Love Logs was launched by pizza enthusiasts Heather and Paul in 2020 to drive change in the antiquated firewood industry. They tried to buy wood online for their new pizza oven during lockdown and couldn’t believe how much plastic packaging it came in. When they started researching it, they learnt that most of the wood sold in the UK is imported, driven 1,800 miles from Eastern Europe.
They thought they could do it better – so they did!
They sell only British wood in manageable quantities, packaged 100% plastic free and delivered next day to most of the UK. In addition to logs for log burners, they specialise in sustainable cooking woods, including a specific product for every brand and model of home pizza oven.
We asked Heather some questions:
What do you need to consider to ensure your business is as sustainable as possible?
“With the state of the climate crisis today, how can sustainability not be important to you?!
We have both tried to live sustainably in our personal lives for the past 7-8 years and make ethical choices as consumers. However, we both feel that there is too much emphasis on the individual and that it should be on businesses to do more to offer sustainable products and make sure their processes are planet friendly.
We knew that our business would need to be a positive force for change and offer a truly green option in an industry full of greenwashing.
There are three key areas that influence every decision we make
- Carbon footprint – burning wood as a process is carbon neutral over the lifecycle of the tree, the carbon footprint comes from transporting it. We try to keep road miles as low as possible and we’re always working to improve this. We use only British wood which is sourced from within 50 miles of our dispatch centre, and we’re looking to open more dispatch centres around the country to minimise the journey to the end customer even further
- Plastic – we don’t use any plastic in our products or packaging. At all. Ever. We work with all our suppliers to minimise their plastic use, and we pay Reworked to properly recycle any plastic that comes into our warehouse, so nothing ends up in landfill.
- Responsible sourcing – We make sure we source all our wood from properly managed forests. Whilst it seems counter intuitive that cutting down trees can be good for the environment, properly managed forestry includes selective felling and replanting which encourages growth of other plants and wildlife without contributing to deforestation”
What do you love about running your business?
“Solving a problem for customers who are trying to do the right thing! Lots of our reviews say customers have been searching for a plastic free or a British option and haven’t been able to find that before us, which gives us a real buzz. We’ve had great feedback from some customers who say we’ve encouraged them to think sustainably in other areas of their life too which is awesome. We’re also seeing competitors start ditching the plastic and talk more about sustainability, so it feels great to be driving change across the whole industry, not just for our customers.”
And finally, what do you love about Birmingham?
“The vibe! Wherever you go in Brum, whatever day of the week it is, there are always people having fun. There’s such an eclectic mix of things to do, eat and drink in the city, including so many brilliant, independent, local businesses. You’ll never be bored in Birmingham!”
You can find Love Logs online (www.love-logs.com)