{"id":11543,"title":"Calculating the environmental impact of your store","description":"In this blog, we explain how your Impact Stats are calculated, including the plastic your store has eliminated, the trees you have planted, the material you have saved from landfill and your net CO2 emissions. These stats are all great sources for your marketing and goal setting.","content":"<p>Many Teemillers we talk to love learning more detailed information about the environmental impact they're having and how to quantify it. Naturally, this requires some assumptions and averaging. We\u2019ve been able to take the programs that we have in place, like your factories and servers being powered by renewable energy, and make a few reasonable calculations.\u00a0 We can estimate how much of this energy you might use and translate that into the impact on CO2 emissions, based on international benchmarks. The stats created are useful for setting goals for your store and promoting your environmental impact.<\/p><p>This blog details your <a href=\"https:\/\/teemill.com\/analytics\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Impact Stats<\/a> and how they work. It also explains how you might use them to help your customers understand the <a href=\"\/blog\/?search=sustainability\">sustainability<\/a> of your store and what it means for your brand.<\/p><h2><strong>Plastic<\/strong><\/h2><p>Firstly, we can look at the approximate amount of plastic waste that your store has reduced. We start with our plastic-free packaging and contrast it with \u2018business as usual\u2019, where most brands use polyethylene mailer bags to ship their products - an estimated 15.8 million tonnes of plastic packaging are generated in the EU alone each year [1]. For our calculations, we\u2019re just going to assume they use one bag, which is conservative. This is something you\u2019ll see us do throughout these workings. We want to make sure that if we\u2019re making assumptions, we err on the side of caution.\u00a0<\/p><p><img src=\"https:\/\/images.teemill.com\/pcioevtbjqvqyl44mcxxu5uya8ufyinwpqddej1uyasuwk6t.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&amp;h=auto\" alt=\"\" title=\"76902338\"><br>-- <em>Every order on your store is shipped in paper packaging made from plants, not plastic, contributing to your stats for the amount of plastic your store has eliminated.<\/em><\/p><p>We also consider the fact that <strong>60% <\/strong>of clothing is made from plastic [2], while Teemill products are <a href=\"https:\/\/teemill.com\/the-journey\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">made from natural materials.<\/a> We then add on all the orders that you receive during <u><a href=\"https:\/\/teemill.com\/blog\/plastic-recovery-how-your-brand-can-get-involved-with-one-tee-one-kg-weekend\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u2018One Tee One KG\u2019 offer weekends<\/a><\/u> - for each of these, we make a donation to <u><a href=\"https:\/\/plasticbank.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Plastic Bank<\/a><\/u> to fund the recovery of 1kg of ocean-bound plastic. This plastic is removed from polluted rivers and watercourses and added to your total for the amount of plastic saved.<\/p><p><img src=\"https:\/\/images.teemill.com\/jmkly0c5euniruqfofnbfmr2gmorudkbnpm6rkgwxssbjxzm.jpg.jpg?w=1140&amp;h=auto\" alt=\"\" title=\"76846942\"><br>-- <em>Orders during<\/em> <em>One Tee One KG promotions contribute to your overall stat for Weight of Saved Plastic so make sure to market these offer weekends - find the next one in your <u><a href=\"https:\/\/teemill.com\/masterplan\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Masterplan<\/a><\/u>.<\/em><\/p><p>Totalling everything up gives an estimate of the amount of plastic that your brand has helped reduce from the economy and environment. Check out your plastic-saving total right now and share it with your customers.\u00a0<\/p><ul><li><p><strong>\u201cWeight of Saved Plastic\u201d <\/strong>= <strong>Total Packaging Weight <\/strong>+<strong> 60% of<\/strong> <strong>Total Order Weight<\/strong> + <strong>1KG for each 1 Tee 1 KG order<\/strong> <strong>with Plastic Bank<\/strong><\/p><\/li><\/ul><h2><strong>Remill<\/strong><\/h2><p><img src=\"https:\/\/images.teemill.com\/kvriiriup9popzrzf2ogsxslevplze32qkhmn8uctqqleoqg.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&amp;h=auto\" alt=\"\" title=\"76846975\"><br><em>-- All your products are designed to be remade when worn out. Encourage your customers to send back worn out products for money off their next purchase and keep the material in use. <\/em><br><br>As well as reducing plastic, <a href=\"https:\/\/teemill.com\/circular-fashion\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Teemill products are designed to be remade<\/a> into new products when worn out. This means a massive reduction in waste. In the manufacturing process, it is normal for a small number of products to fail a quality assurance process and, when this happens, we reprocess that fabric to be remade into new products. Your customers can also send back any worn out items and we will remake them into new products. The stat for 'organic material recovered' is generated by adding up the total weight of your products that have been remilled. In the future, we hope to Remill organic cotton from other brands too.