Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate Social Responsibility

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Restore Harrow Green - Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate Social ResponsibilityCorporate Social Responsibility is woven into the way we conduct business because we believe in sustainability and in operating in a world that will be better tomorrow than it is today.

Our trading practices are structured in a way that is sustainable, particularly in regards to recycling and asset disposal, which is a big part of the way we do business. We apply a 0% to landfill policy with all the assets we dispose for our customers and take other measures to ensure our approach is as green as we can make it.

Through our Re-Fresh programme, we dispose of our customers' no-longer-needed furniture and IT equipment in the most environmentally friendly way possible by recycling, refurbishment and re-sale or charitable donation, which guarantees the best possible outcome for both our customers and the environment.

We also take strides to support the communities in which we operate by offering our services free of charge whenever they’re required by local charities.

Our Activities

We have been awarded The Planet Mark sustainability certificate since 2013, which is provided by Planet First in partnership with the Eden Project. This certification is only awarded to companies who have passed a rigorous assessment of business activity and involvement in the community. It is a tangible demonstration of our commitment to reducing energy, water and fuel consumption and associated carbon emissions.

In our most recent reporting period (2017-18), we measured emissions from energy use in our offices and warehouses, water consumption, fuel used by the fleet, and business travel.  We also widened our scope of reporting to include six office and warehouse locations, compared to three sites in 2016-17. 

Through our actions to measure and reduce our impacts, we successfully cut our non-fleet emissions by 28% and our  carbon footprint per employee by 32.8% compared to the previous period (2016-17). We also reduced business travel by  21.7%. View our report and certificate.
 

Restore Harrow Green is now fully committed to sustainability. The company is bringing its knowledge, expertise and passion for sustainability together to make energy, carbon and cost savings. By achieving The Planet Mark certification, Restore Harrow Green is demonstrating commitment to reduce their environmental impacts whilst engaging with their customers, employees and supply chain.

Steve Malkin, CEO,
Planet First

 

In order to ensure that we continue to make strides in lowering our carbon footprint and helping both local and global communities we have put together an in-house Green Team which meets on a monthly basis. The aim of the team is to monitor office activity to ensure that we minimise the use of power and water and ensure that we are as efficient as possible in terms of printing, sourcing sustainable suppliers and raising overall awareness within our staff. The Green Team’s plans include a trip to the Eden project as well as local community support roles.

Contributing to the community

Through our Re-Fresh programme, and the help of our customers, each year we provide over 2000 tons of No Longer Needed assets to charities, schools, community and voluntary groups and start-up businesses. This brings huge benefit to these local organisations, allowing them assets and equipment which they could not otherwise afford.

We are so happy with the donation of office furniture. We have made good use of it. We have refurbished our classrooms, IT room and chillout area. The young people who use the equipment are delighted with the new comfy chairs and dining area.

Cassandra O'Neil, Project Manager
Pennywell Youth Project

I wanted to say a big thank you to the staff from Restore Harrow Green who assisted with the relocation of the Therapies and Complementary Therapies offices on 28th June. As you are aware, the date was brought forward at very short notice giving the staff little time to pack their resources and belongings. Some of the staff were understandably unhappy about the short notice. Against this backdrop, the removal team from Restore Harrow Green were excellent. Not just efficient and careful in the way they packed and moved the furniture and equipment, but responsive and flexible as locations and requirements changed through the afternoon. Please pass on our thanks for their excellent support. Really grateful.
As always, I want to add my thanks on behalf of everyone at the hospice. Your professionalism adds so much value to life at St Joseph’s.

Helen Fleming
Head of Corporate and Major Donor Fundraising

In addition, we consciously contribute to our community by providing our services free of charge to small charities and community groups in need. For example, we provide trucks and drivers to help Crisis at Christmas, as well as arrange collections of food, clothes and consumables, amongst our staff and the wider Restore Group. These goods offer a small lifeline to homeless people spending Christmas in shelters.

We offer ongoing support to St Joseph’s Hospice by regularly undertaking internal relocation projects for them free of charge, so that they can direct their own limited resources to their patients rather than taking up precious time and money to conduct their moves and changes themselves. We help them do their work by doing what we do best whenever they need us.

We actively encourage our staff to take part in charitable and community initiatives. Recent events included Fairtrade fortnight, where we highlighted the importance of fairer prices for food producers worldwide, MacMillan coffee mornings, regular Jeans for Genes days and a skydive raising money for a local charity.

All our staff are actively committed to fund raising and improving awareness for worthy causes. Our spirit of community means we’ve made social contribution a way of day to day life and part of Restore Harrow Green’s company mentality.

 

Corporate Social Responsibility