Sustainability

Committed to doing the right thing; today, tomorrow and for generations to come.

Simon Smith, Ringtons CEO

Samuel Smith founded Ringtons in 1907 and always did his best ‘to do the right thing’, with particular focus on his customers, staff and the quality of the Ringtons products. All of us at Ringtons today maintain this belief in ‘doing the right thing’. We also have another fundamental belief from our founder that ‘actions speak louder than words’.

As a family business over 100 years old, we now move into our 5th generation and are proud to share our sustainability story so far along with our plans for the future as we aim to continually reduce our footprint on the planet.

Got a question about Ringtons sustainability, we'd love to hear from you.

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Our journey so far

Here at Ringtons, we're committed to working smarter and reducing our environmental impact. We care about the challenges faced at home and around the world and that’s why we’ve been working with partners across the globe to do what we can to minimise our environmental impact, source sustainably and champion brilliant projects near and far.

Here are some of the projects we've been working on...

New Fleet

Electric Vans

In 2020 we welcomed our first electric vehicle to our doorstep delivery fleet and are really excited to welcome more over the coming years, marking a new era in the history of Ringtons transport. We won't be buying any diesel vehicles beyond 2030 but believe the switch to electric will happen much sooner than that as the countries electric infrastructure continues to strengthen and our processes accelerate. Rest assured, we're aiming to complete the transition of over 230 vans as quickly as possible and will keep you updated!

Production

Tea Bag Paper

The majority of our tea bags are sealed using a plant-based plastic, it's a renewable, sustainable material.

Reducing plastics in tea bags...

Production

Tea Packing

To tackle waste, we're significantly reducing our tea packaging. We're currently converting our 100 tea bag packets to two 50 packs, getting rid of the outer wrapper. This helps cut down on waste by 12 tonnes per year and ensures the tea you buy from us is fresh, full of flavour and ultimately, the true taste of tea.

Sustainability

Green Energy

Our offices are all powered by 100% renewable energy that is generated here in Britain from sun, wind, water and bioenergy. This switch has reduced our CO2 emissions by 200 tonnes. By fitting modern energy-saving LED units at Ringtons HQ we save an additional 8 tonnes of carbon per year too.

sustainability

Carbon Neutrality

In June 2021 we were assessed against the Carbon Footprint Standard by a third party and are certified Carbon Neutral for scopes 1 and 2. Our scope 1 and 2 emissions represent a CO2 equivalent of 1,741 tonnes for the latest financial year. We have chosen to offset these emissions by supporting projects in Kenya and Brazil. We commit to reassessment every year, with a view to including our scope 3 emissions too.

We know that simply offsetting is not the long-term solution, and this is the start of our “carbon journey”. We will appraise all recommendations made and aim to reduce our emissions year on year.

We helped plant over 1,000 native trees in Kenya's Great Rift Valley through our offsetting scheme with Carbon Footprint.

Community

Working Together

Caring for communities near and far is something we do though our charitable foundations and partner organisations supporting projects through the provision of financial grants and education.



  • Tyne & Wear Community Foundation

    We are one of the founding members of The Tyne and Wear Community Foundation helping communities thrive across the North East England. Since 1988 the foundation has been working towards changing lives and helping everyone feel they belong.


  • Tea Growing Community Charitable Trust

    Founded in 2013, our own Tea Growing Community Charitable Trust makes grants to organisations tackling issues that affect smallholder farmers and workers in the tea industry across the world. One example includes giving Malawian smallholders access to solar lighting products via the provision of interest free loans to fund the upfront costs.


  • Ethical Tea Partnership & World Coffee Research

    We’re active members of The Ethical Tea Partnership and World Coffee Research groups where we are proud to contribute activity that supports the growing, protecting, and enhancing supplies of quality tea and coffee around the world while improving the livelihoods of the families who produce it.


  • Electric Vans

    We're committed to converting our fleet to electric and will no longer purchase diesel vehicles from 2030.


  • Packaging

    We are reviewing all packaging items and focusing on ways they can be reduced or replaced with a material that has a proven and accessible recycling route.


  • Continuous Improvement & Charitable Giving

    We're making many small changes to make the products you buy from us, and our services more sustainable, and our aim is to increase our total charitable endowments to £5m by 2024.