Design Group UK and the Environment
We are committed to being a sustainable and environmentally conscious business working collaboratively with our supply chain, customers, employees and community.
As a market leader in our industry, we aim to minimise our impact on the environment by constantly challenging ourselves to find ways in which we can use our scale and people to influence and drive positive, proactive change.
It is a moral and commercial imperative that we innovate and improve to reduce the environmental impact of our operations. Thinking and acting with the environment in mind underpins everything that we do.
We are committed to using methods that do not harm the environment so securing natural resources and quality of life for future generations.
Helping design a better future
We understand that our impact and responsibilities extend beyond our immediate surroundings, into the lives of our employees, the environment, and our local and global communities.
We take seriously these responsibilities and strive for the highest standards of ethical behaviour to protect and support our employees, our communities and our planet. We believe that every one of us has a shared responsibility to protect and preserve our planet and its environment, for this and future generations.
We have developed a framework to help shape our approach to sustainability to enable us to demonstrate, monitor and improve our performance to drive our business forward sustainably.
Our approach is underpinned by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The 17 goals, along with the 169 targets that underpin them, were reviewed to identify those areas which Design Group can maximise our positive contribution. The areas we have identified fall into three key themes; people, product and planet, with a particular focus on resource depletion and pollution, ensuring responsible use and maintenance of planetary resources.
Key Themes
People
People are at the heart of our success:
• Employee engagement, talent and skill
• Health, safety and wellbeing
• Diversity, equality and inclusion
• Giving back to our communities
Product
Environmentally conscious product & packaging:
• Responsible sourcing
• Sustainable product and packaging
• Innovative designs and solutions
Planet
Innovating to lower our negative impact:
• Reducing our environmental footprint
• Design with the environment in mind
Our Commitments
Be environmental leaders
Our dedicated sustainability teams, supported by the Directors and Leadership team, will ensure environmental issues are identified and managed effectively, providing the support and resources to deliver on our objectives. To sustain our longer term commitment to our environmental responsibilities, we will build and nurture an organisation capability of like-minded colleagues who want to engage and contribute to a future environment we are all proud and safe to live in.
Protect the environment and prevent pollution
We will design, manufacture and source responsibly, from ESG compliant vendors who responsibly use materials derived from sustainable sources. We will work to protect the environment and avoid pollution and waste across the lifecycle of our products, services and operations by continuing to innovate to lower our environmental impact. We will re-engineer our products and supply chain and, where possible, remove the use of potentially harmful materials and replace with recycled alternatives that can be recycled after use, so reducing the impact of pollution.
Reduce our carbon footprint
We will target the removal of carbon from our supply chain starting with our in-house carbon-generating footprint, such as already powering our manufacturing facilities with electricity entirely from renewable sources.
Where possible, we will re-shore manufacturing to help decarbonise the distribution chain and promote UK provenance and job creation & security for our employees.
Value our people & communities
We will ensure an open, comfortable and progressive environment to invest back into the people who give us so much. We will adopt progressive, altruistic policies to give back in all of the communities where our businesses are based, and where many of our team members call home by promoting worthy initiatives to leave a positive impact.
Be committed to continually improving our environmental performance
By setting annual environmental improvement objectives and targets that are regularly monitored and will be reviewed annually to evidence progress. We will demonstrate our commitment to the reduction in our company’s environmental impact and reduce year-on-year our use of non-sustainable materials.
Use our position and expertise to create positive environmental outcomes
In collaboration with our suppliers and customers, we will use our position in the market and apply product expertise to guide our partners and take action to create positive environmental outcomes.
Meet our obligations
The DGUK Directors take responsibility to meet our obligations. We will share our progress to our internal network and externally with all stakeholders and we will certify our work with external experts where applicable.
Emily Thomas Hey
Managing Director
Design Group UK
Progress to Date
Plastic Free
We are delighted to offer a 100% plastic-free packaging solution for gift wrap
New Native Woodland
We annually fund the planting of 29,250m² new native woodland in the UK to help towards offsetting carbon emissions
Responsible Sourcing
Our products are responsibly sourced
Zero Landfill
There is Zero Landfill from our Wales manufacturing site
Fully Recyclable
98% of our packaging is now fully Recyclable across all of our product categories
Water Based Printing
We exclusively use water based inks in our UK manufacturing facilities
Sustainability Case Studies
Case Study: Reducing Single Use Plastics
We are actively removing single use plastic from our packaging to create more sustainable Celebrations, Gifting, Stationery, and Creative Play categories.
Lucy Regan, Supply Chain Controller and Sustainability Ambassador at DGUK, shares the journey taken by the teams across the UK offices.
Case Study: Eco Nature Expansion
“Utilising innovation and new product development helps to drive a point of difference and improve the Made in the UK product offering.”
Katie Brickle, Brand and Communications Manager, shares the exciting developments for Eco Nature.
Case Study: Building a Sustainable Culture
We strive to create a working environment where our employees feel supported and valued, with their achievements recognised and rewarded.
Melanie Jenkins, HR Director and Sustainability Ambassador at DGUK, shares our vision for our talented and dedicated teams.