Sustainability – going the extra mile

Investing in the future at Cockwells

A focus on sustainability is a crucial part of what we do at Cockwells. We feel that we have a responsibility to approach boatbuilding with the future of the world around us in mind. We work to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

From this starting point, we hope that we can contribute to making wooden boatbuilding a sustainable industry within the UK for future generations. Through our apprenticeship programme we are ensuring that these valuable traditional skills, learned from generations before us, are being past on to future generations.

Our commitment to environmental sustainability is demonstrated by our introduction of a tree planting scheme where we plant in excess of 100 trees every year within Cornwall (this is at least 5 times the amount we use). The trees will be planted in sustainably managed woodlands and our hope is that in 100 years from now some of them will still be around to support boatbuilders of that generation, whilst in the meantime producing the environmental benefits trees bring to the local area and atmosphere we breath.

Through this scheme we are investing in the future of the natural resource that we use. We also believe that we have a responsibility to be as efficient as possible with the timber we use currently. To do this, we utilise every part of the log leaving no waste. Depending on type, size and quality our waste wood is recycled in the following ways:-

• Reused in smaller joinery ventures
• Chopped and bagged up for sale as firewood (Biomass fuel)
• Sawdust ~ we are investigating the conversion of sawdust into either wood pellet fuel or pressed board products, currently, neither are available locally.
• Poor quality dust and bits are composted

In a further attempt to minimise the waste that the company and our team produces, we actively recycle other products such as office paper, plastic & glass bottles, card etc.