Sustainability Statement 2023
Overview With sustainability at the forefront, we think for the future, not just for now. We care about our environment and ensure that the decisions we take always support this. We work towards the common goal of reducing our impact on the environment in an ethical and socially responsible manner by always considering more sustainable choices. We know that every sustainable decision, no matter how small, contributes to our environmental footprint. We are committed to reducing our impact on the environment by considering our own actions and working with customers and suppliers to develop and implement solutions. We are ISO 14001 accredited, an international standard for the design and implementation of effective environmental management systems. We have identified our major environmental impacts as: • Fuel consumption related to transport of products to customers • On-site energy consumption • On-site waste management (predominantly transit and supply chain packaging) 02
Sustainability Goals Reduce reliance on single-use plastic in warehouse & transport operations Optimise deliveries to reduce fuel consumption accross our fleet of vehicles Continuously improve understanding of the importance of considering our environmental impacts Establish collaborative solutions to environmental problems Foster a working environment that is diverse, safe and supportive. Build links with, and support, local charities. Provide innovative, sustainable products under an ethical sourcing policy 03
Working Towards Our Goals
Low Hazard Chemicals We are committed to offering an increasingly large range of plant and enzyme-based cleaning solutions. These are chemicals that pose a minimal threat to life on land and water whilst still being highly effective in use. Many of these products use completely organic or biodegradable ingredients, giving the ability to clean sites safely without the risks of hazard classifications.
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Working Towards Our Goals Sustainable Paper Hygiene Comax sources only FSC accredited paper hygiene products wherever possible. We have worked hard to reduce unnecessary packaging across our largest paper hygiene product lines, including removing individual plastic wrapping from our blue centrefeed rolls. We are proud to partner with industry leading manufacturers who put sustainability at the heart of their business.
Our partners include: The first paper manufacturer to be rated platinum & in the top 1% of all companies assessed by EcoVadis A paper & hygiene product manufacturer in the top 1% of companies taking leadership action on deforestation One of the world's 100 most sustainable companies as rated by Corporate Knights
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Working Towards Our Goals Waste Reduction We work continuously with suppliers to find new methods and materials for packaging to enable our customers to reuse and recycle a larger proportion of their cleaning supplies at the end of their useful life. This includes the introduction of reusable trigger spray bottles that are made from 100% recycling material and able to be completely recycled to our product portfolio. Concentrated chemicals reduce overall packaging consumption, storage needs, space when in transit and are ordered less frequently compared to ready to use products. This has an immediate impact on waste and reduces carbon emissions associated with transport of product.
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Plastic Reduction We continually look to help customers reduce the amount of plastic they use by supplying measured dosage cleaning chemicals and wall-mounted dispensers. We supply a range of super concentrate, soluble and bulk cleaning solutions that can easily be made ready-to-use through a refillable pump and trigger spray bottles. Our core cleaning chemical range, Cleanline, comes packaged in materials that are made of at least 25 – 40% recycled plastic and are all 100% recyclable.
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On Site When we built our Ringwood head office, we implemented a number of measures to reduce electricity consumption, including the installation of LED lighting with PIR sensors in our offices and warehouse to minimise electricity usage. We also have solar panels across the roof of our building that generate over 50% of our electricity used each year. We utilise a vehicle telematics system throughout our fleet to ensure our delivery routes are efficient, we also increased our minimum order value to £50 to minimise the number of small orders placed, which aids the reduction of CO2 emissions associated with our deliveries. We regularly renew our fleet to ensure our operations make use of improvements in emissions and efficiency technology. In some cases, we now use third party carriers for deliveries where it is more cost-effective, whilst continuing to invest in innovative ways we can reduce our fuel consumption. 08
Water & Waste Management Water Our use of water is primarily confined to workplace cleaning and hygiene purposes. As such, our water use and related emissions are minimal.
Waste Management We work closely with customers and suppliers to promote waste reduction through the reduction of transit packaging, as part of this we make use of inbound packaging for outbound deliveries so few new boxes are required. We regularly seek to identify opportunities to substitute to more environmentally responsible packaging with new developments in materials. All of our plastic and cardboard waste is baled to be recycled and we continually look for better ways to prevent waste from going to landfill. Throughout the year we make regular donations of discontinued tableware lines to charities, which prevents retired lines from going to waste. 09
Innovation As pioneers, we think differently and think big. Embracing change, we lead on all new products, systems and services, understanding their value and committing to delivering results. We inspire people by supporting and developing their thinking and ability. We challenge the norm and constantly seek out innovation to benefit our Pioneering business and customers. We continuously seek opportunities to grow and develop ourselves. Comax works closely with all major manufacturers to bring new innovative food packaging and single use plastic alternatives to market. We are proud to offer environmentally friendly options and product advice to all our customers to ensure the eco-friendly choices they make are fit for purpose for them and the recycling/composting facilities accessible to them.
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Long Term Sustainable Solutions & Collaboration As part of the Bunzl family of businesses, Comax is working to adopt the long-term sustainable solutions of BCHS, including the introduction of the Carbon Forecast tool. With Carbon Forecast we can use customer delivery data and ordering profiles to calculate and project what carbon emissions with us will be. We will use our monthly gas, electric and diesel consumption in conjunction with our monthly deliveries to work out the Co2 emissions per delivery. We can then work with customers to show how small changes can result in big changes to carbon emissions.
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Our People Diversity & Inclusion We make sure we support and develop our people. This takes many forms including formal coaching in all our business areas, mentoring programmes and e-learning to enable easy access to core skills development. Growing our talent pipelines and increasing the diversity of people we recruit and promote within the business is recognised as critical to our future success. We use a digital solution for understanding the views of our team that can be completed easily by everyone globally and analysed quickly. The new solution enables us to analyse the data by different employee segments, such as gender, tenure or age, giving us invaluable insights into how inclusive our culture is.
Our Inspiring Women network aims to be the catalyst for Comax to lead the way in creating a supportive and empowering culture for women to achieve their goals
Our Inspiring Ethnicity initiative has developed resources to highlight important cultural events throughout the year
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Carbon Forecast & Offset
By using our Carbon forecast tool we can optimise deliveries for our customers in order to meet their sustainability goals. In conjunction with Carbon Forecast we can further offset emmissions through our Carbon Offset partners. 13
Carbon Offsetting Partner
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Net Zero Goal As part of the Bunzl family of businesses, Comax is committed to Net Zero by 2050.
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