Spark Etail Environmental Policy
As a leading online ethical retailer, we recognise our responsibilities towards the environment and the importance of minimising our impact in every way we can. It is our policy to remain committed to understanding, managing and reducing the environmental impact of our activities through innovation, technology and cultural change, and we work with suppliers who hold the same values.
Our Policy, Commitments & Achievements
- We supply products with minimal environmental impact and provide alternatives allowing customers to reduce their own environmental impact. See our buying policy for more detailed information.
- We ensure the products we sell are made with natural, organic, renewable and recycled sources wherever possible.
- We ensure animal and animal derived materials used in the products we sell are only sourced from purpose-bred animals and never from wild-caught or endangered (CITES) species.
- We are committed to minimising waste throughout all areas of our business. We do this by:
- Committing to be 100% Zero to Landfill
- Donating any damages, returns and short shelf life products to food banks, social enterprise cafes and raising money for charity via staff sales.
- Providing recycle bins in all offices
- Reusing supplier packaging in outgoing parcels where possible
- Continuing to work with our warehouse packers to ensure appropriate packaging is used to cut down on box size, damages and waste
- We've worked hard to ensure we are using the most environmentally friendly packaging available while still protecting customers orders. Our plastic free packaging currently consists of:
- Recycled cardboard boxes
- Reuse supplier boxes
- 100% recycled paper void fill
- A paper alternative to bubble wrap
- Paper tape
- Recycled paper padded bags
- Our paper and marketing materials are printed on FSC Certified and/or recycled materials.
- We have partnered with key carbon reduction organisations such as Trees for Life and TreeApp to carbon offset customers orders.
- We have joined a scheme to offset the carbon emission of our team.
- We are cutting down carbon emissions from staff travel by
- Offering a cycle to work scheme
- Introducing hybrid working to reduce commuting
- We work to encourage small changes that can have a positive environmental impact, such as organising team litter picks and encouraging team members to use personal carbon offsetting tools.
- We use energy efficient LED lighting throughout our offices and all staff are reminded to close down any equipment when not in use to reduce our energy consumption.
- We partnered with the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society on World Oceans Day, raising money to support their vital work.
- Our sustainability and environmental performance are reviewed annually, to address any changes or additions to business activities and to promote continual improvement. We collate information in line with internal & external reporting requirements to support ISO 4001 performance evaluation as well as customer reporting, and voluntary Annual Reporting & disclosure such as EcoVadis and CDP.
Our Sustainability Targets:
- We aim to increase percentage of organic cotton in our cotton ranges, currently at 90%
- We aim to increase percentage of FSC and/or recycled wood and paper products
- We will review our energy usage quarterly with the aim to reduce consumption
- We are hoping to become a certified B Corporation
- We will continue to report on and reduce our carbon emissions up to Scope 3
Our policy is to comply with all relevant legislation within the UK at minimum.