providing the manpower. Before production can start, the Furniture Industry Research Association will test the product for flammability, emissions and UV stability. This will tick a lot of boxes. Finding a use of recycled polystyene will greatly increase its value and encourage others to recycle it. The furniture will itself be 100 per cent recyclable, as will offcuts and shavings. Prestige installed its first polystyrene compactor a few months ago and is looking to upgrade to a machine four times the size. This will compact the material more tightly, so that weight for weight it will consume less space and thus reduce transport costs. A larger compacter will also allow the company to expand the service it offers to other Heathfield businesses. Other measures have included planting 30 oak trees, recycling toner and ink cartridges, recycling tins, cans and plastic bottles and fitting more water efficient customer toilets and taps. They have linked up with Refurnish, a furniture and white goods reuse project in Newton Abbot, to give customers a better alternative to junking old furniture. A hit with staff is the office wormery. Staff bring in kitchen waste and take home the waste product – worm wee – which is apparently great for the garden. You won't see any car clamping signs at the Battle Road car park. Instead, it encourages people to leave their cars and continue by public transport or car share. Office manager Graham Good, who used to work for Action Aid recycling in Bristol, said Prestige got the idea after noticing people do it anyway. Now it is encouraging people to sign up. 'We've got the capacity – anyone that goes into the car park is a potential customer. There are no costs associated with it and if it encourage car sharing – great,' said Mr Good.
