Social responsibility

Mercian Labels Ltd takes its wider social responsibilities as a business seriously, and is committed to continuous improvement to create sustainable labelling solutions.

We are proud of our environmental credentials, in that the vast majority of our labels are produced from recyclable materials and we run our operations to reduce, resue and recycle our waste streams.

Environment

Sustainable forests are used for our paper supplies - Our self adhesive paper labels and backing papers are produced from either recycled paper or paper harvested from sustainable forests in Scandinavia. We are working towards Chain of Custody Accreditation by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) with our suppliers.

We specifiy recyclable plastics in preference to non recycleables - We use recyclable PP (polypropylene) for most of our synthetic (plastic) labels except where the technical requirements prevent this.

We use environmentally friendly water based adhesives - We and our suppliers use water based acrylic based adhesives for the vast majority of our applications, and refrain from using solvent based adhesives (containing high levels of VOCs) for the vast majority of our applications, except very high performance applications where it is absolutely necessary (<1% of production by volume).

We are at the forefront of innovation in trialing new biodegradable materials - We are trialing compostable plastic material such as PLA to substitute for our existing petroleum hydrocardon based plastic label materials.

Transport

We actively minimise our carbon footprint by:

· Using public transport wherever possible for long distance journeys:

· No longer provide the use of company cars:

· Using a pooled courier system to ship our goods to our customers, which is far more fuel efficent than dedicated and fuel thirsty own company transport.

Energy

We conserve energy wherever possible including:

· Operating from a modern fuel efficient building built in 2000.

· Turning off appliances when not in use and use timers where appropriate.

· Using rechargeable batteries for all mobile appliances.

Waste minimisation and recycling

We fully supports the waste management hierarchy - , giving priority to avoidance and reduction of waste, reuse, recycling/composting, and then other means of recovering value, such as deriving energy from residual waste-in that order. Accordingly,we base the planning and implementation of new business developments and minimisation strategy on this hierarchy.

Specifically, we aim to:
· Reduce the annual production of general waste
· Increase energy efficiency and reduce energy usage
· Continue to improve procedures to reduce waste production at source.

We compact all non recyclable waste to make maximum use of the landfill space we have to use, and are working towards zero landfill submission by supporting an academic research propject into recycling pressure sensitive matrix waste as the ultimate sustainable solution for our industry.

We recognise the environmental impact of the production and disposal of waste and the regulatory responsibilities of the company with regards to waste. We aim to fully comply with our legal duty of care for all waste produced, ensuring that it is disposed of in a safe manner.

We reduce, re-use and recycle waste where possible. eg

· We bulk purchase paper based materials only from sustainable forest sources.

· We recycle waste include non adhesive paper, cardboard.

· We return toner cartridges to suppliers for re-filling where possible

· We reduce printing and paper waste through monitoring systems.

· We re-use redundant printed paper for internal work or shedded office paper for product packaging.

· We only use organic solvents where necessary and minimise their use.

· We are moving all ink use to environmentally friendly water based inks by 2009.

· We minimise paper use by storing information digitally rather than paper files.

· We have a "minimal replacement strategy", whereby we extend the life of all computers, using old machines for development or stripping them for spares.

Software

·We use software to reduce our carbon footprint

· We are advocates and users of community driven linux based open source software that is more environmentally friendly because software can be controlled to make computers consume less electricity.

Pollution

· We never pollute the environment

· We store our raw materials and wastes safely in accordance with the law, paying for our waste inks to be safely recycled by a specialist contractor.

Community

· We support local community projects and activities that in particular support entrepreneurship in society. Our Managing Director spends 5% of his working time in voluntary work for Business Link West Midlands to support new businesses in devoping their own business ideas.

· We donate redundant stock to local schools, playgroups and creches for creative play by children.

General

Mercian Labels Personal Responsibility :

· Ensure all employees know and understand the policy and what is expected of them.

· Comply with environmental legislation, regulations and government guidance.

· Constantly seek to improve our environmental performance.

· Delegate responsibility for Environmental improvement to a Company Director