Sustainability Review

Sustainability
Review
PEOPLE, PLANTS AND PLANET
Financial Year 2015
Sustainability at Pukka
Our vision is for Pukka to be universally
recognised as a pioneer in supporting
the healthy living of individuals, society
and the environment. We want to have
a demonstrable net-positive impact on
people, plants and the planet.
10
37
colourful
cups of organic
tea this year
753
160
different ethically
sourced organic
herbs, the same
weight as
188
in FY14
elephants!
100%
certified organic herbs,
protecting people, plants
and planet
0
biodegradable teabags,
staple free for animal
friendly compost
Zero waste to landfill,
helping to keep our
operational footprint
light
Our products are
never tested on
animals
1
Certified
%
Carbon Neutral
£
200,000
WWF donation to
protect tigers, rhinos
and elephants in
the Eastern Himalayas
46
Organic
supplements
tonnes of
100%
Our highlights this year
13
Our targets
0
2
To be Carbon Neutral
throughout our supply
chain - from crop to
cup - by 2045
To pledge 1%
of our turnover
towards positive
environmental
change
Puk.ka/pŭk’
e
Adjective: excellent, proper or genuine
ORIGIN from Hindi pakkā: authentic, real, delicious.
Contents
A message from Sebastian and Tim
4
Introduction
6
Our values
6
Achieving our mission
7
Product excellence
8
Climate change
12
Resource conservation
16
Sustainable communities
20
Ethical practices
24
Progress towards a Pukka Planet
28
Appendix 1: Challenge updates from last year’s report
30
Appendix 2 Sustainability Policy
31
Appendix 3 Climate change Policy
32
Appendix 4 Sourcing Policy
33
Cover photo: the bibhitaki tree and the Great Pied Hornbill
As a pioneering partner of FairWild, a scheme which provides a premium price for
sustainably collected wild plants, Pukka is helping to protect the bibhitaki tree in the
Western Ghats, the fragile home of the Great Pied Hornbill.
A message from
Sebastian and Tim
It’s been another meaningful year, half exuberant and half
sobering. With the health of our society and environment
creaking under the strain of modern life it’s really brought
Pukka’s purpose into our minds-eye. Our intention of
bringing the benefits of herbal health as well as driving
positive environmental change through organic farming
and carbon neutrality remain steadfast. We believe
our current medical paradigm is flawed with antibiotic
resistance and chronic disease reaching epidemic
proportions1. UK Government endorsed environmental
policies are failing to meet the carbon and temperature
targets set to help halt the current crisis2. The failure of the
structure of modern medicine is reflected in the admission
by the US Department of Health and Human Services and
the European Commission that pharmaceutical drugs are
one of the top five leading causes of death today3 .
We feel the impact of these problems everyday at Pukka.
This double-pronged catastrophe is seeing increasing
numbers of people seek natural solutions for their health.
This heartens us in our vision for a world where natural
health plays a more valued role in society. It’s time for
us to take natural health seriously as attested to by its
safety4, sustainability5 and efficacy6. The benefits of
organic farming are finding solid scientific backing too,
with organic plants showing significantly higher levels
of protective antioxidant compounds7. Indeed, there are
some encouraging signs that we are making progress
1http://www.who.int/drugresistance/documents/surveillancereport/en/
2https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/487751/
ggc-annual-report-2014-2015.pdf
3 Strengthening pharmacovigilance to reduce adverse effects of medicines, European
Commission MEMO/08/782; 10/12/2008; 2008 and http://ethics.harvard.edu/blog/newprescription-drugs-major-health-risk-few-offsetting-advantages
4http://anhinternational.org/2012/07/11/anh-exclusive-natural-health-products-ultra-safeand-drugs-as-dangerous-as-war/
5http://anhinternational.org/wp-content/uploads/old/files/100617-SustainableHealthcare_
White-Paper.pdf
6http://ehtpa.eu/pdf/Scoping%20the%20Evidence%20Base%20for%20Herbal%20
Medicines%20FINAL%20.pdf
7 Higher antioxidant and lower cadmium concentrations and lower incidence of pesticide
residues in organically grown crops: a systematic literature review and meta-analyses,
Baranski et al, Leifert Br J Nut 0514
4
but the change needs to be quicker. The natural health
and organic sectors continue to see significant growth
around the world; the US organic sector is predicted to
grow over 18% in the five years between 2013-188. The
herbal sector grew at 6.8% in 2014 too9. Sadly, in Britain,
we have become the laggards of positive environmental
change with total organic food consumption sitting at
a measly 1.4% when compared to Denmark’s 8% and
America’s 4.3%10. The failure of current environmental and
health policies puts the responsibility on us as individuals,
communities and businesses to lead this change.
With this imperative laid out before us we recognise the
social, environmental and commercial challenges as well
as opportunities we face. At a point in Pukka’s history
where we have embedded sustainability at the heart of
our business, we are experiencing incredible levels of
customer engagement and market growth. We are in a
very privileged position. We recognise that we can engage
with millions of people to help inspire positive change
through the power of plants. We can also engage with
our farming partners to initiate change to help protect the
future11. We are experiencing increasing unpredictability
in our weather patterns that is posing a threat to the
predictability of agricultural supply. As one grower said to
us on a recent farm visit “It’s too much rain at the wrong
time and too little at the right time.”
