Hornchurch High School is committed to adhering to ethical purchasing policies, whilst providing good value for money.
The school considers sustainability and good value for money when buying goods such as paper, power, water and other school wide equipment. We would never knowingly purchase goods which are produced using unethical or unsafe methods.
Below are some of the statements from our suppliers outlining their duties regarding sustainability, the environment and employees.
Fulton Paper
GLS
Better Equipped
Amazon UK
Making IT Green
Castle Water
PHS
Initial
Oxford University press
YPO
SECOM PLC
London Living Wage
Fulton Paper
At Fulton Paper we are committed to progressively minimising our impact on the environment and contribution to climate change. Furthermore, we accept our position of responsibility to influence and lead the paper and print industry by providing environmental information, products, support and solutions to help our customers reduce their impact and become more resource efficient.
We believe in sustainable manufacturing and a policy of environmentally friendly milling operation which means that all of our product lines are produced with the perfect balance of product quality and environmental care.
Our suppliers have internationally recognized certifications and advanced technologies that are essential for the sustainable manufacture of pulp and paper. Their environmental credentials are current, and they work with NGOs to maintain and support their environmental initiatives.
It is reassuring to know that these processes are followed and checked on by independent auditors and that any concerns raised are acted upon to ensure that every one of our products is manufactured with minimal environmental impact.
These manufacturing processes are founded on the use of raw materials we can cultivate, conserve and generate without interfering with nature and our neighbouring communities.
GLS
As members of the United Nations Global Compact, we must adhere to their values of human rights, labour standards, the environment and anti-corruption.
ISO Accreditations
As reassurance that we are committed to Quality, Environmental and Health & Safety best practise, we are certified in the following.
Better Equipped
Modern Slavery Act Company Statement
Modern slavery is a terrible crime and represents the serious abuse of the human rights of some of the most vulnerable people. It can take various forms, such as slavery, servitude, forced or compulsory labour and human trafficking. Better Equipped Educational Supplies Ltd. welcomes the Modern Slavery Act of 2015 and is committed to both comply with the legislation but also to continue to act ethically and with integrity and decency in all of its business dealings and relationships.
Better Equipped has a zero tolerance approach to all aspects of modern slavery. We support the promotion of ethical business policies and practices in order to protect workers from any kind of abuse, deprivation of liberty or exploitation in relation to our business and our wider supply chain.
Our Modern Slavery Policy applies to all individuals working for the Company or on the Company’s behalf in any capacity including employees, directors, agents, contractors, consultants and all other business partners. We are alert to the risks of exploitation and modern slavery and so work very closely with our supply base and take responsibility for ensuring ethical practices throughout our supply chain.
Amazon UK
Amazon and Global Optimism announced The Climate Pledge, a commitment to meet the Paris Agreement 10 years early. The Climate Pledge calls on signatories to be net zero carbon across their businesses by 2040—a decade ahead of the Paris Accord’s goal of 2050.
Companies that sign The Climate Pledge agree to:
- Measure and report greenhouse gas emissions on a regular basis;
- Implement decarbonisation strategies in line with the Paris Agreement through real business changes and innovations, including efficiency improvements, renewable energy, materials reductions, and other carbon emission elimination strategies;
- Neutralize any remaining emissions with additional, quantifiable, real, permanent, and socially-beneficial offsets to achieve net zero annual carbon emissions by 2040.
- 80% Renewable Energy by 2024 and 100% Renewable Energy By 2030
Two years ago, Amazon made a long-term commitment to power its global infrastructure with 100% renewable energy. Amazon is now pledging to reach 80% renewable energy by 2024 and 100% renewable energy by 2030 on its path to net zero carbon by 2040. Major investments in renewable energy are a critical step to address its carbon footprint globally. To date, Amazon has launched 15 utility-scale wind and solar renewable energy projects that will generate over 1,300 MW of renewable capacity and deliver more than 3.8 million MWh of clean energy annually—enough to power 368,000 U.S. homes. Amazon has also installed more than 50 solar rooftops on fulfillment centers and sort centers around the globe that generate 98 MW of renewable capacity and deliver 130,000 MWh of clean energy annually.
Investing $100 million in Reforestation
Amazon is launching the Right Now Climate Fund, committing $100 million to restore and protect forests, wetlands, and peatlands around the world in partnership with The Nature Conservancy. The Right Now Climate Fund will help remove millions of metric tons of carbon from the atmosphere over the lifetime of the project, and create economic opportunity for thousands of people.
