Non-slip decking specialist Gripsure has committed to planting hundreds of trees across Cornwall this year in partnership with woodland creation organisation Plant One Cornwall.
The company, which manufactures anti-slip decking for homeowners and commercial customers in the UK and across the world, aims to create new habitats in Cornwall and re-establish woodland areas with the help of the not-for-profit community interest group, based in Helston. Gripsure is committed to planting one tree for every order that is placed with the company.
Cornwall has low levels of tree cover and one of the worst records in Europe, compared to other countries. The UK has an average of 13% of tree cover and Cornwall has only 9%, due to harsh weather conditions and historically high demand for wood in mining and shipping activities.
Rai Lewis, co-founder and MD for Plant One Cornwall, said: “Having the support of Gripsure is vitally important to the work that we do, it’s absolutely everything. If we didn’t have the backing of companies like Gripsure there is no way that we could plant more than 6,000 trees across Cornwall each year.
“The UK is in the bottom 12 of biodiverse wild spaces, so we really need to ‘up our game’, especially as we only sit above the most industrialised countries in Europe, such as Monaco. We plant trees because they have so many environmental benefits, we are trying to be a force of good.
“Because Cornwall has such a tough climate, it’s more difficult for trees to establish themselves. Many people don’t realise that the county is meant to be covered in trees – we should have a temperate rainforest or upland oakwood habitat and that is what, together with Gripsure, we are trying hard to reinstate across Cornwall.”
Gripsure MD, Mike Nicholson, added: “This is not a token gesture or us jumping on the environmental bandwagon, we’re not just paying lip service – we are doing this for all the right reasons.
“We want to reduce our overall carbon emissions and we’re committed to striving towards the business becoming net zero carbon. We are continually looking at new and different ways to minimise our environmental impact across our activities, from working with sustainable FSC and PEFC certified timber to reducing waste.”