8http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Markets/US-organic-food-market-to-grow-14from-2013-18
9http://cms.herbalgram.org/press/2015/HerbalDietarySupplementSalesinUSRisein2014.html
10Soil Association Market Report 2015: see http://www.soilassociation.org/news/newsstory/
articleid/7805/organic-market-shows-improved-growth-amidst-tumbling-food-prices
11 http://climateuk.net/sites/default/files/Supply%20Chains.pdf
Our mission that we set in 2001, today and into the future,
will reflect Pukka’s vision:
“Through the incredible power of plants we will
inspire people to lead a more conscious life. We will
strive every day to help create a Pukka Planet
benefiting people, plants and planet.”
To support this mission we developed our sustainability
vision this year:
“Pukka is universally recognised as a pioneer in
supporting healthy living of individuals, society and
the environment. We have a demonstrable net-positive
impact on people, plants and planet.”
Our inspiration starts with our herbal teas and wellbeing
supplements, which are created to deliver excellence
in terms of taste as well as health. We are committed
to operating a supply chain which offers fair pricing,
community development and environmental protection.
For this reason all of our tea and wellbeing supplements
are certified organic and this year we have set a target that
all of our teas will be Fair certified by end Financal Year
(FY) 2016 (August).
In FY2015, we were the fastest growing fruit and herbal
tea brand in the UK again, and our turnover increased by
32%. All of our new teas were fair certified which meant
that, together with our business growth, the volume of
Fairtrade and FairWild ingredients in our teas increased
by 165%. With over 90% of herbal species in the world
being harvested from the wild and with 20% of these
considered to be threatened it is imperative that any herbs
we harvest from the wild are sustainably sourced. The
FairWild certification, established by WWF and TRAFFIC
and partners, gives this assurance. In 2015 we were
honoured to win a prestigious 2degrees Award for our
open reporting, reflecting our pioneering work with the
Responsible 100 (www.responsible100.com/), an external
body that identifies and supports transparency in business
by requiring companies to report on key responsibility
issues which are then open to public scrutiny.
Alongside our phenomenal growth, we remain totally
committed to evolving responsibly as a business. This
year we achieved our goal of becoming a carbon neutral
business two years ahead of target, and will be working
with our partners to inspire them to act also, committing
to a carbon neutral supply chain by 2045. We are not
sure how we will achieve this yet, but we know that
our idealistic enthusiasm can be infectious and we are
fortunate to have some very talented and committed
people in our supply chain who can help us get there.
In the next few years, we will improve our management
information to enable us to assess the materiality of our
impacts and set additional sustainability targets. We will
also work more closely with our suppliers to enable them
to support our vision and also learn from their expertise.
Our future sustainability reports will hold us accountable
to these targets and we invite everyone to Pukka Planet
(www.pukkaherbs.com) to share their thoughts and ideas
so that we can all be a more powerful force for positive
change.
5
Introduction
Pukka creates delicious organic herbal teas
and incredible wellbeing supplements that
take consumers on a journey to a healthier,
happier life. ‘Pukka’ means authentic and
it’s at the heart of everything we do. We
only use the finest grade organic herbs
sustainably sourced and fairly traded. Our
passion to connect people, plants and
planet starts with a cup of delicious herbal
tea. We would love people all over the
world to tune in to the power of plants and
discover more about themselves.
This sustainability report, our 2nd to date, explains
how we do this and reviews our performance for
our reporting period, which aligns with our financial
year 1 September 2014 to 31 August 2015. It covers
the financial control boundary (which is also our
operational boundary as Pukka owns 100% of its
operations) of Pukka Herbs Ltd which includes Pukka
Inc. in the US, in line with International Financial
Reporting Standards and the Climate Change Reporting
framework.
Our sustainability policy (shown in Appendix 1) sets out
the principles that guide our decision-making in respect
to our social, environmental and ethical performance.
From this, we developed a sustainability programme
which has five key themes through which we aim
to make the biggest difference possible: product
excellence, climate change, resource conservation,
sustainable communities and ethical practices. In the
following chapters, we highlight our approach, our
progress and discuss our challenges over the last year.
We also introduce some sustainability targets and
priority areas for next year to help guide our progress.
The information contained in this report is publically
available with the aim that we can all work together
to create a world where people, plants and the planet
thrive together.
6
We also report throughout the year on Responsible
10012 an external body that identifies and supports
transparency in business by requiring companies to
report on key responsibility issues which are then
open to public scrutiny. You are welcome to keep
up to date and to comment on our performance
on the Responsible 100 website, or if you have any
specific questions about this report,
please contact our Sustainability Manager
[email protected].
12 http://responsible100.com/
Pukka’s Wisdom Seeds
Acheiving
our mission
Pukka Herbs Ltd is a privately owned limited
company operating in the United Kingdom. Our
Founders Tim and Sebastian set up business in
2002 from Tim’s spare bedroom and Sebastian’s
kitchen. Our herbal tea and supplements are
now sold in over 40 countries in Europe, Asia,
Africa, Australia and North America. At 31
August 2015, we had 81 team members (79 full
time equivalent) based at our registered office at
8 Hawkfield Business Park, Bristol, BS14 0BY and
temporary space at The Pavilions, Bridgwater
Road, Bristol, BS13 8AN until 30th June 2015 and
then Parkview, Whitchurch Lane, Bristol, City of
Bristol BS14 0TJ.
Our executive board is responsible for the
governance of our sustainability programme
supported by the strategic sustainability group
which includes our founders, our marketing
and operations directors, the head of business
strategy and our sustainability manager.
Everyone at Pukka contributes to its delivery and
we support this by training at whole business
events and briefings and through our induction
programme for new team members. We monitor
our performance using key performance
indicators following, where appropriate, Defra
Environmental Reporting Guidelines June 201313.
This report also contains Standard Disclosures
from the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)
Sustainability Reporting Guidelines (G4).