“The science is clear: healthy forests, grasslands, and wetlands are some of the most effective tools we have to address climate change—but we must act now to take natural climate solutions to scale,” said Sally Jewell, interim CEO, The Nature Conservancy. “Amazon is recognized as an innovator that drives real change. A commitment of this size is an exciting opportunity, with the potential to drive transformational change. We applaud Amazon’s Climate Pledge and their aggressive ambition to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2040 and look forward to our high-impact collaboration.”
Sustainability Reporting
Amazon today launched a new sustainability website to report on its commitments, initiatives, and performance. The site includes information on Amazon’s carbon footprint and other sustainability metrics that share the progress the company is making towards reaching The Climate Pledge. The new goals, commitments, investments, and programs announced today build on Amazon’s long-term commitment to sustainability through existing innovative programs, including Shipment Zero – Amazon’s vision to make all shipments net zero carbon, with 50% net zero carbon by 2030; sustainable packaging initiatives like Frustration-Free Packaging and Ship in Own Container, which have reduced packaging waste by 25% since 2015; renewable energy programs; investments in the circular economy with the Closed Loop Fund; and numerous other initiatives happening every day by teams across Amazon.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is committed to achieving 100% renewable energy usage for our global infrastructure.
Social responsibility
Amazon is strongly committed to conducting our business in a lawful and ethical manner, including engaging with suppliers who respect human rights, provide safe and inclusive workplaces, and promote a sustainable future.
Key commitments
We are committed to assessing our impact and focusing our efforts in these key areas.
Safe workplaces
Workers are entitled to safe and healthy workplaces.
Freely chosen employment
All work should be voluntary; no worker should have to pay for a job.
Empowering women
Quality jobs for women translate to positive impacts for communities.
Fair wages
Wages should meet workers’ basic needs.
Environmental protection
Safeguarding the environment protects workers and their communities.
Making IT Green
Unable to obtain any information from their website.
Castle Water
Unable to obtain any information from their website.
PHS
Reducing our organisational carbon footprint
Each day, phs employees undertake 20,000 service visits at our customers’ sites. Naturally, getting to and from these customers to perform the essential services they require is our primary operational challenge.
The fuel used in our vehicles is currently responsible for 75% of our organisational carbon footprint and is one of our most significant environmental impacts.
We are working hard to control this and our efforts are focused on 3 areas: choosing efficient vehicles that are the best-fit for our needs, taking practical steps to reduce the fuel we use and looking to the future to understand how we can transition to low carbon transport solutions.
So far, our ongoing investment in fleet replacement and driver behaviour training has enabled us to improve our average driver mpg by over 15%.
Last year we invested over £16 million in new vehicles, enabling us to both downsize vehicles and consolidate routes to reduce the number of waste vehicles on the road.
However, replacing the large diesel fleet that is the engine of our business represents the greatest opportunity to reduce our impact. We are working closely with manufacturers to identify new solutions and will be actively trialling electric vans in large urban areas during 2017-18.
Our LifeCycle Strategy enhances your environmental credentials by transforming your hygiene waste into sustainable energy.
As the largest collector of sanitary and nappy waste in the UK, we have partnered with energy-from-waste (EfW) specialists located throughout the UK.
The strategy allows us to divert the hygiene waste we collect from our customers away from landfill and into energy recovery facilities, to power homes, offices buildings, hospitals and schools with sustainable energy. The negative environmental impact of landfill sites can include greenhouse gas emissions and water contamination.
phs Group is on a path to diverting 95% of the offensive waste we collect, away from landfill and into the National Grid by 2021, helping the UK to achieve its renewable energy targets.
Alongside our recycled products and our water and energy-saving technology, our LifeCycle Strategy is another way phs Group clients can benefit from our environmental leadership.
Initial
The Initial approach to Corporate Social Responsibility is integral to the way we do business. We have developed a full range of environmental, health and safety, employee and customer relations policies to make clear exactly where we stand.
We support these policies through an extensive set of good practice guidelines that cover everything from health and safety on customer premises to the fundamentals of environmentally responsible service delivery.
Everyone at Initial, from onsite personnel to senior management in the boardroom, demonstrates a firm commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility by putting our good practice guidelines into action on a daily basis.
Waste Management Solutions
Sustainability is rapidly climbing the agenda at every organisation. The drivers are undeniable: growing concern for corporate social responsibility and duty of care, increasing awareness of the need for environmental protection, ever more stringent legislation, rising landfill costs.
Key Facts
- In 2014 we collected 1671 tonnes of nappy and feminine hygiene waste.