<\/p><p>Every remilled product means one less item that needs to be made from scratch. We can take the benchmark water and carbon impact of a raw cotton product and multiply that by 95% (5% of the fibre is lost during recycling) to see how much we have saved through remilling. This gives us a figure that quantifies the impact of the circular economy on climate change and the water cycle.<\/p><p>Approximately<strong> 7.23kg<\/strong> of CO2 and <strong>4478 litres <\/strong>of water is saved per tee that has been remilled [3]. Check out your Remill stats now to see how much material you have kept in circulation by being part of the circular fashion revolution. Circularity is the way forward for conserving resources and taking care of our planet [4] so highlight it in your marketing.<\/p><ul><li><p><strong>\"Organic material recovered and diverted from landfill\u201d= Weight of remilled products\u00a0<\/strong><\/p><\/li><li><p><strong>\u201cAmount of CO2 and water saved\u201d= 95% of carbon and water used to make one raw product x number of remilled products<\/strong><\/p><\/li><\/ul><h2><strong>Trees<\/strong><\/h2><p><img src=\"https:\/\/images.teemill.com\/7eakkpqehduktzklhlsj9p9c6xbmukuocuspcokte5tuwcqn.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&amp;h=auto\" alt=\"\" title=\"76901017\"><br>-- <em>It's easy for customers to understand the meaning of planting individual trees so it's a great story to share. Knowing exactly how much CO2 you have recovered from this makes your marketing even more air-tight.<\/em><\/p><p>The \u2018trees planted\u2019 count is calculated using the number of orders placed over one of your regular Buy One Get One Tree promotional weekends. During these offers, we use each order to fund the planting of a tree with a partner organisation. You can read more about the organisations we work with to plant trees, which species and locations we\u2019ve used, and how this improves biodiversity as well as reducing CO2 <u><a href=\"https:\/\/teemill.com\/blog\/how-to-plant-a-tree-with-every-order\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">here<\/a><\/u>. From the number of trees planted, we can make an approximation as to the amount of reforested land this would equate to, whilst also making a fairly accurate estimate as to the amount of CO2 this would capture. All of this leads to stats that are easy to share on your store and social media.\u00a0<\/p><p>For example, a five year old Rhizophora Mucronata is approximately <strong>5m x 5m<\/strong> [5] so we can say that\u00a0 \u201cplanting <strong>8<\/strong> trees takes up the same area as a tennis court\u201d. The average amount of CO2 recovered by each tree, from the variety of species we have planted so far, equates to around <strong>38.6kg <\/strong>of CO2\u00a0 for its lifetime [6]. Even though this is a conservative approximation, since some species grow much larger, we use this lower number to make sure the estimates are dependable. We use a variety of tree planting partners and one of these, Tree-Nation, have a similar mathematical model that you can see <u><a href=\"https:\/\/tree-nation.com\/profile\/impact\/teemill-tech\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">here<\/a><\/u>.\u00a0<\/p><p>While the use of renewable energy greatly reduces CO2 emissions [7], it\u2019s these large scale tree planting campaigns that offset the remaining emissions and go a long way to making Teemill carbon neutral. So, if you care a lot about climate change, it\u2019s a great idea to time your marketing around these offer weekends for extra impact. Why not set a target for your next Buy One Get One Tree weekend and get your customers hyped to take part in your tree-planting? Get your free graphics <a href=\"https:\/\/teemill.com\/drive\/?driveSearch=buy%20one%20get%20one%20tree\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">here<\/a>.<\/p><ul><li><p><strong>Tree planting impact = Number of trees planted through Buy One Get One Tree x The average KGs of CO2 that one tree recovers during its lifetime\u00a0<\/strong><\/p><\/li><\/ul><h2><strong>CO2\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2><p><img src=\"https:\/\/images.teemill.com\/mnj9zrwkp9vcery5yywilpcfg8hlqshpgt6neduv5s9fs4p1.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&amp;h=auto\" alt=\"\" title=\"76847302\"><br>-- <em>Your store can become carbon neutral by offsetting the emissions from your products with the trees you plant.<\/em><\/p><p>Moving on to how your store is affecting climate change, we can show you a stat for the net amount of CO2 your store is responsible for. If this is negative, then we will display this value as zero. In the calculation, <strong>\u201cCO2 Captured\u201d<\/strong> is the amount of CO2 captured by the trees planted by the store. \u201c<strong>CO2 Emissions<\/strong>\u201d<strong> <\/strong>is the total amount of CO2 which is emitted by the total number of products sold on your store. To get the final figure, we take the amount of CO2 you have recovered through tree planting away from the total emissions of manufacturing your products.\u00a0<\/p><p>To calculate the CO2 emissions of your products, we take your \"Sales Count\" (the number of sales you have made on your store) and multiply it by the amount of carbon we estimate is emitted during the production of a Teemill t-shirt. This is around <strong>671g <\/strong>of CO2 [8]. To find the amount of CO2 your store has recovered to offset your emissions, we take the number of trees planted during your Buy One Get One Tree weekends and multiply it by the average amount of CO2 captured by a tree in its lifetime [9]. This is the same stat that we used above to calculate your tree planting impact.