Our company vision states, ‘We strive to always act ethically towards our customers, employees, the wider community and the environment’. This is the driving force behind our efforts to become an even more responsible and sustainable paper mill, and to be recognised for our ESG credentials.
Originating from the world of investing, ESG is used to measure the impact an organisation has on 3 different levels:
- Environmental - This considers how a company uses natural resources and its impact on the local and global environment.
- Social - Outlines the relationships the organisation has with people, as well as how its policies and actions affect the wider community.
- Governance – A measurement of how well the company is run, ensuring sustainable practices that add value for stakeholders.
As a leading manufacturer of the highest-quality sterilisable papers for medical packaging, ESG is an extremely valuable framework for us to use in order to improve our position as a manufacturer. Furthermore, by improving upon our own ESG rating, we have a positive impact on the ESG ratings of our customers since we are able to provide much more ESG-related information, such as assurances of reduced greenhouse gas emissions associated with their products, environmental footprints showing raw material consumption and waste generation, and more.
Partnering with EcoVadis, we have undertaken a Sustainability Assessment, analysing our environmental sustainability ratings in relation to our industry sector and the size and geographic location of our company. In order to complete this, EcoVadis has scored Pelta based on 21 ESG criteria corresponding with international standards. These include the International Labour Organisation conventions, the 10 principles of the UN Global Compact, the ISO26000 standard, and more.
Our Sustainability Department, led by Pelta Sustainability Manager David Matthias, has worked hard to collect essential information in order to support the EcoVardis Sustainability Assessment process. Evidencing all of the hard work we have undertaken in order to improve the sustainability of our day-to-day operations at the Pelta Mill. Following this, EcoVadis undertook a lengthy 8-week-long review process, reviewing and verifying the information provided. Today, we are excited to announce that we have achieved a silver EcoVardis medal for our sustainability work. Securing our ranking in the top 25% of businesses that undergo this sustainability assessment.
Steven Blacow, CEO at Pelta Medical Papers commented:
“This medal reflects our company’s commitment to social and environmentally responsible business practices, and all our employees should be proud of the part they play in this. This is a good foundation on which we will build our improvements in this area.”
Pelta Sustainability Manager David Matthias said:
“I think this is a fair demonstration of our current position. We have well-established ISO systems in areas like environmental and health and safety management, but we acknowledge and are actively working to improve our performance in some of the lower scoring areas.”
Rather than an end point, this is just the beginning for us and we will use the results of this assessment as a benchmark for how we can make further improvements to the Pelta mill and promote sustainability within our paper production processes. To learn more about what we are doing to demonstrate our commitment to the local and global environment, read about our success in joining the United Nations Global Compact.