Environmental Awareness

With people now actively being encouraged to be more environmentally considerate, Bailey feels it is important that businesses also play their part in this process.

This is particularly relevant to caravan manufacturing which, as part of the outdoor leisure industry, has a strong affinity with the natural environment. Indeed caravanning can already lay claim to be one of the 'greenest' forms of leisure pursuit, practiced as it is by people who appreciate the outdoor life and who enjoy and respect the countryside.

Consequently Bailey has been looking at ways of reducing the environmental impact of its operations throughout all areas of the business. The following examples explain what initiatives have taken place thus far.

For more information on how green caravanning is in general as a form of leisure activity click here to view the new National Caravan Council web site on the subject.

Green Business Culture

Waste Reduction

For economic as well as ethical reasons Bailey has always focussed on waste reduction. The latest development has been the introduction of the industry's first waste recycling scheme which has reduced the amount of waste sent to land fill sites by 50%.

The company currently re-cycles cardboard, paper, timber (all forms), aluminium, ferrous metal, polystyrene, polythene and floor vinyl, with plans to extend this scheme to other commodities in the near future. In the first six months of operation Bailey re-cycled over 100,000 kgs of waste products; which is equivalent to the weight of 100 caravans.

The company is also the driving force behind on-going work with the industry's major component suppliers to extend the use of returnable packaging.

The recycling culture in now prevalent throughout the company, to the extent that nobody at Bailey has their own personal waste bin with everybody using central recycling facilities instead.

In another industry first Bailey has also started producing sales and marketing literature such as product brochures and price lists on re-cycled paper stock.

Business Efficiency

In a similar way to waste reduction, improvements to business efficiency will also have positive benefits for the environment. Following the introduction of 'just in time' production systems and inventory control, Bailey can now claim to be the most efficient manufacturer in the industry in terms of resource usage and consumption in relation to what it produces.

Green Product Development

Environmentally Friendly Products

Bailey currently designs its caravans to be 75% recyclable. Recent initiatives to enhance the environmental friendliness of our products include:

• The use of a fully recyclable paper coated furniture board instead of a plastic coated one throughout the product range
• The use of solvent free adhesives in the body shell construction process
• The use of timber sourced from sustainable forests in all stages of production
• Replacement of MDF furniture profiles with those manufactured from recyclable materials such as aluminium

Product Design

There are two ways in which manufacturers can look to reduce carbon emission levels via the design of its products. The first is to reduce the weight of the caravans themselves and the second is to consider their towing efficiency.

Bailey has been at the forefront of developments in both these areas. The unladen weights of the company's touring caravans compare favourably with the majority of the other products in the market place and we are constantly exploring ways to reduce them still further. Our products also enjoy a reputation unrivalled towing stability, something which we are keen to maintain. That is why Bailey has become a joint sponsor of the Trailer Stability Studies being conducted by Bath University & continues to support The Caravan Club TowCar of the Year Competition both of which help to improve understanding into towing dynamics.

Green Production Facility

Production Plant

When Martin Bailey moved his company to its current South Liberty Lane address in 1960, environmental considerations were probably very far from his mind (the location was actually chosen because of its proximity to the main trunk road to the South West England).

Today our compact 'brown field' site has minimal negative effect on the countryside. Indeed the urban location has meant that there is a reduction in potential traffic congestion and pollution generated by our workforce, the majority of whom live within a 10 minute commute of the company.

Having inherited this environmentally desirable situation, Bailey has looked to further reduce the impact of its production facility with schemes such as: the insulation of all factory buildings to halve energy bills and the implementation of a new energy management system which has lowered gas consumption levels by 30%.