Recycled scissors and net-zero energy stores

Sustainability is the megatrend of our times. Manufacturers in the DIY and garden market are constantly telling us about their innovations bringing improvements in environmental protection: the choice of material and how energy is used in production, recyclability, achieving zero waste and energy savings in the customer's use of the product.
This is why we have decided to provide a modest platform for new products and developments of this kind in this issue. We have done this in the obvious knowledge that we cannot even begin to cover the vast subject of sustainability in any depth in this framework.
Many aspects of sustainability have now become self-evident for manufacturers. "We don't even mention that our plant pots are made of 80 per cent recycled material in our communications any more, because this is expected," is a pretty typical statement.
Their attitude to plastic remains a subject of importance for producers, however. Fiskars, for example, has just recently announced that the plastic packaging on its garden shears is to be reduced by 80 per cent.
The Finnish manufacturer has shown that there is more to it than that with a special edition of its Classic household scissors. They are fabricated entirely from recycled material, with handles made from recycled plastic and wood fibres, while the blades consist of recycled stainless steel.

And what are retailers doing? Here, too (see the report on Bellaflora on the next page) are a couple of randomly chosen examples from the field of building technology. Britain's Kingfisher Group made inroads here twelve years ago with its B&Q eco-store in New Malden. The store has its own wind turbine, ground source heat pump, solar water heating and other features which combine to reduce emissions to half those produced by a normal store at the time.
In the meantime, Kingfisher has driven the technology forward. The Screwfix distribution channel already operates twelve net-zero energy stores that generate more energy than they consume, thanks to a solar PV installation, energy-efficient design, an air source heat pump and LED lighting.