Sustainability

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Sustainability

A sustainable economic business model working within our vision and philosophy.

SOURCING OF NATURAL MATERIALS

Our products are made of natural resources and environmental responsibility is central to our strategy, Our products are made of natural resources and environmental responsibility is central to our strategy. Hence, one of our primary concerns is using raw materials that are renewable or by-products of existing industrial or agricultural activities. We take great care to not use any materials from species on the CITES list and are continually evaluating our materials future sustainability, irrespective of CITES.
Consideration of social and political issues is also core in our decision making. Where possible we aim to harvest materials ourselves or ensure we are in control the harvesting process and aim to maximise the employment of the local population, whilst providing stringent guidelines and training on the materials we work with.

MANUFACTURING

We process the materials in a way that minimizes wastage.
On substrates, glues, resins, lacquers and other materials, we continue to keep abreast of available “green” options, while at the same time being mindful of clients‘ and projects‘ needs.
All our manufacturing is undertaken in-house without outsourcing, thus enabling full quality control of the production process. This includes the ability to enforce safety standards and working practices.

LOGISTICS

Wherever possible we encourage our clients to maximize the use of sea transportation for the delivery of goods, rather than air transport. However, this practice is not always possible for sales and business development purposes. We therefore offset all emissions from air travel and transportation.

THE PEOPLE

We take a strong stand against child labour and we ensure this by controlling all production in our factory.
We transfer as many roles and responsibilities as we can to local employees, providing them with the appropriate technologies (machines, materials, etc.) and skills (local and long-distance training, consultants, etc.). Our training programme is defined to meet the employees’ needs, according to their role and responsibilities. We actively undertake a multi-skilling programme whereby each employee has set objectives to expand their technical skills base. Our staff are remunerated above local norms, which is incorporated through wages, benefits and profit-sharing arrangements. A full-time nurse is located on the premises, and a company doctor visits the plant every month. Since our employees are our most valuable assets, we also place a particular emphasis on health and safety conditions.

OWNERSHIP

We are owned by a private charitable trust, whose objective is to support the education of the children in the communities in which we operate. To deliver to this objective, we need to continue to grow and be profitable in the long-term and maintain the balance among the economic, environmental and social aspects of the business.