ELITE ANIMAL BEDDING
ELITE Animal Bedding is a low dust Eco-Friendly Alternative bedding suitable for a wide range of animals. Our sustainable bedding allows your pets to enjoy a healthier environment. Sold by a not-for-profit Social Enterprise, assisting disabled and disadvantaged people with volunteering, training & employment opportunities.
Our Mission
ELITE Animal Bedding is produced at ELITE Paper Solutions, an award-winning Social Enterprise based in Merthyr Tydfi which aims to create employment opportunities for disabled and disadvantaged people. EPS was set up originally to help organisations reduce their carbon footprint by collecting their paper and cardboard waste, baling and sending it for full recycling. We have now improved that mission by re-using all clean post-consumer cardboard, extending the materials lifecycle. Once the bedding has been used, it can then be added to a compost heap, allowing the material to break down in the natural environment
EPS is a supportive work environment and a stepping stone for unemployed people to gain valuable experience in the world of work. We support our staff through specialised 1-1 training, upskilling and accreditation, including the Welsh Government's Apprenticeship scheme. The key aim of EPS is to develop the employees' confidence and self-esteem, along with vital skills and vocational abilities in order to progress into other employment.
We support approximately 80 people per week and have a workforce of more than 75% of disabled staff. We actively engage with Additional Learning Needs Schools and Colleges and give work experience to pupils who are unable to normally access work experience provisions.
As a highly successful Social Enterprise, we pride ourselves on both our excellent customer service standards and our competitive prices. We are also highly committed to a sustainable future, where we will improve the social, environmental and economic well-being of our community.
Carbon Neutral Strategy
Sustainability is a core value that runs through everything we do. As part of our carbon-neutral strategy, we are actively pursuing solar-dependancy in the near future, reducing our usage on finite resources such as coal, oil and natural gas, which are contributing to global warming.
We will also be switching our fleet over to EV vehicles; we have already installed an EV charger point in readiness. By doing this we will reduce our carbon footprint by an estimated 22.5 tonnes of Co2e per annum.
"Creating a better environment is rooted in the values of our company. The changes we are looking to implement over the coming years will be a valuable step for ELITE to become carbon neutral.“
Andrea Wayman
Chief Executive Officer.
Sustainability
The UK Government announced on 20th April 2021 that it would set into law, climate change targets that would see the UK reduce emissions recorded in 1990 by 78% before 2035.
ELITE is a Green Dragon-certified organisation that is committed to a higher environmental standard. That's why we aim to become carbon neutral by 2030 - 20 years before the UK Governments target of 2050. We'll achieve this by a process of decarbonisation. That means we have begun a process of removing or reducing the carbon dioxide (CO2) output of our business.
CO2 is produced when we burn fossil fuels such as coal, gas or oil. CO2 is a Greenhouse Gas that contributes to Global Warming. Renewable energy options offer either lower or zero-carbon alternatives to burning fossil fuels.
We are working towards switching to renewable alternatives to power and heat our businesses. This will sit alongside other efficiency improvements that will ensure that we will burn less fossil fuels and produce less CO2.
What do we mean by net zero?
Net zero simply means eradicating fossil fuels and other sources of emissions wherever possible; for example, switching to renewable energy or changing vehicle fleets to EVs.
How we’ll achieve this?
Our first goal is to switch to a renewable energy source, which would see us installing an estimated 200 solar PV panels onto the roof of our premises, generating an estimated 8,600 kWh per month. In addition to this, we will install PV battery storage to help store energy whilst our business is not operating i.e. on weekends, bank holidays etc.