Hello! My name is Beatrice, and I’m excited to share my journey as a sustainability representative at Leon Paul, a company dedicated to the sport of fencing. My motivation lies in my love for fencing and the natural world. I grew up in the countryside and spent a lot of my childhood outside, be it sparring with my dad in the garden or spending hours with my eyes glued to a rockpool. The opportunity to help make this sport sustainable in order to save those priceless pockets of green in the world is one that I find incredibly exciting.

While my role is relatively new, my mission is clear: to make Leon Paul as environmentally sustainable as possible.

Starting Out: A Passionate Beginner

When I first started this role, I was filled with passion but lacked experience. Navigating my responsibilities felt overwhelming, and I often found myself unsure of where to begin. To bridge this gap, I enrolled in a 'Sustainability in Business' course. This decision was pivotal, providing me with the knowledge and tools to turn my ideas into actionable strategies. It’s a journey of continuous learning, which, as a business, we’re motivated to progress along.

Early Achievements: Small Changes, Big Impact

Despite being early in my career, I’m proud of the progress we’ve made at Leon Paul. Here are a few notable changes we’ve implemented:

- Improved Waste Disposal: In our warehouse and fencing centre, we’ve ensured that every working space has accessible and clearly labelled recycling bins, with posters detailing precisely what can and can’t be recycled/binned. We collect our old, broken blades and computers every few months and send them to a recycling company to extend the steel's life and prevent it from going to landfill. 

- Circular Economy: We’ve launched an active eBay account to sell old or faulty garments, giving them a second life and reducing waste, as well as providing a space for donations to help encourage recycling.

- Controls on Heaters: All the heaters and lights in the building have had a timer control added to them so that less energy is wasted if they’re accidentally left on. Additionally, the heat produced in the manufacturing processes at unit 14 is recycled to keep the factory warm in the colder months.

These steps, though modest, are laying a solid foundation for our long-term sustainability goals.

Over the coming weeks and months, I’ll be updating this blog with the progress that we make, as we look across all our operations to find opportunities to reduce our impact.