B&Q and BioRegional launch 2,000 eco-products on the high street

Story published 17.10.08

One Planet Home® range can reduce Ecological Footprint by 10%

Sustainability expert BioRegional has teamed up with home improvement retailer B&Q to launch a range of almost 2000 eco-home and garden products. The One Planet Home® range, which is launched this week, has been independently assessed by BioRegional and can help customers shrink their total Ecological Footprint by up to 10%.

BioRegional has been working with B&Q on their One Planet Home® range over the past year. The partnership forms part of BioRegional’s global One Planet Living® initiative which involves BioRegional working with progressive businesses, government and individuals to set up real life, exemplary examples of true sustainability – or One Planet Living.

We need One Planet Living because if everyone in the world lived as we do today in the UK we would need the resources of three planets to sustain us.

Sue Riddlestone, Director of BioRegional says: “We have checked B&Q’s 2,000 One Planet Home® products against our 10 One Planet Living principles of sustainability. If a keen customer bought products across all the categories they could shrink their total Ecological Footprint by 10% - which goes a significant way towards a reduction of 66% which is what we need to achieve true One Planet Living in the UK. B&Q is setting the standard for other businesses to follow”.

BioRegional and B&Q have worked to make sure that customers are supported in their eco-choices. A range of One Planet Home® information leaflets and an insulation DVD are also available in stores. B&Q and BioRegional also provide an on-line One Planet Living Calculator and Action Plan so that people can work out their Ecological Footprint and get a personalised action plan to help shrink it.

BioRegional and B&Q announced their partnership in January 2008. Since then they have built on B&Q’s strong environmental commitment by also developing and putting in place a demanding corporate Sustainability Action Plan based on the 10 One Planet Living principles. The company has already seen strong business benefits from the new policies that have been put in place so far – for example smart water metering has resulted in a cost saving of £25,800 or 13.6 million litres per annum and the new recyclable packaging for kitchen worktops has meant savings of over £300,000 per year in reduced product damage.

Euan Sutherland, B&Q’s Chief Executive says: “At B&Q we have always been proud of our strong commitment to the environment and we feel uniquely placed to make a real difference by helping customers reduce the environmental impact of their homes. We are bringing all of our sustainable products together under one label to make it easy and affordable for customers to make changes. The One Planet Home range offers our customers value for money, and can make instant savings on household expenses as well as reducing their impact on the planet. ”

About B&Q
B&Q is the largest home improvement and garden centre retailer in the UK and Europe employing more than 34,000 people nation-wide, 28% of whom are over 50 years of age. Across the UK, B&Q has 323 stores, including 118 B&Q Warehouses. B&Q is part of Kingfisher plc, Europe's leading home improvement retail group and the third largest in the world, with over 800 stores in eight countries in Europe and Asia.

For more information about B&Q please go to www.diy.com/aboutus.

For more information about B&Q’s social responsibility Key Performance Indicators, please see www.kingfisher.com, B&Q’s parent company.