Case study
How Croydex made Carbon Neutrality stand up to scrutiny
Manufacturing
SME
Reduce
Croydex has been designing and manufacturing bathroom accessories from its base in Andover, Hampshire, with roots going back to 1919. As part of Norcros plc, the roughly 110-person business has long been known for product innovation, but now they're applying that same discipline to their carbon footprint. This is the story of how Croydex reached carbon neutrality from a 2023 baseline by measuring every emission scope in-house and taking a rigorous, science-aligned approach that puts credibility, transparency and long-term impact first.
At a glance
About Croydex
Croydex holds ISO 9001 for quality management and has extended that same discipline to its environmental impact. Having previously achieved carbon neutrality under the PAS 2060 specification, the business has since moved to the more rigorous ISO 14068-1 standard, declaring all emission scopes in full.
Location
Andover, Hampshire, UK (plus a satellite office in China)
Company size
~110 employees (SME)
Industry
Manufacturing - bathroom accessories & fittings
Services used
Ecologi - verified carbon credits / climate finance
Overall climate journey
Measure ✓ · Reduce ✓ · Fund ✓ ·
The issue
In manufacturing, a “carbon neutral” claim is easy to make and hard to trust. Standards vary widely in rigour, and businesses that cut corners risk accusations of greenwashing - undermining the very credibility they set out to build. Having already earned ISO 9001, Croydex wanted to extend that quality-management discipline to its environmental impact, and to stand apart from competitors with a claim that would hold up to genuine scrutiny.
The challenges
As ever, doing something properly is much more difficult than doing it quickly. That meant accounting for every operational emission across Scopes 1, 2 and 3 with no convenient exclusions, working with a carbon credit partner it could trust over the long term, and reducing emissions at source rather than simply purchasing its way to neutrality. The ISO standard it was working towards also imposed rigorous requirements on any carbon credits used, including independent verification, registry traceability, transparency and strict eligibility criteria. Among the biggest practical challenges was complying with the standard's 'vintage' requirement, which limits the age of credits that can be used.
The solution
Measuring everything, in-house
Rather than outsource its footprint, Croydex built the capability internally. The business developed a SharePoint-based system and custom calculation sheets that capture all three scopes without exclusions - down to employee commuting, homeworking and every individual sales order on a gate-to-gate basis. The result is a footprint Croydex genuinely owns and can defend.
Choosing a partner it could trust
Croydex spent six months researching offsetting partners before selecting Ecologi - chosen for its reliability, transparent public interface and willingness to build a face-to-face relationship. The partnership has been a two-way push: Croydex’s standards have, in turn, raised Ecologi’s own.
Reducing before offsetting
Neutrality started with cutting emissions at source. Croydex switched to carbon-neutral electricity and gas tariffs, overhauled its sites with LED lighting, and eliminated waste to landfill. It removed plastic from packaging, introduced recycled-plastic products, and electrified its car fleet.
Holding a higher standard
Having previously achieved carbon neutrality under the PAS 2060 specification, Croydex made the transition to the more rigorous ISO 14068-1 standard last year. While PAS 2060 provided a recognised framework, Croydex felt the new ISO standard offered greater robustness and reduced the potential for inconsistent interpretation. Meeting the new standard meant declaring all emissions scopes in full, producing a detailed 24-page justification of its carbon management approach, and complying with stringent requirements for the carbon credits it used, including the standard's strict vintage criteria.
The results
Croydex has been carbon neutral since 2023 - and is now ready to say so publicly. Internally the response has been strong: the sales team sees the achievement as a genuine competitive advantage, and the wider business treats it as a point of pride and a staff motivator. The credentials are already proving their worth in customer sustainability questionnaires, and Croydex expects further commercial benefit as it rolls out a broader communications push across its social media and marketing.
In their words
