Staff from ebm-papst, the Chelmsford-based fan manufacturer, have transformed an area of Essex farmland as part of the GreenDay 2016 initiative.
The project saw the company’s employees spend six days creating two new plantations of trees and shrubs on 20 acres of field to help preserve the area’s wildlife population.
GreenDay is the company’s international initiative. Each year, around 12,000 employees worldwide get involved with sustainable activities – not only on one day, but throughout the year.
The objective was to restore the farm’s hedgerows, often referred to as ‘nature’s highways’ because of the way they enable wildlife to travel safely from one place to another and provide natural shelter for insects, birds, small mammals and butterflies.
The project at Pond Farm in Clacton-on-Sea started with the removal of old fencing and brambles from the field edge. Then employees cultivated the ground and added trenches to plant new hedging. Double English hedges were used to create a traditional border for livestock and offer wildlife protection from the weather.
This is just one of the ways that ebm-papst is committed to creating a sustainable future. The global firm commits to ensuring every new product it develops is better than its predecessor in terms of economy and ecology.
Managing director of ebm-papst UK, David Jarvis, said: “Environmental awareness in everyday life is just as important to ebm-papst as the energy efficiency of our products and processes. This is what we stand for with our ‘Green Tech’ label. Our GreenDay initiative is all about educating our employees and spreading this environmentally friendly philosophy around the entire world.”
This year the company has also significantly reduced its energy consumption by changing warehouse lights from 450W sodium fittings to 110W LED fittings, reducing monthly electricity usage by 35%.