Sustainability

OUR SUSTAINABILITY PROGRAM

Our Story

Sustainability is an increasingly important issue for the future and Polyco Healthline is bringing it to the forefront of our business. For us, the challenge of sustainable transformation is balancing the need to keep our business in motion while making changes to reach our sustainability ambitions.

We understand the tough realities of our sector and that becoming sustainable doesn't happen overnight. It takes many smaller steps, sometimes challenging and some into the unknown, to really take sustainability to the next level and beyond. We are committed to building for a more sustainable future - together with internal and external stakeholders.

Our first step has been to identify the areas where we need to make the most changes to reduce our CO2 footprint. Our pursuit of Zero Waste, Say 'No' to plastics and Energy efficiency stems from this.

Our Program

#phAMBITION is Polyco Healthline's new sustainability programme. It aims to build upon our sustainability successes so far and set new targets and goals whilst unlocking the power of change. Our programme is aimed at addressing the social and environmental challenges of the next decade with commitments to improve the lives and wellbeing of our people with the smallest environmental footprint.

We have considered the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) against our value chain to better understand risks and opportunities and

drive positive change. That is why our strategy is focused on addressing key sustainability impacts and opportunities throughout our value chain.

Ensure healthy lives and promoted well-being for all at all ages

Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote life long learning opportunities for all

Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all 

Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all

Build resilient infrastructure, promoted inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation

Make cities and human settlement inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable

Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impact

Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, sea and marine resources for sustainable development

Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss

We are focusing on the importance of a holistic approach to sustainability development and improving wellbeing. At Polyco Healthline, we are continuously looking for global trends fuelling a regenerative approach to protect our People and Planet building circular inclusive value chain, with positive choices.


'phAMBITION is Polyco Healthline’s journey towards a sustainable future which supports a healthy, thriving world and promotes well-being for us all, for generations to come’.

This is a fundamental transformation of what we do, to create growth and shared value whilst keeping sustainability at our core.

We have structured our ambitions into ‘5 R’s’.

These will form the cornerstone of our sustainability program.

Reduce

For us, reduce is the beginning of our story and the 'gatekeeper' to consuming less. We see this as the foundation of achieving a lighter footprint. Small changes can have a big impact - if we all commit to reduce, together we'll make a big difference.

Rethink

What can we do differently? We want to turn off the 'auto pilot' and rethink our approach so that every decision moves us closer to our #phAMBITION. We want to think and rethink, to challenge the norm and make positive change. We aim to create an environment that's fuelled by mindfulness supporting each other, our communities, and our world.

Research

We are curious and we want you to be curious too. None of us have all the answers but our mantra is always to find out more. Together with our shared knowledge we can create better solutions. We don't just jump on the bandwagon. Our most important word is ‘why?' and our decisions are rooted in evidence, science, and knowledge.

Recycle

We want to take a more holistic approach, to understand the lifecycle of our waste so that we can be responsive and responsible. We know it can be complicated! We'll bring clarity to how waste can be disposed of responsibly.

Restore

It's not enough just to be 'less bad'. We plan to restore and restore to better. We see our world as a community not a commodity and we want to play our part in restoring that community.

Our Sustainability Milestones

The vast majority of our polythene bags are already made from recycled plastic, and we are working towards converting those that aren’t.

We were first to market with a range of reusable gloves made in part from recycled plastic (the Polyflex Eco range)

We have pioneered the switch from plastic to paper stemmed cotton buds, being the first in the market to do so in 2016.

Also first to UK market, was our paper industrial glove bundle bands, a method we are now working to package all of our applicable industrial gloves in.

Click here for more details

Where gloves need to be single use for infection control purposes, we offer a world-first solution to reduce glove waste and excess packaging with our SafeDon range.

We are working tirelessly to implement at least 30% recycled content to any plastic packaging, and even help third parties to use recycled content in their products by sending our ‘Fusion’ offcuts to car manufactures to be used in dashboards.

We have already reduced our electricity consumption by almost half by using solar power and daylight panels and have saved 26% through our onsite timed LED lighting.

Our Research & Development team are working hard to pioneer a disposable glove that meets the requirements to be ‘home compostable’ made in the UK.

We are undergoing an electric car fleet conversion project

All our waste cardboard and plastic is bailed on site and sent for recycling.

We maintain 100% pallet recycling through recovery and repair.

We have installed 6 car charging stations on site and we are currently converting our full fleet of company vehicles to electric.

We are compliant with ISO 14001 - Environmental Management.

All staff were purchased reusable water bottles, and therefore we were able to completely remove plastic cups from site.

Fairtrade Cotton Programme- improving fair and sustainable cotton farming practices.

Our product and packaging sustainability transformation encompasses science and life cycle assessments, optimising resource efficiency focusing on keeping the planet and people safe. This combines the required protection for occupational health and work safety.

We are working with our champions to drive engagement across the company to achieve our goals and targets. We are focused on the areas where we can make the biggest difference: waste, energy and plastics. We are embedding sustainability principles into new product development and exploring solutions that will decrease the environmental impact of our products and packaging. This is all whilst driving greater energy efficiency throughout our operations and spearheading responsible waste management solutions.

Our 2030 agenda represents a fundamental shift in thinking, recognising the interconnected imperative of a prosperous business, a thriving society, and a healthy environment. We are driving sustainable profit via triple-bottom-line, encompassing people, planet, and product leading transformation change goals for 2030.

As part of our PH Ambition 2030 Roadmap, we have pledged to restore and protect vulnerable natural habitats in partnership with conservation and wildlife charity MCS (Marine Conservation Society).

We have partnered with MCS to help the protection of our oceans and PHL are committed to MCS’s vision of seas full of life. As part of this we are conducting beach clean and survey events throughout the year in our collective fight against marine litter. 

Our latest beach clean survey conducted in old Hunstanton saw our beach clean group collect 21kg of litter that would have otherwise polluted the beach and the ocean! 

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