1. Purpose
Lawcris has a vision for the future – it is based on growth and success but importantly acknowledging our responsibility to protect and enhance the environment for future generations and making a significate contribution towards sustainable development in all aspects of its work.
Caring for the environment is integral to our thinking and our aim is to reduce the impact on the environment from our operations.
2. Principles
Our basic principles are:
-To comply with all relevant environmental legislation for all countries within which the Company operates and strive to follow up on best practice and industry guidance throughout the Company.
-Continually seek to improve its environmental performance.
-To ensure that our employees, customers, and suppliers are aware of and share our aims and objectives.
-To provide a safe environment for staff and a safety and environmentally positive culture across the Company.
-To identify any environmental risks and impacts caused by our operations and to remove or mitigate against them accordingly.
3. Delivery
The principles will be delivered by actions promoted and supported by everyone in the business and by people and businesses which engage with our company:
-We will reduce all waste wherever possible and then to maximise the reuse / recycle of residual waste.
-We will use energy responsibility in all out premises through the procurement of energy efficient equipment and raising staff awareness.
-We will seek to eliminate unnecessary trave by using conference and video meeting where they offer a reasonable alternative.
-We will encourage car sharing and use of public transport where practicable.
-We will have a focus on the environment and sustainability in our operation and strategic decision-making processes.
-We will improve the understanding and awareness of environmental and sustainability issues via training, team talks, notice boards, etc.
-We will encourage all employees to apply the environmental values promoted within Lawcris to their lives outside the workplace and within the community.
-We will work closely with Suppliers and Customers and encourage them to share our commitments and to assist us in improving our environmental and sustainability performance and meeting our objectives in those areas.
4. Monitoring and Reporting
Our commitments will be monitored and reported.
We will measure our impact on the environment and record our performance and improvement.
Improvement targets and initiatives will be shared across the company and successes will be reported and shared.
Responsibility for developing policies and processes sit with the Managing and Senior Directors. To enhance the culture and develop environmental and sustainability awareness we will:
-Use the Environmental Management Meeting to discuss and record all issues relating to environmental performance and to ensure we continually improve.
-Establish objectives which will be communicated across the business and initiatives introduced to ensure achievement.
-We will update our stakeholders regularly using; social media, notice boards, digital signage and our website.
In addition, we will work closely with both Customers and Suppliers in support of their objectives, whilst pursuing our own aims.
5. Forestry Protection
Operating in the wood industry it is important that Lawcris is cognisant of the environmental impacts caused by the felling of trees and what can and should be done to ensure sustainability of its key resource.
To demonstrate our commitment to the environment, Lawcris hold and will continue to hold, certification for both FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) and PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification) and continue to support aims to promote the use of materials that are certified with these marks. The company is consistently assessing Suppliers ability to ensure their products are manufactured from timbers that are sourced from certified locations.
5.1 Forest Stewardship Council (FSC C019769)
FSC is an independent, non-governmental, not-for-profit organisation to promote the responsible management of the world’s forest.
Established in 1993 as a response to concerns over global deforestation, FSC is a pioneer forum where the global consensus on responsibility forest management concerns and through democratic process effects solutions to the pressures facing the world’s forests and forest-dependent communities.
FSC certification provides a credible link between responsible production and consumption of forest products, enabling consumers and businesses to make purchasing decisions that benefit people and the environment as well as providing ongoing business value.
FSC is nationally represented in more than 50 countries around the world.
5.2 Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification
PEFC UK Ltd was established in 2000 and is the member of PEFC International, an international non-profit, non-governmental organisation dedicated to promoting Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) through independent third-party certification. PEFC International is an umbrella organisation that endorses national forest certification systems developed through multi-stakeholder processes and tailored to local priorities and conditions.
PEFC works throughout the entire forest supply chain to promote good practice in the forest and to ensure that timber and non-timber forest products are produced with respect for the highest ecological, social, and ethical standards, Thanks to its eco-label, customers and consumers can identify products from sustainably managed forests.
This policy and the contents within, shall be reviewed and updated (where necessary) at least annually. The next review for this document shall take place in January 2025.
