Sustainability Policy - Outside the Box Learning Resources

Sustainability Policy / Mission Statement 

Outside the Box Learning Resources Ltd. is committed to protecting the environment, the health and safety of its employees and the community in which it does business in. The company’s policy is to seek continual improvement throughout its business operations to lessen its impact on the local and global environment by conserving energy, water and other natural resources; reducing waste generation; recycling and reducing its use of toxic materials. The company is committed to environmental excellence and pollution prevention, meeting or exceeding all environmental regulatory requirements and to purchasing products which have greater recycled content with lower toxicity and packaging, that reduce the use of natural resources. The company is also committed to volunteering for social causes, contributing to charities of choice, support local economies and regional development through sourcing locally and sharing knowledge, expertise and learnings with other industry stakeholders to encourage growth of the sector and the economy in general.

Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (EPP) Policy

Preference will be given to purchasing products and services that have the following environmentally friendly attributes with acceptable parameters for price, quality and delivery:

• Maximises post-consumer recycled content
• Minimises packaging and other wastes
• Minimises toxicity
• Are durable and reusable
• Are more locally available to minimise transportation
• Are made from sustainably produced materials
• Are compostable or biodegradable
• Conserves energy, water and other natural resources

The goal of this policy is to ensure that products and services purchased or contracted for, conform to the goals of the company’s environmental policy. The company will strive, where feasible, to purchase environmentally preferable products and services to meet the company’s office and operational needs.  The company will also favour suppliers who strive to improve their environmental performance, provide environmentally preferable products and who can document the supply chain impacts of their efforts.

Wherever possible, purchasing decisions will favour products and services that:

• Reduce greenhouse gas emissions
• Are made with renewable energy
• Reduce pollution from all discharges (releases to air, water, and land)
• Reduce the use of toxic materials hazardous to the environment, employees and public health
• Contain the highest possible percentage of post-consumer recycled content
• Reduce packaging and other waste
• Are energy efficient
• Conserve water
• Are reusable and/or durable
• Minimise transportation (local sources, concentrated products)
• Serve several functions (examples: copiers/printers, multipurpose cleaners) to reduce the number of products purchased

Environmentally preferable products and services that are comparable in quality to their standard counterparts will receive a purchasing preference. In situations where the most environmentally preferable product is unavailable or impractical, secondary considerations will include production methods and the environmentally and socially responsible management practices of suppliers and producers. Environmentally preferable purchasing is part of the company’s long-term commitment to the environment. By sending a clear signal to producers and suppliers about this commitment, the company hopes to support wider adoption of environmentally preferable products and practices. To this end and in order to establish the company’s suppliers’ sustainability attitude, the company has collaborated with all of its main suppliers to complete the ‘Outside the Box Learning Resources Supplier Sustainability Questionnaire’. You can view this survey HERE.

Carbon Footprint Report

Our Carbon Footprint can be found HERE.

Note on the Carbon Footprint report: This report has been produced using data on annual energy and resource consumption and in line with the GHG Protocol and the ISO 14064 standards. The total carbon footprint for Outside the Box Learning Resources Ltd is circa 0.49 tCO2e – which is equivalent to 22 mature trees can sequester from the atmosphere over one year. Of the total footprint, general waste (~84%) is the main area driving the emissions currently. It is important to note that the report is representative of data from the 1st of January 2022 to 31st of December 2022.

ENDS

This Sustainability Policy was compiled with the assistance of visiongreenconsultancy.ie – an environmental specialist company based in Carlow and with the mentoring and financial support of the Kildare Local Enterprise Office.

Signed on behalf of Outside The Box Learning Resources Ltd.

Ronan Ó Baoill
General Manager
Outside the Box Learning Resources Ltd.