We took the pledge to go ‘arb neutral’ back in September 2020. This means that we replant for EVERY tree we have to remove, older specimens we count as more than one due to the different role mature trees play in ecosystems. We do this by either donating to woodland charities, such as the National and Woodland trust, planting locally or joining in on volunteer planting days. This helps mitigate our impact on the environment, specifically local urban ecosystems- which are so important. We will still always encourage our customers to retain rather than remove as we are very aware of how the role of mature trees differ to seedlings, but it still provides more benefit than not replanting at all. To prove we are honouring our pledge we post monthly ‘scores on the doors’ of removals and replants across our social media pages.

Our first year saw us plant over 600 trees (some of these numbers were from a charity raffle we ran- we didn’t remove that many). We even lent a hand in a local campaign which was responsible for saving over 5000 oak saplings in total. Check out the link. In 2022 we planted 435; less removals and more retention that year. After both years we are however, in a tree planting surplus which is great news!  

Putting the WO in Green (wo)Man, we’re on the push for encouraging women into the sector! Current staffing means we’re 50/50 split and have previously had all female teams out (something we’ve not seen locally), often to clients' surprise. It’s so important to keep at this, normalising the concept of female arbs to set examples for younger generations and open the industry up as an accessible and inclusive sector. Here at GMTC we celebrate equality and often reflect on the progress the industry has made. We know it’s not all bad and heavily admire the trailblazing work the early female arbs did, by looking back we know how much more we want to progress in the future. Check out an interview by Holly last International women's day, with forestry company Oakleaf: 



Check out an interview by Holly last International women's day, with forestry company Oakleaf: https://www.facebook.com/oakleafforestry/photos/pb.100048548057333.-2207520000./5145505385506923/?type=3

We believe in extra curricular activities. We take inspiration from the natural environment we work in and like to give it back, making it accessible for everyone. This includes physically providing schools/community hubs/etc with woodchip for sensory gardens, logs and pennies for painting or verbally assisting with projects by giving advice. One success story is the ‘paint a penny’ campaign we started. Around 3 years ago (early 2020) we started providing locals with log slices (pennies) as an activity to keep kids and adults alike busy. We did it to pay homage to our wonderful NHS and ease the burden of home-schooling (for at least 5 minutes!). Fast forward to 2022 and we’d dropped a finished mural off at St. Peter’s Hospital Chertsey with all the lovely painted pennies on as a tribute to those who worked through some of the toughest times the NHS has seen in recent years and those who sadly lost their battles with covid. 

The mural was painted by the very talented Beth Cole @herebythewoods and the pennies by those involved with the hospital.

Even better....

If you’d like to keep a part of your tree we offer mobile milling and basic carving so if you're after planks for projects or decorative bird boxes it’s always an option.