Mannok environmental progress highlighted in 2024 calendar
Environmentally themed calendar highlights and details company’s recent progress and achievements
MANNOK have announced their progress in protecting the environment through the release of their environmentally themed 2024 calendar, which features beautiful photography of the nature that surrounds the company’s 2,000+ acres of land holdings as well as information detailing the environmental milestones the company has completed recently.
Having had their landholdings surveyed by Ulster Wildlife to develop a natural assets action plan to increase the land’s environmental benefits, and with the company’s sustainability strategy having the planet as one of three main areas of focus, Mannok are clearly committed to protecting the environment and have completed a number of substantial projects in 2023 as part of this.
Environmental manager Stephen Linden commented: ‘I was delighted when the company suggested having an environmental theme for the 2024 calendar. We have been working hard on many environmental initiatives since the launch of our Sustainability Strategy in 2021 which has the planet and environment as one of the main pillars. The images in the calendar and accompanying descriptions are a great way of showcasing some of our achievements in 2023.
‘Something that is extremely important for Mannok is partnership and communication with our customers, suppliers, and the local community, to raise awareness of our commitment to innovative sustainability projects, the importance of protecting our local environment, and reducing our carbon footprint. As the calendar is distributed to our employees, customers, and the local community, it was a great way to inform them of the work we have been doing to protect endangered species, reduce our carbon footprint, and enhance pollination and biodiversity.’
To recognize all of the environmental projects the company achieved in the past year, the newly released 2024 calendar has an environmental theme with 12 beautiful photos of the nature. The pictures include areas of tree planting as part of the company’s achievement of planting 11,700 native trees in 2023, bringing the total number of trees planted by the company to 12,540 in recent years.
The company Kestrel Cam initiative features in two images including a captivating action shot of a female kestrel skilfully landing in a nook within one of Mannok’s quarry faces, a protected nest where a pair of kestrels have raised their young every spring for the last six years. The second image is of a healthy kestrel chick carefully taken from the nest in 2023 by experienced ornithologist Dr Kez Armstrong, to have a unique coded colour ring fitted to its leg, which will further facilitate the study of the red-listed species.
Mannok are also proud business supporters of the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan, a nationwide initiative to address the decline in pollinator numbers which are crucial to preserving native Irish ecosystems. To support this, another image from the calendar captures a trio of white traditional garden beehives, home to three busy native Irish honeybee colonies at the front of Mannok’s Packaging Products facility. From its beehives, the company produces local honey every year for employees to enjoy with donations going to Dooletter Wildlife Rescue, in Boho, in 2023.
The company also took part in No Mow May and images show some of 180,000 specially selected spring flowering bulbs which were planted around sites and the wild, vibrant and untouched flowering meadow bursting with life behind Mannok’s Derrylin office, preserved to benefit biodiversity, pollinators, and delicate ecosystems. In total, the company has planted 3,000m2 of wildflower meadows.
All the photographs in the 2024 calendar reflect the company’s the commitment to meeting the ambitious targets set out in the Mannok 2030 Vision – the company’s Sustainability Strategy which was launched in 2021 and details how it will transition the business from a carbon-intensive operation to a more sustainable path by the end of the decade.
