The Hygiene Bank, a registered charity, collects toiletries, hygiene, beauty and personal care items donated by members of the public, companies, manufacturers and retailers. These in turn are distributed to UK charities, voluntary organisations, schools and social enterprises to be given for free to their beneficiaries.
As well as helping charities, our work has a positive impact on the environment by diverting goods that might otherwise go to waste as landfill or external recycling, generating greenhouse gases.
We recognise our obligation to comply with the law and to carry out our work in an as environmentally sound manner as possible. This policy is part of our commitment to minimising the negative impact of our operations on the environment to as low a level as is practically and economically feasible.
Our direct impact on the environment primarily relates to:
Energy, material and water use by our core volunteer team at Head Office team in Sevenoaks, storage units and home-hub of our paid Volunteer Coordinator and volunteers. Additionally transport emissions in relation to distribution of donated goods to our charity partners.
In addition, we indirectly impact the environment by:
Reducing the negative environmental impact of waste by providing a positive alternative to landfill and engendering a wider culture of best practice around waste.
Encouraging charity partners and other stakeholders to act in an environmentally responsible way.
We commit to:
- Observing existing environmental legislation as a minimum standard and seek to out-perform current legislative requirements where practical.
- Implement monitoring and reporting of our carbon emissions and resource usage by December 2020.
- Strive to minimise our energy and water usage, reduce waste and to minimise emissions from business travel.
- Seek partnerships with logistics suppliers to help minimise carbon emissions in our supply chain through, for example, encouraging the use of back loading and efficient use of warehouse space.
- Developing and maintain a sustainable transport policy for staff and volunteers, seeking to reduce unnecessary travel and making the transport that is necessary as sustainable as possible.
- Encourage and support staff and volunteers to take environmentally sustainable decisions and actions in and out of the workplace.
- Use our influence to encourage charities, existing and prospective company donors and other stakeholders to take action on environmental sustainability.
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This environmental policy shall be reviewed annually upon its adoption.
Version: 29th August 2019