13https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/environmental-reportingguidelines-including-mandatory-greenhouse-gas-emissions-reportingguidance
7
Product excellence
Our herbal teas and wellbeing supplements
are not just good for you, they’re also good
for people and the planet. At Pukka, we
design our products to deliver excellence in
terms of environmental and social benefits
as well as in quality by using medicinal
grade herbs. How do we do this?
•
All of our products are certified organic by the Soil
Association to UK/EU standards and compliant
with the US National Organic Programme. Our
commitment to organic cultivation is a central
part of Pukka’s DNA. We even use certified organic
cotton string on our teabags. For more information:
[link to http://www.pukkaherbs.com/pukka-planet/
stories/plants/organic-cotton/]
•
We ensure that World Health Organisation
guidelines on good agricultural and collection
practice are followed through supplier audits and
rigorous quality control procedures. All of our herbs
are fully traceable back to the source.
•
Our herbs are traded fairly and we use Fairtrade14
and FairWild15 certification where appropriate.
Most people are familiar with Fairtrade certification
which ensures better wages, decent working
conditions and fair terms of trade for farmers and
workers. FairWild is a pioneering standard to ensure
sustainable collection of wild sourced ingredients,
and fair pay for collectors.
•
We never test on animals in accordance with our
animal testing policy as certified by Cruelty Free
International. Everything we make is suitable for
vegetarians16.
•
We use FSC (Forest Stewardship Council)17 certified,
recyclable materials and vegetable inks for our
tea and wellbeing cartons. We use only synthetic
(rather than animal) glues.
14http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/
15http://www.fairwild.org/
16 Our range is not 100% vegan. Products such as Ghee are produced from cows milk,
Golden Preserve and Elderberry Syrup contain honey, our Vitalise contains Bee Pollen
and a selection of Pukka teas also contain honey (Lemon, Ginger and Manuka Honey and
Chamomile, Vanilla and Manuka Honey).
17http://www.fsc-uk.org/en-uk
8
Achievements
for FY15
Sourcing policy
Lighter envelopes
In 2015 we put all our 14 years of our sustainable
sourcing experience into a formal written policy. As
true herbal pioneer-geeks we’re excited that this
gives us clear guidelines on how and what we buy
as we continue to grow rapidly as a business (see
Appendix 4).
We often get asked why our tea bags are individually
packaged. We do it to ensure the best quality and
healthiest herbs in every cup. We go to great lengths
to source high specification, organic, pharmacopeia
grade herbs. The envelope best protects the
herbs from heat, light and moisture, which would
diminish their depth of flavour and health benefits
as they prevent the high levels of essential oils from
evaporating. This provides a superior product for our
consumers, meaning our sourcing efforts are not
wasted. We have found that the material that works
best for this is a paper envelope with a polyethylene
lamination. The challenge for us is to find envelope
materials that are fully recyclable – so that once
you’ve made your Pukka cuppa, the envelope can go
into the domestic recycling stream.
FairWild: Ensuring the long term
survival of wild plant species
We are really proud to be pioneering the use of the
FairWild standard at Pukka. The FairWild initiative
is based on similar principles to Fairtrade – the
difference is that FairWild is designed specifically for
plant ingredients that have been collected from the
wild.
With 1 in 5 of the world’s plants now listed as
threatened and at risk of extinction the need for a
new approach to wild plant collection has never
been greater. At its core, the FairWild purpose is
simple: “To ensure the continued use and long-term
survival of wild plant species and populations in their
habitats, while respecting the traditions and cultures,
and supporting the livelihoods of all stakeholders, in
particular collectors and workers.” Find out more:
http://www.wearesalt.org/fairwild-and-pukkateas-creating-a-better-planet-and-a-better-brew/
and watch the FairWild video here: http://www.
pukkaherbs.com/pukka-planet/stories/people/
Developing 100% certified
organic natural flavourings
We use organic essential oils to enhance the flavour
of some of our tea blends. Our suppliers have now
developed an organic version of lecithin (the material
that holds the oils) from certified organic sunflower
seeds. This means our essential oil flavours are now
100% certified organic.
A suitable alternative material is not currently
available so we are actively seeking out an ideal long
term material. In the meantime, when our envelopes
were redesigned for 2015 we took the opportunity
to reduce the thickness of the external paper by 25%.
For FY15 this saved 62.6 tonnes of paper.
This is good news not only from a waste perspective,
but also from a climate perspective. By reducing
the amount of material used, we’ve reduced the
greenhouse gas emissions associated with the
manufacture, processing, transportation and disposal
of our envelopes. Avoiding the use of 62.6 tonnes of
paper, according to Defra’s 2015 carbon factors [
link to http://www.ukconversionfactorscarbonsmart.
co.uk/],saves 90 tonnes of carbon being released into
the atmosphere . It also saves around 1600 trees18.
While we search for a fully recyclable material we
offset the carbon emissions from the production
and disposal of our envelopes, which this year came
to 450 tonnes of carbon dioxide. This is the equivalent
of driving 60 times around the world19!
18 1 tonne of uncoated virgin (non-recycled) printing and office paper uses 26
trees. Metric conversion from http://conservatree.org/learn/EnviroIssues/
TreeStats.shtml]
19 450 tonnes of carbon dioxide is the equivalent of driving over 1.5 million
miles in an average-sized diesel car. Assuming you could drive in a straight
line around the equator which measures 24,901 miles.)
9
Priorities for
FY16
Key performance indicators
Table 1 shows the percentage of our teas (which account for 83% of FY15 turnover of all our products) that are
Fairtrade or FairWild certified. We had 10 Fairtrade certified teas at 31st August 2015, and 13 certified FairWild,
an increase of 3% on last year.
