Turnstyle Designs
Delivering luxury door hardware for high-end residential, commercial and yacht projects for 30 years, Turnstyle Designs was founded by Steve Roberts in 1992. Steve and his wife Christina work collaboratively to design some of the world’s most innovative decorative hardware, using a broad palette of materials and finishes including, brass, leather and Amalfine™. A truly family run business, Turnstyle is now managed by their eldest son Oscar.
From hand stitched leather to individually hammered door hardware, attention to detail is found in every product made. Turnstyle is proudly British made and manufactured in the beautiful Devon countryside. With multiple product combinations and flexibility to allow customisation, there is something for everyone.
Managing Director: Oscar Roberts
Actions to date:
Their outward packaging is at least 95% recyclable / biodegradable:
Each door set is packed in a cardboard box, sourced from their Roundswell neighbours Atlas Packaging
The void fillers they use are made from biodegradable corn starch
The handles themselves are fixed together using a bespoke wooden widget, machined to the exact dimensions - this used to be made from plastic
This is then enclosed in a protective cloth bag
Screws and fixings for each set come in a paper bag, which is a recent switch from plastic and there are plans to source recycled paper versions
They use paper packing tape, now self-adhesive
They re use packaging to and from some key suppliers
They use natural vegetable tanned leather, which avoids the use of synthetics
The brass products they produce are recyclable
They have hooked up with a neighbouring flooring business to use the inner cardboard from rolls of carpet as a packaging option
The local milkman delivers their milk in glass bottles
Staff t-shirts are made from organic cotton and hoodies
The office/factory is has solar panels, and to reduce energy use they have additional insulation and use low energy lighting
They have adjusted their marketing output to avoid large volumes of printed material
All office stationery and packaging coming in to the business is re-used or recycled
In the office they use only collect spent writing instruments for the Terracycle recycling scheme
Limiting flying where possible - Turnstyle Designs is an internationally successful business so it is impossible to eliminate this completely but sales trips are planned with efficiency in mind
The business supports environmental non-profit activity through 1% For The Planet and will also join a carbon balance scheme to offset residual emissions
Working on:
Steve is keen to link up with other businesses locally, perhaps as part of a forum where best practice can be shared across a range of sectors
35% of their workforce already commute to work by bike the management is they are keen to support them and also incentivise others by developing their own cycle to work scheme for employees
Finding a viable replacement for bubble wrap - the biodegradable options they have trialled degraded whilst in use so for now they have switched to using wrap with larger bubbles as this means they use less of it
They are researching options for cardboard shredding which could mean that they could shred incoming cardboard boxes from suppliers and use it as packing material for outgoing orders
Research to use organic cloth for their bags
How have they done it?
By assigning team members tasks and allowing them to treat it as a priority rather than something that slips to the bottom of the to do list!
Trialling solutions and not giving up if the first thing doesn't work
Assessing the overall value of potential changes and ruling things out if necessary e.g. they have considered changing their pool car for a new electric model but keeping their diesel until it is no longer reliable would have a smaller overall impact on the planet; they have also looked in to rain water harvesting for their factory but their manufacturing processes require filtered water which would increase their electricity usage.
“All businesses have a responsibility to treat sustainability not as a luxury but as an essential part of their business planning, it should be factored in and challenged at every level of business. Transportation, travel, manufacturing, packaging, energy, marketing, sales and training; sustainability should be considered and included at every level.
However I have learnt from experience that to identify, source, change and pay for these essential improvements it takes time... I believe that most business owners genuinely want to improve their businesses green credentials but finding the time to it on top of an already heavy work load is often very challenging. The only way that this will happen therefore is to treat it as an essential part of business, one would not side line marketing or product development for example, and so sustainability has to have the same level of priority as any other part of running a business.
At the end of the day we are manufacturers so we cannot help but do some damage to the environment, what we are trying to do is minimise that as much as possible.”