Journey to sustainability

REPIC is committed to reduce, or where this is not practical, minimise, any adverse impact our activities may have on the environment. Work-related travel, which comprises both business-travel and employees commuting to work, can have a negative environmental impact which we are committed to manage in order to maintain a high standard of overall environmental performance.

Any relevant government guidance in force that places restrictions on office attendance or specifies how work-related travel must be undertaken takes precedent, otherwise, to manage the environmental impact of work-related travel, where practicable we will:

1. Minimise employee car travel in undertaking REPIC business through:

• Maintaining designated geographical areas for operational employees
• Arranging meetings in locations central for attendees and / or accessible by public transport
• Encouraging car-sharing for business related travel
• Supporting employee use of public transport when attending off-site meetings
• Supporting efficient travel arrangements through providing overnight accommodation to avoid unnecessary journeys home
• Providing and promoting online meeting or teleconferencing facilities as an alternative to travel to meetings; and continue assessing benefits of evolving technologies to reduce this further
• Developing prior approval processes where employees are considering plane journeys within the UK
• Amending our employee environmental training to specifically include REPIC’s travel policies
• Offering a cycle to work scheme for employees

2. Minimise the travel required by people with whom REPIC works through:

• Considering the optimal travel solution for participants when organising REPIC Board meetings
• Using local suppliers and sub-contractors to provide goods and services to REPIC
• Arranging meetings in locations central for attendees and/or accessible by public transport
• Where appropriate conducting on-line meetings or teleconferencing in preference to face to face meetings

3. Minimise employee commuting by car through:

• Operating a cycle to work scheme, enabling employees to purchase a bike they can use to cycle to work
• Implementing flexible working hours enabling employees to schedule their working day in accordance with public transport timings, car sharing, or when roads are less congested
• Issuing all employees with laptops and other necessary IT equipment to provide the flexibility for home-working
• Promote appropriate national days where employees are encouraged to leave their car at home including Clean Air Day, Bike to Work Day and Walk to Work day

REPIC is the largest household WEEE producer compliance scheme in the UK and provides compliance solutions to companies throughout the UK under the WEEE, Waste Batteries & Accumulators, and Packaging Regulations.

We care about the environment and are committed to making a difference through embedding environmental protection into our company culture, operating sustainably, and reducing the carbon impact of our business activities.

We are committed to continuous environmental improvement, pollution prevention, and maintaining a high standard of environmental performance.

We will:

• Minimise the impact of our activities on the environment.
• Set achievable objectives, including carbon reduction targets that will assist us to achieve Net Zero.
• Minimise the consumption of resources including raw materials, electricity, gas and water.
• Consider the environment when procuring goods and services.
• Promote waste minimisation, reuse, recycling and recovery by reducing the resources we consume and separating our waste for recycling and recovery rather than dispose of our residual waste.
• Fully comply with and where possible, exceed our compliance obligations.
• Motivate and empower our employees to help protect the environment by engaging them in target setting, reporting on our progress and success in achieving these, and through training and promotion of this policy.
• Review regularly the basis of this policy and explore options for continual improvement. This will be achieved through the development and review of a formal environmental management system and policy objectives.

We care about the well-being of our employees and others affected by our business activities and are committed to maintaining a high standard of safe and healthy working conditions. 

Our statement of general policy is: 

• To efficiently and effectively identify and control the health and safety risks arising from our business activities; 

• To consult with our employees and where relevant, others affected by our business activities on matters affecting their health and safety; 

• Where we provide equipment to ensure it is suitable, safe and properly maintained; 

• To ensure safe handling and use of substances; 

• To provide safe systems of work, information, instruction and supervision for employees; 

• To ensure all employees are competent to do their tasks, and to give them adequate training; 

• To use organisations that are competent to undertake their work for us safely and to review their health and safety performance; 

• To prevent accidents and cases of work-related ill health; 
• To maintain safe and healthy working conditions; and 
• To review and revise this policy as necessary at regular intervals. 

Background and scope

The REPIC group of companies (REPIC) has a zero-tolerance approach to modern slavery, which includes slavery, servitude, forced labour, human trafficking, or any other activity which deprives a person of their liberty in order to exploit them for personal or commercial gain.

We are committed to implementing effective systems to ensure that modern slavery does not occur as a consequence of our activities; either in our own business, the business of those organisations providing personnel to us, or the business of our service providers which collect, treat or consolidate WEEE and batteries on our behalf (“our suppliers”).

We will communicate this policy both within our organisation and externally to our suppliers. We will train our employees on how to spot signs of modern slavery in our organisation and supply chain and their responsibilities for reporting any potential occurrences, including flagging any abnormally low prices.

Our Policy Commitments

To prevent modern slavery, we will:

• Publish an annual statement detailing the steps that we have taken each year to prevent modern slavery arising through our activities;

• Require our suppliers to commit to REPIC’s Supplier Modern Slavery Code of Conduct requirements;

• Respond to any issues of concern raised by external parties, or our employees;

• Communicate effectively and provide reasonable notice with respect to likely increased work requirements to avoid unplanned pressures being applied to workers;

• Work with our suppliers to rectify any issues identified;

• Require that all WEEE collected on our behalf is treated or prepared for reuse within the UK; and

• Ask external auditors which undertake compliance audits for us, to raise any concerns identified with respect to modern slavery to us.