the road to carbon neutral
PAPER TRAIL & RECYCLING
We are continuing to reduce the number of printed offers that we send out and circulate the majority of our wine news and offers via email, social media, our website, telephone or good old fashioned face to face. We prefer and encourage our clients to pay through our website using their online account and invoices are always sent out electronically unless there really is no email address available. Recycling bins are positioned inside of our offices and we encourage everybody to make use of them for all recyclable refuse, including paper, glass and corks. For the latter, we work with Recorked UK.
ENERGY & CARBON FOOTPRINT
For domestic business travel, we prioritise rail travel whenever possible, both for domestic and international travel. Many of us cycle to work and we have implemented the Cycle to Work scheme in the office for a more environmentally (and economically) friendly way to move around London, and have also introduced a similar electric car salary sacrifice scheme. To conserve energy and reduce waste, we have switched to exclusively renewably sourced electricity providers, use motion sensitive lighting in the office and use air-conditioning very selectively.
STORAGE & DELIVERY
We store our wine in Octavian Corsham, which is built 100 feet under the hills of Wiltshire in solid Bath stone providing the perfect natural environment for fine wine cellarage without wasting energy on temperature or humidity control. We consolidate both our shipments from abroad and our domestic deliveries in order to reduce our carbon emissions.
PACKAGING
We deliver all our wines in their original packaging where possible to reduce waste and re-use packaging and boxing. All case and box waste is recycled. We introduced a new range of packaging in 2012 created from 100% recycled material. We are committed to ongoing communication with suppliers to ensure both packaging and transportation are achieved in the least environmentally impactful way possible for each supplier.
community support
Johnny and Laura Goedhuis set up Carefree Northants charity (reg. 1140093) to help improve the lives of those with learning disabilities, and we continue to support them with fundraising events and activities. They also host the leading charity wine dinner in the UK, which has taken place every 2 years since its inception in 1990. It attracts many top wine lovers and collectors and a number of prominent wine growers from both Burgundy and Bordeaux. The Wine Dinner has now raised in excess of £4 million for children and care-based charities, with the 2021 event raising £300,000 for JDRF and The Goed Life.
HEALTH & FITNESS
Goedhuis are extremely active! Currently, we have Goedhuis members currently playing tennis, football, training for marathons and teaching Bikram yoga. We have showers in our London offices so we are able to run/cycle/skip into work or pop out at lunch, and offer a corporate gym membership package to employees. Several of our team are also in training for a team cycle ride to Champagne!
ALCOHOL AWARENESS
We are members of the Drinkaware trust, which highlights the dangers of alcohol misuse through innovative and challenging campaigns online, in print and in communities countrywide and also partners of the Public Health Responsibility Deal in which we commit to taking action voluntarily to improve public health through Goedhuis’s responsibilities as employers, as well as through our commercial actions and community activities. We also make an annual donation to The Drink Trust, formerly The Benevolent, which provides support, care and assistance to the drinks industry workforce since 1886.