Guaranteed Irish and five of their members collaborate on the first climate action initiative for the organisation since its founding in 1974.
Dublin, Ireland – October 2022: Today, Guaranteed Irish are partnering with their members to launch a new biodiversity initiative, the Guaranteed Irish Forest. The Guaranteed Irish Forest project aims to encourage climate action engagement and increase biodiversity. The biodiversity project will be supported by a grouping of Guaranteed Irish members, including Cedral (Etex Ireland), Homevalue, King Koil, Kingscourt Brick and Wavin Ireland. Guaranteed Irish and their participating members will establish a Guaranteed Irish Forest with native Irish trees including oak, holly, birch, alder, rowan and hawthorn. The Guaranteed Irish Forest project is one initiative in the new Guaranteed Irish sustainability strategy that encourages their members to support biodiversity and climate positive initiatives, aligning with UN Sustainable Development Goal 13 – Climate Action.
Speaking on the launch of the Guaranteed Irish Forest initiative, Bríd O’Connell, Guaranteed Irish CEO said, “Guaranteed Irish are grateful to their leading members as they join them to facilitate this initiative, ‘The Guaranteed Irish Forest’. A forest for all into the future. Sustainability, circularity and community are at the heart of Guaranteed Irish and it’s wonderful to partner on such a legacy project which will continue to thrive. Throughout 2022, and into the future, Guaranteed Irish are encouraging members to support climate action initiatives, benefitting our environment and creating social impact in their local communities.” Each of the five participating Guaranteed Irish members are on their own sustainability journey and have welcomed the opportunity to partake in this collective contribution to the environment.
Cedral (Etex Ireland)
Guaranteed Irish House members, Etex Ireland, employ 152 people and inspire the world to build safe, sustainable, smart and beautiful living spaces with a wide spectrum of lightweight solutions. With sustainability as their compass and collaboration as their engine, Etex Ireland are moving forward and serving their customers as an inspiring partner. Raw materials, manufacturing energy (fuel and power) and transport are the most significant contributors to the company’s carbon impact. Etex Ireland fully acknowledge and are committed to maintaining a sustainable environment and minimising the carbon impact of its operations. In their ambition to support circularity, Etex Ireland are inspired by cradle-to-cradle principles. Circularity has clear benefits in that it counters resource depletion while offering cost efficiencies and securing the long-term supply of resources and materials. Circularity has clear benefits in that it counters resource depletion while offering cost efficiencies and securing the long-term supply of resources and materials.
Homevalue
Guaranteed Irish members, United Hardware Limited (UHL), the DIY and hardware group which supplies and operates the Homevalue brand in Ireland, is proactively working with stakeholders to develop a more sustainable built environment and to support the transformation of the Irish building, construction, and property sector into a global leader in quality and sustainability. The United Hardware owned brand Homevalue, is one of Irelands leading DIY, Hardware, and Homeware groups with a network of over 90 Guaranteed Irish accredited stores nationwide. United Hardware is also a member of the Irish Green Building Council and has committed to identifying and proposing new solutions to challenges and opportunities faced in Irish building, renovating, and upgrading homes and businesses, and to accelerate the transformation of the built environment, related industry, and supply-chain to one that is sustainable. As part of this, United Hardware is driving sustainable engagement with their customers and is encouraging the public to engage with their builder, tradesperson, or even local builders’ providers, regarding the steps they can take to make their homes more sustainable now, and into the future.
King Koil
Guaranteed Irish members, King Koil Ireland’s largest and best-known bed company, wants to become Ireland’s most sustainable bed company. King Koil supports local jobs across two sites in Dublin and Kilcullen, employing 300 people. The company is on a journey to better understand its environmental impact in line with science-based targets and began audits on carbon outputs in 2019. Since then, new energy efficient lighting has been installed and modern plant equipment commissioned to reduce energy use and carbon outputs. King Koil is working with suppliers to increase use of recycled raw materials (fibres, foams, fabrics), uses 100% recyclable packaging, segregates production waste to be repurposed or recycled (wood, plastic, paper) and sends zero waste to landfill. The company is examining solar power energy, product eco-design and rewilding projects for 2023 as part of its aim to satisfy everyone it serves on a socially and environmentally sustainable basis.
Kingscourt Brick
Guaranteed Irish House members, Kingscourt Brick are part of The Breedon Group. Kingscourt Brick, employing 50 people, have strong values of striving to work as a team and working locally with their customers, suppliers and partners. Proud Guaranteed Irish members, Kingscourt Brick, have a heritage spanning over 100 years of supporting Irish jobs and benefitting the local economy. Kingscourt Brick are currently on their own sustainability journey and believe that responsible management of the environment is good not only for the communities in which we live and work, but it is also good for business. Kingscourt Brick aim to recycle as much waste as possible and process all fired products that are not required, while gathering most other forms of waste created in the manufacturing of clay brick products into a primary aggregate form to be reused. Through this, Kingscourt Brick are contributing to sustainability in the built environment.
Wavin Ireland
Guaranteed Irish House members, Wavin Ireland is based in Balbriggan, Co. Dublin. Wavin Ireland’s mission is to generate continuous value for employees, customers, partners, and shareholders. Wavin Ireland has grown to become the largest manufacturer and leading supplier of plastic pipe systems and solutions in Ireland, and it is the supplier of choice thanks to a complete, competitive, innovative and sustainable portfolio for Above and Below Ground applications. It aims to maximise the efficiency of the use of energy and raw materials through employee awareness, waste segregation and minimisation and recycling. Wavin’s continual product innovation delivers solutions to combat the challenges of climate change and allow nature to thrive within the built environment as the company work alongside customers in the creation of healthier, more sustainable environments.
Patrick Cantwell, Sustainability Marketing Executive with Guaranteed Irish welcomes the new initiative. “Launching the Guaranteed Irish Forest is a major milestone for the organisation. This project will create a new native Irish forest in the Guaranteed Irish name and with the organisation’s upcoming 50th year, it is fantastic to have a long-term project such as this one to represent the legacy of Guaranteed Irish.”
Guaranteed Irish will announce further details about the new Guaranteed Irish Forest initiative later in the year. For more information, visit guaranteedirish.ie/sustainability/