Product
contribution
Percentage of range 2014
Percentage of range 2015
Target for 2016
Fair certified teas
59% (20/34)
62% (23/37)
100%
Finding the right material for our envelopes that
will keep the tea fresh and is recyclable. This is a
technical challenge for our suppliers but we are
not giving up. We continue to trial alternatives,
speak with our suppliers and scour the industry
for new solutions. We are always open to new
ideas and innovations so please get in contact if
you think you can help.
The graph below shows the proportion of ingredients for our teas which are FairWild or Fairtrade certified.
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
30%
25%
20%
15%
2013
2014
Fair tonnes
2015
Meeting our target to reach 100% fair certified
teas by end 2016. We will do this by increasing
the volume of our ingredients that are fair
certified to from 22% to 50%. This will mean
that every individual tea blend will have at least
20% of all ingredients certified – the threshold
for Fair for Life certification. Fair for Life is a
certification scheme we will be introducing in
2016, as the scheme certifies fair ingredients
from all over the world, not just developing
countries We have an exciting year ahead
working to create significant positive effects on
the lives of thousands of farmers as well as their
families.
10%
Fair percentage of total ingredients
We purchased 754 tonnes of herbs in FY15, 81% of which were cultivated. 70% of our wild collected
herbs were FairWild certified.
10
11
Climate change
It’s no exaggeration to say that it is a crucial
time for this beautiful planet we are lucky
enough to call home. Scientists predict that
if we do not cut carbon emissions now, it
will have catastrophic effects for us all in
the future20.
Our business is designed to succeed in a low-carbon
and climate-resilient economy due to the organic
farming methods used by our growers. Many people
are well versed in the benefits of organic farming; no
system of farming has lower pesticide use, it is more
natural, better for our health and the health of farmers,
better for wildlife, biodiversity and animal welfare. But
you may not know that organic farming is also far more
climate friendly than conventional farming. Organic
farming methods help take carbon dioxide from the
air and lock it in the soil – a process called carbon
sequestration. The Soil Association has calculated
that if all if all UK farmland was converted to organic
farming, at least 3.2 million tonnes of carbon would be
taken up by the soil each year - the equivalent of taking
nearly 1 million cars off the road21.
In our business operations we follow the reduce,
replace, offset mantra: 1. Reducing energy use by
avoiding using energy in the first place or by becoming
more energy efficient. 2. Replacing fossil fuels with
renewable options. And 3. Offsetting any remaining
carbon emissions.
We reduce our energy and fuel use at Pukka. Our
biggest operational carbon footprint is from logistics
and freight, followed by commuting. We transport by
sea or land, except for in exceptional circumstances
(eg when items are more popular than we anticipated
and go out of stock). We only routinely import one
ingredient, our vanilla from Uganda, by air as sea
freight is not technically feasible. We use consolidated
deliveries and carbon neutral courier services where
possible. We promote our bike to work scheme to
reduce our commuting footprint, and have a growing
group of cyclists at Pukka despite being based in such a
hilly city!
For many years now we have replaced fossil fuels
with renewables. The electricity and gas for Pukka
offices and warehouses is supplied by Good Energy
20For further information, see http://www.unep.org/newscentre/Default.
aspx?DocumentID=2812&ArticleID=11082&l=en
21http://www.soilassociation.org/innovativefarming/policyresearch/soilcarbon
12
which ensures 100% renewable electricity from British
sunshine, wind and rain.
After these efforts to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels,
at Pukka we commit to annually offset our remaining
carbon emissions. This means that we calculate how
much carbon we use in our business operations and
reduce the same amount of carbon elsewhere. We
support Gold Standard certified offsetting projects,
which means they actually reduce carbon dioxide
emissions (rather than simply certifying reductions that
would have happened anyway), and provide benefits to
the local population.
Achievements
for FY15
Carbon neutral two years ahead of target
In 2015 we celebrated becoming a certified carbon
neutral company. We offset 466 tonnes of carbon
dioxide-equivalent22 through an inspiring Gold
Standard cookstove project in Uganda23. As well
as reducing greenhouse gas emissions from forest
degradation, the project also improves the wellbeing
of Ugandan communities, and families like Ruth
Nakyazzi’s in Kampala. Ruth bought an AES improved
cookstove three years ago. Since then, she has
observed using about 50% less charcoal than before.
Every day she is responsible for preparing meals for
six family members. With so many mouths to feed,
saving is very important. Initially she would spend
2,000UGX (£0.40) on charcoal a day to make meals
using her old metal stove. With her AES improved
cookstove, she now only spends around 1,000UGX
(£0.20) for cooking fuel. When asked about how she
spends her savings, she says, “I use savings to pay for
school fees or buy more food.”
My forest: conserving forests in The
Western Ghats of India
My Forest is a project run by the Applied
Environmental Research Foundation (AERF). The
project aims to protect a global biodiversity hotspot
– home to 2% of the world’s biodiversity. In our
second year supporting this five year project, AEFR
used our donation to pay the salaries of community
conservation stewards who are working with private
forest owners to protect against deforestation. They
also supported the costs of building a temple (as an
incentive not to sell trees from the sacred groves to
pay for the temple work) and contributed towards
developing energy efficient stoves and biomass
briquettes for the local community to use instead of
chopping down wood from the sacred groves.
Offsetting has had a bad reputation in the past, but
that is no longer deserved. Using the reduce, replace,
offset mantra means you are offsetting within a
framework of improving efficiency and reducing
carbon use as much as possible, so that offsetting
becomes the last step,
not the first. And using
certified Gold Standard
offsets ensure they are
top quality and have
fantastic social benefits.
