Posted: Tuesday, November 22, 2011 10:34 am

Environmental affairs manager for B&Q Ben Earl has told delegates at the Bathroom Manufacturers Association conference that for the DIY giant, water sustainability has reached the same point that timber sustainability had twenty years ago.

It has taken the company since the early 1990s to eradicate the very last unsustainable timber product from its extensive range.

He said: “Timber was a challenge; it took a long time to reach the standards we aspired to. We are now in the early stages of a similar challenge with water. A retailer cannot change products and behaviour alone; it needs the industry to collaborate to provide what environmental necessity dictates, and what customers will then begin to realise they need.

“Put simply, products that use or supply water will have to have water efficiency built in, and because the consumer demands that there is no discernible user difference between the water hungry products they currently enjoy and the new water efficient ones,  it is up to the industry to innovate.

“B&Q’s social responsibility is ingrained in its DNA, and water saving is part of that now and will continue to be. With energy efficiency labelling, B&Q has committed to supplying products only with an A rating. It is too soon to commit to benchmarks in the water efficiency of the products we will sell, but the long term goal is to achieve reduced water usage.

“We take the issue of water scarcity very seriously and want to make it easier for our customers to be able to choose products that will save water. We are confident that environmental issues and water efficiency will be moving higher and higher up the priority list for customers.

“We are embarking on is a journey with bathroom manufacturers to help and encourage them to innovate the next generation of products that will be performing well and saving water in the future.”