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SUSTAINABILITY POLICY

At Octo, caring for the environment and sustainability are very important to us. Thats why we have commited to the following sustainability policy for our company. You can download a PDF of our policy below.

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OUR VISION

We strive for people to better connect, for a better planet.

SCOPE

This policy will apply to all of the processes involved in the design and manufacture of the Octo. This is assumed to include the entire procurement, manufacture and shipping supply chain as well as the associated logistics.

EXISTING OPERATIONS

At Octo, we are committed to sustainability as a company. That’s why each Octo is composed of 60% recycled plastic from industrial offcuts. Further to this, all of our digital cards are designed and made in the UK significantly reducing the environmental burden for overseas transportation in the procurement cycle. Being a software as a service (SaaS) company, we operate within the digital landscape with all of our operations team working from home, reducing emissions associated with the traditional office setup.
We aim to further improve on our carbon footprint to soon become a 100% carbon neutral company.

PRINCIPLES

Our approach to business is guided by commitments to the following five key principles:

1. ILeadership
2. IITransparency
3. IIIIntegrity
4. IVStewardship
5. VContinuous improvement

COMMITMENT

In delivering on the scope of this document and our principles, we are committed as a company to the following 8 areas:

1. (1)Direct action: to minimise the waste and use recycled materials where possible.
2. (2)Integration: to achieve sound environmental practices across our entire operation.
3. (3)Legislation: to comply fully with all relevant and recommended legislation on environmental policy, specifically ISO 14001 [reference].
4. (4)Planning: to produce an annual Sustainability Policy setting out our objectives, targets and planned actions.
5. (5)Training: to provide all employees with the training and resources required to meet our objective.
6. (6)Championing: to invite and encourage our customers, suppliers and contractors to participate in our efforts to protect the environment.
7. (7)Dissemination: of necessary information (online) to openly communicate our policies and practices to interested parties.
8. (8)Assessment: to monitor and record our environmental impacts on a regular basis and compare our performance with our policies, objectives and targets.

OBJECTIVES

Our commitment is broken down into the following three key objectives that are SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Timely.

1. 100% bioplastic cards
60% of each Octo is composed of recycled plastic. However, we want to challenge the current status quo of oil-based polymers. We want to take this one step further by supporting businesses in the UK developing and manufacturing innovative new materials made from bioplastics for the next generation of Octo. Therefore by 2021, we aim for all new Octo to be sourced from 100% bioplastic origins.

2. 100% recycled packaging
When shipped out, each Octo is glued and encased within an A6-sized protective biodegradable paper sheet and is shipped out in a padded parcel. Each of these parcels are recycled and are 100% biodegradable. As an online company, 65% of our orders are shipped internationally, outside the UK. Our packaging is designed to be sturdy, strong and secure to deal with the physical demands of both domestic and international shipments. We aim to continue this commitment to 100% recycled packaging for the foreseeable future..

3. 100% carbon neutral
For the year 2020, we are expected to ship 10,000 cards. This equates to approximately 2 tonnes of CO2 emissions. We aim to completely offset this by planting over 100 trees per year through Offset Earth [reference].

ASSESSMENT & REPORTING

Assessment against the goals outlined in this document will be conducted quarterly. We will be transparent in reporting our progress annually.