The Ugandan project
not only subsidises
the cookstoves being
made, but also helps
train people and
develop the whole
value chain (including
the manufacturing,
distribution, local sales
channels and marketing
in Uganda) to create
a sustainable social
enterprise. It is estimated
that with each stove,
2.4tCO2 is saved each
year. So our offset of over
600tC02 (for our operations and envelopes) helped
hundreds of families like Ruth’s.
22Carbon dioxide equivalent expresses the impact of each different greenhouse
gas in terms of the amount of CO2 that would create the same amount of
warming
23http://www.carbonfootprint.com/uganda_cookstoves_447.html]
13
Priorites
for FY16
Key performance indicators
Our carbon data covers all scope 1 and scope 2 emissions as well as available data for scope 3 emissions for
sources recommended for reporting under the Carbon Neutral Protocol for carbon neutral company status.
The scope 3 data not currently available includes outbound courier delivery of packages, third party road
transportation and storage of production-related goods and sold products (excluding raw materials freight)
(which would require significant data collection effort) and hotels for business travel (which we believe will be
immaterial).
Table 2 shows our carbon footprint for FY15 and FY14.
Scope
Gas
Refrigeration
Company owned vehicle fuel use
Total Scope 1
Purchased electricity
Total Scope 2
Business air travel
Business land travel
Commuting
Air freight
Sea freight
Other freight
Waste
Transmission and distribution
losses
Water
Water treatment
Paper
Total Scope 3
Total gross emissions
Green tariff
Total net annual emissions
Tonnes of Co2e
FY15 (absolute)
TC02e per £M
turnover (22.4)
FY15
TCo2e (absolute)
FY14
TC02e per £M
turnover (17.08) FY14
8.74
0.00
1.38
10.12
36.11
36.11
70.07
46.82
75.15
53.45
23.58
159.3
0.41
0.39
0.00
0.06
0.45
1.61
1.61
3.13
2.09
3.35
2.39
1.05
7.11
0.02
9.74
0.17
0.00
9.91
35.01
35.01
58.22
33.50
87.46
91.62
27.76
116.31
1.49
0.57
0.01
0.00
0.58
2.05
2.05
3.41
1.96
5.12
5.36
1.63
6.81
0.09
2.91
0.69
0.37
0.63
433.35
479.58
-36.11
443.47
0.13
0.03
0.02
0.03
19.35
21.41
-1.61
19.80
3.04
0.19
0.18
0.01
1.30
420.89
465.81
-29.15
436.66
0.08
24.64
27.27
-1.71
25.57
Now that we are carbon neutral ourselves, we feel
OK about asking others to act too. We have set a
new climate change target to be carbon neutral
in our entire supply chain, from farm to tea cup,
by 2045. This is 10 years ahead of the 2055 target
set by the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change). We believe (based on lifecycle
assessments completed on conventional tea) that
the carbon footprint of our teas is heaviest at the
consumer use phase (ie boiling kettles to make tea)
followed by the manufacturing phase, followed by
the agricultural phase; both of which are managed
by supplier and production partners. As we grow,
we should have more influence over the choices
our suppliers make as well as the resources to
encourage energy efficiency and the switch to
renewable energy by our consumers. We will
begin to plan how we will go about reaching our
ambitious target over the next year . It’s a massive
undertaking that we can’t achieve alone – so we’ll
need to work in partnership with others.
As we rapidly grow as a business our absolute
carbon footprint is growing too. In the lead up to
the United Nations COP21 climate negotiations we
have committed to setting science based carbon
reduction targets over the next two years24 . 24http://sciencebasedtargets.org/companies-taking-action/ Although out of
scope of this report we joined over 118 other companies committed to taking
action in the lead up to COP21 http://www.cop21paris.org/ which took place
in December 2015.
We know that for our business to thrive, a stable
climate to grow our herbs is essential, and so
climate change poses a significant risk. The
continued increase in numbers and severity of
unpredictable weather events as a result of climate
change will mean ever more difficult growing
conditions for farmers. We will continue to focus
on looking for ways to build resilience to climate
change in our supply chain.
Our overall gross footprint of 479.58 tonnes of carbon dioxide has increased by 14 tonnes which is an increase
of just 3%. This is the equivalent of driving from Land’s End to John O’Groats and back 28 times or just two
first class return flights from London Heathrow to New York. This is an amazing achievement given our rate of
growth as a business, which was 32% increase in turnover in FY15. Per £M turnover our carbon footprint has
reduced from 27.27 Tonnes to 21.41 Tonnes.
The main reason for this cut is a concerted effort to reduce air freight by our Operations team. The flipside
of cutting air freight is increased land freight, so the increase here is expected. And as we grow as a business
internationally we have seen increased business air travel. This year we included the carbon data from water
sewerage treatment.
We also switched all the electricity and gas supply that we control to Good Energy in FY15 so we are powered
by British sunshine, wind and rain. As this is renewable energy we can deduct it from our total emissions.
14
15
Resource
conservation
We only have one planet, and we work to
keep it Pukka by measuring and reducing
our waste. We send zero waste to landfill.
We are dependent upon the planet’s capacity to
provide resources to help make our products. Things
we take for granted like fresh water, sunlight and
air to grow our herbs. The planet also provides
unseen but essential ‘services’ with its ability to
absorb pollution and waste. If we take too many
resources or emit excessive pollutants the planet
can’t cope. Contaminants to land, air and water can
have serious effects on human health and security
of food and water supplies and can also result in
loss of biodiversity. We continue to implement our
sustainable waste management strategy developed
last year that follows the waste management
hierarchy (reduce, reuse, recycle, recover). From our
choice of eco cleaning supplies and 100% recycled
office paper we make daily decisions at Pukka to limit
our burden on the planet.
