Environment

We feel the consequences of global warming and climate change on a daily basis, so we care passionately about environmental issues.

In recent years we have become experts on drought tolerant planting and believe our ethical trading and waste minimisation practices set new standards of what can be achieved by the landscape contractor.

Surrey County Council has selected Rainsborough & Son as a FINALIST for The 2007/08 Surrey Business Awards for our waste minimisation practices.

For further information on Surrey County Council's pro active approach to waste management, please visit Surrey Waste Info, or download the two pdf documents below.

Attitudes to Waste - pdf
Business Waste Reduction- pdf

We at Rainsborough & Son recognise that environmental action begins by taking action locally. We contribute our skills, knowledge & time to Woking Borough Council's Local Agenda 21 Programme. click to find out more.

Recycling

We made significant financial investments in 2006 to further improve our recycling rates.

Whilst we already managed to recycle up to 90% of all green waste through chipping & composting, most remaining waste was heavy masonry: broken concrete, stone slabs, old paving & walling stones and bricks (the demolition waste of the existing garden), which was disposed in large volumes by skip. Our skip operator would ultimately dispose of the contents.

Building of the new garden would then begin, starting with the foundations.

This process was inefficient & wasteful for a number of reasons:

• Cost of skip
• Effort (manpower, machine time) required for breaking and moving the material to the skip.
• Cost and effort (time, diesel, traffic) by skip operator of two visits to site/per skip, compounded by most jobs having multiple skips.
• Foundations for the new garden, especially for patios are constructed by mechanically compacting loose materials such as quarry dust (scalping), Type 1 or crushed hardcore.

Having already invested in a specialised mini-tractor, suited to the (narrow access) rear gardens that form the backbone of our work, we invested further in an "attachment" for our tractor that turned into it a mobile concrete crusher, capable of crushing 3 tons of concrete per hour.

This means that we now recycle up to 95% the existing garden (green waste is shredded or chipped, concrete & stone crushed). We recycle on-site, saving both the landfill costs and the associated transport costs. The on-site processing also saves the cost of loading the skips and unloading the inbound material.
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Ethical Trading

Known for our interest in The Eden Project since its inception, we have championed the "reduce-reuse-recycle" mantra, and continually strive to improve the environmental efficiency of Rainsborough & Son.

Projects are only undertaken if they allow us to meet our recycling targets, and are within a 10-mile radius of Woking & Guildford, reducing time and fuel wasted, improving efficiency and delivering better value to our clients.

We strongly recommend the use of natural, rather than man-made materials in our garden designs and constructions.

We have always dealt with other local family businesses and Surrey Chambers Members, fostering a sense of community, reducing transport costs and keeping money in the community.

We continually ensure that we have the legal and consumer accreditations that clients expect, not least being approved by Surrey Trading Standards - Buy with Confidence, TrustMark - Government Endorsed Standards, VAT Registered and Registered by Environment Agency as a Waste Carrier.

Our professional accreditations through British Association of Landscape Industries (BALI) and The Institute of Groundmanship ensure up to date views on ethical trading issues such as stone quarrying in India; to the latest on environmental best practice, for example recommending a lawn treatment that reduces cuttings by 60%!
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Green Technology

Rainwater harvesting allows you to collect, store and re-use rainwater that would otherwise have been wasted. This provides non-drinkable water for garden irrigation, car washing and toilet flushing.

Rainwater can be collected from roofs, patios and driveways in the holding tank beneath the patio (or lawn or drive). Leaves and other debris are first filtered out through a geotextile membrane and the water is drawn off via a pump. Odours are kept at bay by the action of incoming water, which introduces oxygen maintaining an aerobic condition within the system.

Choosing the right system will also allow you to legally irrigate your garden even when hosepipe use is banned.
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