- 62.8% of this was processed through Energy-for-Waste
- We have 19 licensed waste transfer stations across the UK
Mat Facts:
- We do everything we can to recycle mats on a ‘Cradle to Grave’ principle.
- Firstly we repair mats wherever we can i.e. minor slits/ cuts in the rubber.
- If we cannot repair a dustmat we sell on to a third party who cuts them up for dog cages and horse boxes/equestrian arenas.
Our Ecologic waste management service starts with an audit at your premises by one of our experienced environmental managers. We’ll measure the amount of waste produced and assess how you are currently handling it. We’ll provide you with a comprehensive report with recommendations for an effective waste management solution.
When it comes to implementation, we’ll have ideas for getting your employees involved through a friendly and upbeat communication programme. We can even source recycling bins for you!
Ecologic comes with a real-time information reporting system that generates information on cost savings, recycling levels, input reductions – and reflects increased action on corporate social responsibility. You’ll also get tailored reports to support effective communication with staff and other stakeholders.
Oxford University press
Environmental sustainability is one of the most important and urgent issues facing society. Large organisations like our University, with hundreds of buildings and thousands of staff and students, have a significant part to play in reducing carbon emissions and waste.
Oxford takes this duty seriously and is committed to making more efficient use of resources and sourcing sustainable goods and services.
We encourage all staff and students to adopt sustainable ways of working and living and to make sustainable transport choices. We help departments to reduce the University’s environmental impact through sustainable procurement, recycling schemes, and the efficient management of energy, water, and waste.
Most recently, we have moved towards designing more buildings to the ambitious Passivhaus standard, provided a new shuttle bus linking our scientific sites, installed our 2,000th solar photovoltaic panel, and agreed on a new biodiversity strategy.
YPO
YPO is certified to the ISO 14001: 2015 standard, demonstrating our responsible approach to the environment including protection, pollution prevention and socio-economic needs.
We have also recently achieved certification to the new ISO 45001: 2018 occupational health and safety management standard.
All our printers’ cartridges are sent to be reused or recycled. Our old computers and IT equipment are donated for refurbishment so they can be reused for the benefit of the community. In 2018 we:
- Recycled 52 tonnes of wood
- Recycled 415 litres of waste cooking oil into bio-fuels
- Recycled nearly 158 tonnes of cardboard
- Recycled 32 tonnes of polythene
- Recycled 11.7 tonnes of metal
- Sent 96.5 tonnes of general waste for recycling
YPO operate a ‘zero to landfill’ policy so all non-recyclable wastes are segregated and sent for incineration to produce energy as ‘refuse derived fuel’ (RDF).
We are currently trialling the use of tote boxes for food deliveries in two districts in order to reduce our usage of cardboard packaging.
YPO employees regularly volunteer to take part in local litter picking with neighbouring companies, making our local industrial estate a cleaner and more environmentally-friendly environment in which to operate.
We are keen to improve our fuel consumption, and transport deliveries and ourselves more sustainably. Our delivery vehicles are fitted with solar panels to capture renewable energy, and we also operate a carefully planned delivery service to consolidate orders and reduce the number of journeys we make.
All delivery vehicles are compliant with the Euro 6 emissions standards and we have recently started replacing our fleet of HGV’s with more fuel efficient 5-tonne vans. In 2018 there was a 5.3% reduction in diesel usage compared with 2017 usage.
We are also working closely with neighbouring organisations and local transport bodies to reduce the number of employees travelling to work by car. We encourage sustainable options such as the ‘cycle to work’ scheme, public transport and working from home.
At YPO we put employee engagement at the heart of the business. We continually capture staff feedback to drive change and innovation across the workforce.
Employees are recognised throughout the year for their hard work and commitment, long service, staff suggestions and for their contribution to living our values in their everyday roles. Our annual staff event ensures all employees have a chance to meet and network with one another, and celebrate our individual and team achievements.
The health and wellbeing of our staff is paramount. While we have office-based staff, a large percentage of our staff are on the road making deliveries, visiting customers or working physical roles within our two warehouses.
We offer staff smoking cessation sessions, wellbeing and regular podiatrist assessments to ensure we maintain a happy and healthy workforce.
SECOM PLC
At SECOM we take our social responsibilities very seriously, as a market leader in security we run our business in an accountable manner.
We understand that being a good corporate citizen is about taking active steps to ensure that we are a responsible employer to our staff but also to the wider communities in which we work and are committed to making a positive impact wherever we operate. We recognise our duty of care to the environment and always endeavour to reduce our impact on the environment.
London Living Wage
At Hornchurch High all Employees are paid at lease the London Living Wage