16
Achievements
for FY15
Turning our waste into craft
material for kids
Our Pukka tea cartons are too beautiful to go
straight in the recycling. As you can imagine, we
drink a lot of tea in the Pukka offices! We give
our tea cartons a second creative and colourful
life by donating them to the Children’s Scrapstore.
Here they are reused as creative materials and
educational resources to local community groups
in Bristol working with children and adults. We sent
3kg of tea boxes and 300kg of cardboard to the
Children’s Scrapstore in FY15.
Paper cull – every little helps
We love trees at Pukka. They are the lungs of the
planet and the source of many fine plant medicines.
We have focused this year on dramatically cutting
our paper use in the office. We took some simple but
significant steps. For example we have switched to
electronic payslips, we have upgraded our printers
to capture and release printing and we contacted all
suppliers asking for a shift to email correspondence.
These efforts have reduced our paper use by a
third from 1550kg in FY14 to 985.47kg FY15. There
are still some areas we would like to improve, for
example our computer system does not allow us to
maintain adequate electronic financial records, so
we currently have to print these out. A new system,
which will be implemented over the next year and in
place by 2017 will help us to further improve.
17
Priorites
for FY16
Key performance indicators
We purchased 406 reams of paper (down from 595 reams of paper in 2013/4, a reduction of 31%). This is
equivalent to 5.1425 reams per person per year. In 2011 an independent environmental audit found that
our usage was 14 reams per person per year.
Our offices used a total of 686.9 cubic metres of water (557.72m3 in 2013/14). This is equivalent to 8.69
per person. In 2011 an environmental audit found that our usage was 7.7 per person per year
Table 3 shows the total waste produced by type of waste and management method.
FY15
Material
Reuse
Recycled
Energy recovery
Landfill
Total (Tonnes)
Hazardous
0.00
0.01
0.00
0.00
0.01
Paper and board
1.00
6.70
0.00 0.00
7.7
Other materials
0.83
0.86
0.00 0.00
1.69
Food waste
0.00
2.25
0.66
0.00
2.91
Glass
0.00
1.18
0.00
0.00
1.18
General
0.00
0.00 9.05
0.00
9.05
We will review our waste management policy in
FY16. We also plan to work with our suppliers to
learn together how to cut waste further.
Investigating the amount of embedded water in our
products - in other words, the water needed to grow
the herbs and make our wellbeing supplements and
tea. This is likely to be more than we use in our
operations.
Total waste produced by management method (tonnes)
1.83
4.28
9.71
1.99
5.37
Reuse
Recycled
22.21
Energy Recovery
FY14
Landfill
11
FY15
We are excited to be a zero waste to landfill business26. The majority of our waste is recycled, although
recycling rates appear to have dropped dramatically. We do not know if this is due to reduced consumption
or errors in record keeping by our waste service provider. Our water use has also increased. The data
includes some assumptions from our Parkview office which does not have water metering, and the increase
in water consumption could be from more cyclists taking showers, but we will investigate further. Paper
use has decreased by a third following substantial effort as outlined above.
18
2579 full time equivalent employees in 2015
26Our sanitary waste is still sent to landfi ll as we are tied into a 2 year contract with an
organisation that previously recycled this. However this amounts to less than 1 kg per
year as per our waste transfer notes.
19
Sustainable
communities
We are passionate about improving the
lives of everyone who comes into contact
with us whether they are in the fields
growing our incredible organic herbs, or
are in our local community of Bristol.
We recognise our role as a community
member of Bristol, UK and our
responsibilities as a job provider, procurer
of goods and services and provider of
wellbeing products. We also recognise our
responsibilities as a global citizen and our
impact on the communities of our value
chain.
Achievements
for FY15
Training auditors in India
Our first FairWild project in India began in 2011, but
it wasn’t until 2015 that it achieved year 1 FairWild
certification. One of the main reasons it took so
long to get started was the fact that there were no
FairWild inspectors in India and it would have been
prohibitively expensive to send inspectors from
Europe for the annual audit. So in 2015 we trained
two local inspectors, who were both from Ecocert
India (http://www.ecocert.in), a certification body
that was already involved in organic and fair trade
certification. A truly collaborative effort, training the
inspectors was only possible with additional funding
from two different projects:
•
A partnership project led by DICE (the Durrell
Institute of Conservation and Ecology),
implemented on the ground by AERF (Applied
Environmental Research Foundation), and
supported by Pukka Herbs. The 3 year project,
“reviving socio-ecological landscapes for
biodiversity conservation and climate change
adaptation”, was awarded by the Darwin
Initiative (http://www.darwininitiative.org.uk/
project/20016/), a UK government funding
programme.
•
A partnership project led by TRAFFIC,
implemented by AERF with support from
Pukka. The one year project (extended to two),
Biodiversity conservation and sustainable
livelihoods: medicinal and aromatic plants
(MAPs) of India, was funded by the Keidanren
Nature Conservation Fund (KNCF) in Japan.
Many of our team members live locally. We source
several services within Bristol including our cleaning
company, refuse service and organic fruit supplier
and use some local logistics, packaging and
marketing suppliers.
