Our Philosophy
21st Century Leaders is committed to
the constant review of its relationship with the environment.
We examine all of the products manufactured by our licensees, and make every
reasonable effort to continually improve the environmental performance of these
products, their constituent materials and method of manufacture.
We invest in researching each product area in which we work, to ensure that our
products are both compliant with all relevant environmental legislation, and
also meet the environmental compliance standards that we set for these items.
The 21st Century Leaders community of commercial partners is aware of our goal
to strive continually towards increased sustainability. We share our
environmental research with all 21st Century Leaders staff, consultants,
agencies, manufacturing partners and their factories, ensuring that they have
access to our research and agreed standards. By educating, enabling and
building capacity among all the factories in which our products are
manufactured, we influence environmental standards in large commercial
factories in markets as diverse as the Japan, Germany, Austria, Korea, UAE and mainland China.
Our Standards
All paper and card is made
from either recycled material or certified sustainable harvested
materials – see www.pefc.org and www.FSC.org.
Any inks must be certified non-toxic and considered low in VOC. Where possible
water based inks should be used, and we encourage our licence partners to go
further, and use vegetable and other natural inks where possible.
We ask that packaging is designed to minimise waste, and that they are
recyclable. We also ask for restrain to use plastic components in packaging, and encourage biodegradable plastics.
We ask that minimum additional packaging materials are used in transit, and
that they are recyclable.
Licence partners make a contractual commitment to deliver products to retail
customers by the most direct possible route, and in a manner which minimises
damage to the environment.
When presenting products for approval, all materials must be specified.
Sharing Our Learning
Click on the links below to see the
areas we have researched so far:
Cotton Profile