Crystal Doors' story
Crystal Doors are specialists in vinyl wrapped doors, and component manufacture. The company was founded by Managing Director Richard Hagan in 1994 and conducted its first systematic environmental review in 2015. From taking these early sustainability actions, the company declare a climate emergency in 2020 and brought forward its carbon neutral target to 2022 – 28 years ahead of the UK national target of 2050! At the same time, Crystal Doors began aligning its purpose and principles to UN Sustainability Development Goals.
The list of improvements is long. Zero waste to landfill, with recycling rate of over 99% based on weight. Biomass burner installed, providing 100% of heating from factory wood waste. Reduced energy consumption by installing a smart dust extraction system, LED lighting, power factor correction unit and more. Filled the factory roof space with a solar PV array to generate own electricity.
But it's not just about technology. All of Crystal Doors' employees live locally, within 3 miles of the factory on average, so everyone has the option to walk or cycle to work. All employees are trained in carbon literacy. Flying on business in banned.
In 2022, the company achieved its aim of becoming carbon neutral; neutralising greenhouse gas emissions across scopes 1, 2 and 3 using high quality UK-based offsetting and switching to 100% renewable energy supply. But the journey did not stop there. In 2023, the company began developing innovative recyclable, reusable and reconfigurable circular economy 'ready' products – ground-breaking within the Kitchen Bedroom & Bathroom (KBB) industry.
The next goal? For Crystal Doors to achieve a net positive environmental impact by 2030, as part of Greater Manchester's collective milestone to become net-zero by 2038!
Useful learnings from Crystal Doors
"When I started [auditing the company's environmental impact] in 2015, the main reason was only environmental. Now, it's financial: it's financially beneficial for every company to start their net-zero journey.
Crystal Doors is only a small company at three million turnover, so our carbon footprint across scopes 1, 2 and 3 was less than 300 tonnes. But the impact of sharing this with our stakeholders – for them to understand their baseline assessment and enable them to start their net-zero journey – is more like 3,000,000 tonnes nationally."
- Richard Hagan
Crystal Doors' metrics
SDG 7 (Affordable & Clean Energy): electricity intensity, fuel intensity, carbon intensity
SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption & Production): 100% renewable heat, zero industrial waste to landfill
SDG 13 (Climate Action): Scope 1, 2 & 3 emissions
SDG 17 (Partnerships For The Goals): engaging businesses through talks and media coverage
