Our commitment to sustainability

Printdesigns Limited are commited to promoting sustainability within our business. Concern for the environment and promoting a broad sustainability agenda is central to our activities and the ethos of our organisation. We always aim to encourage and promote good sustainability practice in order to reduce the environmental impacts of our activities where possible and to help our customers to do the same.

 

Our principles of sustainability

  • To comply with and exceed where practically possible all relevant legislation, regulations or codes of practice.
  • To take into account sustanability considerations within the business decisions we make.
  • To ensure our staff are aware of our Sustainability Policy and are committed to implementing and improving it.
  • To minimise the impact of sustainability of all manufacturing, office and transportation activities.
  • To work with our suppliers and make them aware of our Sustainability Policy and encourage them to adopt sustainable practices.
  • To review our policy annually in order to continually improve our sustainability performance.

 

Our sustainability practices

  • We will avoid physically travelling to meetings when it is avoidable and we will utilise alternative technologies when available such as using video conferencing. We will efficiently organise our schedule to eliminate the need for multiple trips.
  • We will support staff to allow them to work from home when it is possible to reduce the amount of travel to and from our offices and factory.
  • We will minimise the amount of paper based products used within our admin and office back-end by incorporating a digital accounting and order management system. Where paper is utiised we will mitigate by printing reduced size documents and or printing double sided when possible.
  • Office and factory waste by products will be recycled when it is possible. This is includes material wastage, computer supplies and redundant equipment.
  • Gifting of redundant computer and IT equipment. Where possible, functional but redundant computer equipment will be offered to local organisations/individuals who may benefit.
  • We will endevour to expand and promote a range of products that are more sustainable to their traditional counterparts. For example, we will encourage clients to consider non-pvc materials that are easier to recycle than their counterparts.
  • Energy consumption in our offices and factory will be reduced by purchasing energy efficient equipment and operating machinery only when necessary. All non-essential machinery will be shut-down and isolated when it is not being actively used.
  • Electricity and utilities will be purchased from a supplier who is committed to renewables. We will prefer suppliers who have higher proportion of supply from renewables or who support and invest in renewable energy schemes.
  • Any timber that is utilised in the products we manufacture will be sourced from sustainable sources and should be FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified.
  • Any food and beverage products purchased within our business should be fair-trade and/or organic when possible.
  • Printdesigns will undertake and support projects within our local community that can make a positive impact on the environment.
  • We will ensure that any businesses with whom we cooperate/sub contract share our sustainability goals.
  • We will phase out the use of in house IT hardware and migrate to cloud based systems that do not need to be phyically powered at all times. For example network attached storage and security systems.
  • All accounting invoices should be delivered electronically via email and internal communications within our business should be paperless where possible.
  • We will use intelligent logistics planning software to route deliveries in the most efficient and economical way possible. We will take into account the sustainability crudentials of any outsourced logistics partners when selecting partners to work with

 

We are currently progressing with the planning and installation of a solar array at our factory at Emerald Way. A DNO has been granted from Natinal Grid and a proposed plan drawn up. During 2024 we will undergo roofing works at our factory that are necessary for the proposed solar panels. 

 

This policy was last updated 3rd October 2022