As a market leader and innovator, we like to lead the way with high-quality products. We are always looking for the ultimate solution. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is part of this.
Respect for people and the environment is an important value to us. And we act accordingly.
Corporate social responsibility is inextricably linked to Vogel’s. As a family business, we believe it is not only important to take good care of our employees, but also of the planet and people around us. To show how we do this, we will publish a CSR annual report every year from 2021 onwards.
Decent work and economic growth is one of our goals. We think it is important that people have dignified work. And we are in favour of sustainable and inclusive economic growth. That is why, among other things, we have drawn up a code of conduct. This ensures that everyone knows how we at Vogel's deal with issues such as privacy, conflicts of interest, improper payments, anti-competitive behaviour and environmental impact.
As an employer, we also provide a safe working environment. Not only for ourselves, but also for our suppliers.
All other facets of being a good employer are also reflected in our organisation. As a family business, we want to offer our employees a fair, safe and sustainable working environment with room for everyone's talents and ambitions.
Another goal we pursue is responsible production and consumption. It is our greatest challenge: how do we reduce our CO₂ footprint without compromising the high quality and design of our products? We are working on this in various ways.
First of all, we look carefully at the origin of our raw materials and the way we make our products. Quality plays a major role here. A proven way of conserving raw materials is to make high-quality products. Products with a long service life. We are also constantly looking for ways to make our production processes more sustainable.
In addition, we have developed fully recyclable packaging for our latest product lines. We use 95% less single-use plastics and all EPS (Styrofoam) has been replaced by paper pulp.
We also try to be as sustainable as possible in shipping each parcel. Luckily, so does our delivery partner DHL. They deliver all shipments to consumers climate-neutral. Also to business partners and outside the Netherlands.
In 2020 Vogel’s gets enthused to participate in the Innovation challenge of Impact Nation. A global initiative to help companies with the practical side of making their business more sustainable. Impact Nation offers a 100-day program to solve the most urgent sustainability challenge.
Subsequently, interested start-ups sign up for the challenge. Out of several proposed companies Vogel’s chooses to work with start-up that is USA based. A renewable bioproducts company located in the San Francisco Bay Area that strives to be the global leader in the bio-manufacturing revolution. Both companies headthe challenge with enthusiasm and professionalism in bi-weekly online sessions.
When it is time to experiment with biodegradable alternatives for plastic we meet up with Dutch supplier GL Plastics b.v. to produce a prototype of the plastic covers we so often use with our wall mounts.
The elaboration and completion of the challenge ends with an online case presentation. No live demonstrations or end ceremony due to COVID-19 but we can conclude that joining the 'Impact Nation' challenge on sustainability brings out the best in both colleagues, partners as suppliers. The prototype samples of covers with biodegradable materials are magnificent and we will further investigate a future roadmap for using these alternatives for plastic.