We sponsor many local events and donate tea
and funds to charitable organisations in the UK
and overseas. We focus on supporting events
and organisations that promote health and those
focused on caring for the planet. This includes
financing tree planting at £200 a quarter to restore
ancient woodland around an organic farm with our
partner the Phaladaayi Foundation. The foundation
implements tree planting and water conservation
projects which increase farm production. It also
promotes organic farming and provides support
to farmers in the form of research, training and
certification. This is the non-profit branch of an
organisation which supplies organic herbs though
agreements with smallholder farmers. And closer to
home we donate £1000 to the Forest of Avon Trust in
our local community here in Bristol, UK.
Trainee FairWild auditors being put through their
paces
20
Building resilient communities through
trading fairly
This year we continued to invest in communities via
our fair certification. All fair certification schemes
include a ‘premium fund’ to benefit local families
and community life. For example, our Fair for Life
certified Tulsi (all three varieties) suppliers have used
their premiums to invest in a new composting unit,
and to help people in the community to fix leaky
roofs. In most of the communities we source from
we are not the sole supplier, so premiums from our
business along with those from other companies
help support investments in what the communities
themselves identify as priority issues. Find out
more: http://www.pukkaherbs.com/pukka-planet/
stories/pukka/pukka-tea-a-fairer-cup-from-aroundthe-world/
Tulsi pickers in India
Living Himalayas
Over the last three years Pukka customers have
generously donated over £200,000 to WWF by
drinking our teas. This has helped WWF protect
the wildlife and communities living in the region
known as the Terai Arc, which runs along the border
between India and Nepal. These unique areas in the
Eastern Himalayas
are home to
millions of people,
incredibly rich
in biodiversity,
and provide
vital habitat for
iconic threatened
species such as
tigers, elephants
and one-horned
rhinoceros.*To find out more visit: http://www.
pukkaherbs.com/pukka-planet/stories/people/
partners/teas-to-protect-tigers-rhinos-andelephants/
21
Priorites
for FY16
Key performance indicators
We invested £1,481,135 (£66,122 per £million
turnover) in community partnerships and local
sourcing27 .This was up from £824,519 (£48,492 per
£million turnover) in FY14.
Working with our suppliers to identify how we can
help build resilient communities together either
through our fair trade premiums or supply chain
partnerships.
Our executive board is made up of four members of
whom three are from the local community.
Building creative and impactful strategic partners
with our key national partnerships including The
Soil Association and the Eden Project as we work
together to promote our People, Plants and Planet
philosophy.
We have very specialised requirements for our
packers, herb suppliers and testing laboratories
due to our organic status, ethical and quality
requirements which makes local sourcing difficult,
but we commit to building supply networks in
our local community where we can. And we are
also working with our neighbourhood community
networks to help build a healthier, happier and more
resilient Bristol.
“
By drinking Pukka
teas, you can help us
create ever-increasing
cycles of good
around the planet:
from the wonderful
feeling that comes
with connecting with
nature in your own
home, all the way
back to the growers
who you support
and reward for
their hard work.
”
27This is estimated based on the postcodes of suppliers in our purchase ledger of
independently owned organisations (not public limited companies) with both a principal
base and invoice address falling within the former county of Avon. This comprises
Bristol, Bath & North East Somerset, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire which
is the boundary used by our Local Economic partnership and Bristol Credit Union. It
does not include cash or credit card payments or payments made via expenses. It also
includes VAT.
22
23
Ethical practices
We recognise that our business decisions
have an impact on a range of stakeholders
and we have a responsibility to ensure that
all our decisions at Pukka are fair to people,
plants and planet.
We do this by being open and honest in
communications, meeting obligations and seeking and
acting on feedback from our customers, suppliers, team
members and other individuals and organisations. For
example, we hold monthly ‘Pukka Pulse’ meetings and
a suggestion box so that the opinions of all Pukka team
members can be represented and acted upon to help
make Pukka a great place to work. We are committed
to ensuring the health, safety and welfare of our team
members and protecting their freedom, equality and
dignity. We source ethical products and services from
ethical suppliers, including operating an ethical pension
scheme. Our only lobbying activities are carried out
through our membership of organisations campaigning
for organics, freedom in health choices and a ban
on the testing of animals. We make no political
contributions.
24
Achievements
for FY15
Investing in staff wellbeing and
development at Pukka
We encourage our team members to live life well
and healthily. As part of this we offer all employees
the opportunity to claim 50% off the costs of any
wellbeing related activity, up to a maximum of £300
each year, and the same for development. Over the
last year, 40 Pukka staff have used the fund, claiming
a total of £3881.28 for wellbeing and £2113.37
for development opportunities, including gym
membership, holistic treatments, sports equipment,
personal training, music and sporting lessons and
books.
Award winning business
Pukka won gold in the South West Fairtrade Business
Awards 2015 recognising our commitment to
sourcing fairly traded ingredients. We were also
winners of a prestigious 2degrees award for the third
year running! This year for our pioneering reporting
with Responsible 100 www.responsible100.com
Supporting staff fundraising
In June 2015 a handful of Pukka staff across 4
different departments came together to take on
the challenge that is the Cotswold Plod, a gruelling
40 mile overnight hike along the Cotswold way.
The objective was to raise money for Action
Medical Research for Children, a charity dedicated
to improving the health of babies and children
through medical research. Pukka donated the entry
fee for the Plod and the cost of the hall hire for a
fundraising event and donated money towards the
team’s fundraising target.
Chloe Fogaty, our Office administrator was one of
the participants:
“Working together and achieving something positive
was not only a benefit to our health and wellbeing,
but we raised just over £2000 for AMRC and
connected with and supported local charities. We
held our Roaring Twenties fundraising event in the
Trinity Community Arts Hall and the catering for
the event was purchased from Fare Share South
West, who use the thousands of tonnes of perfectly
good in-date food that is wasted in the South West
each year and redistribute this quality surplus food
to groups working with vulnerable individuals in
and around Bristol”.