<\/p><p>If the amount of CO2 recovered by the trees is equal to or more than your emissions, this makes your store carbon neutral and you will see a message that lets you know. If that\u2019s the case - congratulations. That\u2019s definitely something to shout about. People who are passionate about shopping from environmentally friendly businesses will immediately be drawn to a store that is carbon neutral.<\/p><ul><li><p><strong>\"Net Carbon\" = CO2 emissions (Sales Count x KGs of CO2 emitted from a Teemill t-shirt) - KGs of CO2 captured through tree planting (Number of trees planted through Buy One Get One Tree x the average KGs of CO2 that one tree recovers during its lifetime)<\/strong><\/p><\/li><\/ul><h2><strong>Understanding how these stats are calculated is valuable for your marketing and goal setting<\/strong><\/h2><p><img src=\"https:\/\/images.teemill.com\/fn2cyzxo66nnriujpitzitogavgdmaxjxyp4ttrvd8afs0zn.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&amp;h=auto\" alt=\"\" title=\"76847322\"><br>-- <em>The details of what happens in <a href=\"https:\/\/teemill.com\/the-journey\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">your supply chain<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/teemill.com\/drive\/?driveSearch=factory\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">photography from the factories<\/a> are easily accessible for sharing. And now, with Analytics, you can speak more specifically about the impact of your brand too<\/em><\/p><p>There\u2019s been a big demand for accessing Impact Stats. This comes as no surprise, since transparency is increasingly important for businesses [10]. Being carbon neutral, for example, is an amazing story to share with your audience and is concrete proof of your commitment to be environmentally responsible. There is evidence to suggest that consumers are coming to expect more from brands in terms of their values and the causes they support [11]. Many brands claim to care about their impact but fail to produce their numbers when asked. Sharing your stats on plastic, trees, CO2, and recovered materials will show that you are serious about sustainability and you will reach those who have the same values.<\/p><p>Being able to see these stats clearly also makes it easier to set targets. You might want to reach the planting of 100 trees or the recovery of 100kg of organic material for Remill. Sharing these environmentally-focused targets with your customers gives them a chance to be a part of the solutions to waste, climate change and pollution. They\u2019ll be invested in your journey, eager to help and happy to celebrate with you when you reach your goals. Choose your favourite stats now and get to work.<\/p><p><br><br><\/p><ul><li><p>[1] Eurostat, 2018<\/p><\/li><li><p>[2] International Cotton Advisory Committee, 2013<\/p><\/li><li><p>[3] Ellen MacArthur Foundation; LCA, Universitat de Valencia &amp; UNESCO, 2017<\/p><\/li><li><p>[4] Fashion for Good, 2019<\/p><\/li><li><p>[5] Strusi\u0144ska-Correia et al, 2013<\/p><\/li><li><p>[6] Tree-Nation, 2020<\/p><\/li><li><p>[7] International Energy Agency, 2017<\/p><\/li><li><p>[8] LCA, Universitat de Valencia &amp; UNESCO, 2017<\/p><\/li><li><p>[9] Tree-Nation, 2020<\/p><\/li><li><p>[10 Social Sprout, 2019<\/p><\/li><li><p>[11] Mailjet, 2020<\/p><\/li><\/ul>","urlTitle":"calculating-the-environmental-impact-of-your-store","url":"\/blog\/calculating-the-environmental-impact-of-your-store\/","editListUrl":"\/my-blogs","editUrl":"\/my-blogs\/edit\/calculating-the-environmental-impact-of-your-store\/","fullUrl":"https:\/\/teemill.com\/blog\/calculating-the-environmental-impact-of-your-store\/","featured":false,"published":true,"showOnSitemap":true,"hidden":false,"visibility":null,"createdAt":1621846600,"updatedAt":1667887226,"publishedAt":1652263575,"lastReadAt":null,"division":{"id":12,"name":"Teemill"},"tags":[{"id":30,"code":"marketing","name":"marketing","url":"\/blog\/tagged\/marketing\/"},{"id":658,"code":"sustainability","name":"sustainability","url":"\/blog\/tagged\/sustainability\/"}],"metaImage":{"original":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/ncneqssuzvauznyytkfyojinbqeobzsla6zaz060xu7rmawq.jpeg","thumbnail":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/ncneqssuzvauznyytkfyojinbqeobzsla6zaz060xu7rmawq.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&h=855","banner":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/ncneqssuzvauznyytkfyojinbqeobzsla6zaz060xu7rmawq.jpeg.jpg?w=1920&h=1440"},"metaTitle":"Environmental Impact Stats for your store","metaDescription":"In this blog, we explain the calculations behind your store's stats for plastic elimination, material recovery, tree planting and net CO2 emissions.","keyPhraseCampaignId":null,"series":[],"similarReads":[{"id":40,"title":"Streetwear photography inspiration from Nocturnal Creature","url":"\/blog\/streetwear-photography-inspiration\/","urlTitle":"streetwear-photography-inspiration","division":12,"description":"Instantly recognisable by their unique and edgy style, Nocturnal Creature's photography is fresh, fun and real. 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