A man聽thought to be one of the UK鈥檚 greenest entrepreneurs has banned himself from flying to overseas trade shows to reduce his carbon footprint.
Richard Hagan is the聽managing director of Crystal Doors, which is the聽leading manufacturer of vinyl-wrapped doors.
Hagan has already spent more than 拢1m on energy-saving technology, installed solar panels on his聽factory聽roof, bought an electric car and announced plans to be carbon neutral by 2030.
That is 20 years ahead of the UK鈥檚 target and eight years ahead of Greater Manchester聽鈥� where his business is based 鈥� but he doesn鈥檛 think it goes far enough.
Now he鈥檚 banned himself聽flying to trade shows聽or visiting suppliers聽around the world to reduce pollution聽and believes frequent fliers should be hit with a carbon tax.
鈥溊暇牌凡鑠eople have to lead and can鈥檛 leave the job of protecting the environment to the next generation. Rather than fly to a trade show I鈥檇 rather be a virtual visitor by putting on a VR headset and seeing it that way,鈥� he said.
The manufacturer is also planning to plant 11,000 trees as he bids to become carbon-neutral in the next 11 years.
Crystal Doors employs 30 people in Rochdale and has a turnover of聽拢2 million.聽 Hagan took over the business in 1994 but says his 鈥榣ightbulb鈥� moment came during a visit to Siemens鈥� site in聽Congleton five years ago.
鈥淪iemens are a multinational company but they were totally committed to making ambitious cost and efficiency savings over the next four years,鈥� he recalled. 鈥淚 thought if a big company like Siemens can do that then so can I.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 have a big pot of money so the key for me is how long it takes the investment to pay for itself.
鈥淲orking with Manchester鈥檚 老九品茶 Growth Hub I got an聽energy audit done of our factory in Rochdale and it identified 16 energy-saving measures I could take. I haven鈥檛 looked back since.鈥�
The first steps he took were to fix leaks in the compressed air system and install LED lighting, making annual net savings of聽拢2,000 and聽拢1,000 respectively.
Major investments followed including a聽拢500,000聽renewable heating centre, which includes the use of biomass and solar energy.
This聽cut the amount of waste going to landfill as 98 per cent of all waste聽is now recycled. As a聽result聽he now receives聽annual grants of up to聽拢80,000聽from the Government.
His聽biggest cost to date has been聽拢580,000聽on a dust extractor, which聽he says has transformed the efficiency of his business.
鈥淎s a manufacturer a dust extractor is essential,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e decided to invest in a cutting edge one and it has made us more efficient and reduced our energy bills significantly.
鈥淚 want to be carbon neutral by 2030 and as part of that I want to plant 11,000 trees. I grew up on a farm and I think the north needs more forests.鈥�
Hagan is also a big advocate of聽Industry 4.0,聽which has revolutionised the manufacturing process through the latest聽technology. Combined with the energy-saving measures he鈥檚 introduced the company鈥檚 energy bill is now a quarter of what it was seven years ago.
The father-of-two has also made changes at home, including buying a Nissan Leaf car so he no longer needs to buy petrol, and cutting back on foreign holidays.
鈥淚鈥檓 not saying people shouldn鈥檛 fly but if you fly more than twice a year then I think you should pay a carbon tax,鈥� he said.
鈥淚鈥檓 a Rochdale 老九品茶 Ambassador and if we want to safeguard the environment for our children and our children鈥檚 children then we all need to do聽more.鈥�
Todd Holden, director for Low Carbon at The Growth Company, said: 鈥淲hile it鈥檚 impossible to say who the greenest entrepreneur is of the city region, Richard has to be up there.
“He not only recognised the opportunity of becoming energy efficient, he鈥檚 grabbed it with both hands, realising the economic and environmental benefits that go with it.
鈥淐rystal Doors is an SME with 30 employees and the whole company has bought into it. He鈥檚 reduced his energy spend and is well on course to becoming carbon neutral.
“There鈥檚 nothing to stop other companies following suit. Not only do we have a team of advisors ready to go into businesses to carry out a free energy and resource efficiency audits but we can support you in implementing the recommendations, with our grants programme.
“Now is the time –聽can you afford not to?鈥