#EcoStudio
Climate change and the environmental impact of running a pottery studio is an ever increasingly important challenge for us to address. Over the last few years we have made steps in changing our studio practice and process. By making some small changes, we hope we will make a difference and encourage others to do the same.
Climate positive commitment
The studio signed up as a Climate Positive Workplace through Ecologi in 2020.
Through this scheme we have goals set for the studio to keep our decision making and actions focused on maintaining a lower climate impact. As part of the Ecologi scheme we also support reforestation and eco energy schemes around the world. We know carbon footprint schemes aren't saving the world, but small actions can make a difference.
You can see how we are progressing at
Reduce, reuse, refuse and recycle.... packaging
To protect your pots in the post we need good packing materials, but we wanted to reduce the need to use new plastic bubble wrap. For 5 years now we have worked with other local businesses and individuals to take in surplus packaging from their deliveries. We then reuse it and save it from going straight into landfill by packing up your purchases and gallery orders, and then we encourage you to reuse it again. Any packaging donated that we can't use, we recycle or pass it on to another local business who will find it useful.
We have also seen a massive change in what is donated over the last year or two. There is still a lot of plastic bubble wrap and polystyrene noodles but increasingly we are seeing much more paper based packaging and starch noodles which dissolve which in water. It's great to see!
Water, clay and cleaning
A pottery studio is traditionally good at recycling and reusing clay and water, so thankfully very little is wasted. If you visit you will see a variety of buckets with clay slops and water or slabs of semi dried clay waiting to be kneaded up to be used again. In the spirit of this tradition, we have looked into more ways we can recycle, reuse and repurpose around the studio.
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buckets once holding paint or grout now provide containers for glazes and slips
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Pots made as glaze testers or are studio seconds are used during making to hold water or tools
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rags and cloths to clean up have been made from old towels
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plastic wrapping from online clothing purchases is now used in the studio to wrap pots and hold moisture levels
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Our studio seconds are sold at reduced prices to be used rather than destroyed in the name of perfection
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We make good use of our on-site recycling bins for all recyclable waste
Carbon Footprint
It is really hard to analyze this aspect for our studio but we are trying to take on the challenge. Some changes we are actively trying out are:
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cutting down on additional travel by car: only one car journey each week takes online purchases to the post office. Most journeys are cycled, bus or walked.
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active travel is promoted to our workshop attendees.
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minimising delivery of clay and materials by only ordering materials in big batches and only what we really need.
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promote postage of workshop pots rather than collecting if you have travelled a distance which avoids extra car journeys
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Assessing which of our raw materials (which are often metal oxides or minerals) we could do without
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Checking out the ethical alternatives to some mined oxides such as cobalt to make good decisions
Keeping warm
The studio can get really cold in winter months and it's tempting to have a number of heaters both electric and gas on to combat this.
However (although in the coldest times the heaters do go on) we are embracing magical warming natural fibres instead to keep toasty. Works a treat! Plus, once they wear out they can be cut up and composted...but I hope that won't be any time soon.
If you have any more ideas for us then get in touch!