25
Priorites
for FY16
Key performance indicators
Our ethical practices are measured by our performance in the Responsible100
standard and, in respect of our team members, diversity, training and
development, team member retention, staff survey results, sickness rates and
salary ratio monitoring. We also report any incidents of corruption and there
were none in the year.
There were 97 days sick absence in total for the year. This is down from 113 in 2013/14, although
sickness reporting is sporadic. There were 16 individuals with zero sick days this year.
We measure gender and age diversity of our team members as shown in Table 4 below:
Category of team member
We have signed up with 1% for the Planet, a
global movement of companies donating at least
1% of their annual turnover to environmental
organisations worldwide. Although growing in the
US, the idea of connecting businesses, consumers,
and non-profits together for positive change in
this way is new in the UK. Pukka Herbs is one of a
handful of pioneering companies who have signed
up to 1% for the Planet, pledging to create positive
environmental change regardless of how much
profit we make.
We will develop and implement an Equal
Opportunities and Diversity policy. Our data
above highlights that we need to identify ways to
bring more female representation to our senior
management team.
Percentage of team members
Male
Female
Aged under 30
Aged 30-50
Aged Over 50
Senior management FY14
86%
14%
0%
71%
29%
Senior management29 FY15
100%
0%
0%
80%
20%
Other team members FY14
33%
67%
38%
58%
4%
Other team members FY152
35%
65%
45%
50%
5%
Our executive board is made up of 4 members, all male. (See priorities below)
In house, we want Pukka to be a great place to
work. We know that our rapid growth means that
there are times when Pukka asks a lot from our team
members. Staff turnover remains relatively high,
with reports of stress in the workplace at times. We
will work over the next year to identify pinch points
and continue to focus on activities that promote
staff wellbeing, in particular raising awareness and
understanding of Mental Health. For example, we
plan to offer training on ‘Mental Health for Managers’
and will consider introducing Mindfulness practices
into our ways of working. We also want to continue
to improve our health and safety reports with
specific focus on making ‘near miss’ reporting the
norm.
Our team member turnover rate increased from 19% (12 team members) in 2013/2014 to 23%
in 2014/15 (see priorities below).
In our staff survey, 47% of respondents agreed that “Pukka is a great place to work”.
2829
28Board & Operating Committee: 5 members
2976 team members
26
27
Progress towards a Pukka Planet
Our mission to bring the power and magic of herbs into people’s
lives to help them and the planet live a healthier life progressed
significantly in FY15 with increased growth of our ethical trade.
We made improvements across our five sustainability themes. We
seriously upped our game on tackling climate change by becoming
a certified carbon neutral company two years ahead of target, and
we have set an ambitious goal to be carbon neutral in our supply
chain by 2045. 100% of our herbs are organically certified and we’ve
continued to grow our fair certified ingredient sourcing, setting the
ambitious targets here also to be 100% fair certified in our teas by end
2016.
We recognise however that we have significant challenges to
overcome regarding the delivery of our mission. In many cases,
such as tackling climate change impacts, the issues are too big to
tackle alone. We will need to work with others in our industry and
beyond to help create a Pukka planet. In order to fully understand our
impacts, we must improve our sustainability materiality assessment
(identifying our big issues to tackle), stakeholder dialogue (working
more formally the people and communities that our business touches
to identify issues and find solutions together), data gathering and
reporting, which we commit to improving in FY16 and beyond.
Last but not least we have signed up to 1% for the Planet, committing
to donate 1% of our turnover to environmental charities regardless of
how much profit we make.
28
29
Appendix 1: Challenge updates from last year’s report
Sustainability
Theme
Challenge from 2013/14 report
Update
Product
Excellence
The sachets used to protect the high essential oil content of
our teas not currently recyclable.
Ongoing challenge. See Product
Excellence.
Our computer system does not allow us to adequately
monitor our sustainability performance data. New enterprise resource planning (ERP) system expected in 2014/2015.
Ongoing challenge, although a new
ERP system (IFS) is being phased into
the business from Feb 2016 (outside
this report scope).**
The carbon footprint of our teas is heaviest at the consumer
use phase, followed by the manufacturing phase, followed
by the agricultural phase; none of which are in our direct
control. As we grow, we hope to have more influence over
the choices our suppliers make as well as the resources to
encourage energy efficiency and the switch to renewable
energy by our consumers.
Ongoing challenge. See Climate
Change priorities. Pukka will offer a
year’s supply of tea as an incentive for
switching to GoodEnergy - planned
for 2016 (outside this report scope).
In the future, our new offices are likely to not be
under our operational control. This may affect our ability
to use a supply tariff certified under the Green Energy
Supply Certification Scheme.
We will move offices in 2016. This
remains a potential challenge,
although our new office location is
not confirmed (at publication)
Data collection challenge as above.
As above **
Data regarding the most sustainable options is often
not publically available and may be biased or out-ofdate.
Ongoing challenge, beyond our
control. We seek external expertise
where possible.
Climate Change
Resource
Efficiency
Appendix 2: Sustainability Policy
Pukka Herbs founded in 2001 with the purpose of bringing the
incredible power of plants to as many people as possible. We have
a collection of organic and fairly traded herbal teas and wellbeing
remedies that are all sourced, manufactured and distributed with
the principle of optimising sustainability at every step of the chain.
We use over 200 species of medicinal herbs, sourced from over 30
countries working with thousands of farmers. Our commitment to
sustainability is embedded within our purpose of bringing amazing
tasting teas and effective wellbeing remedies to the customers we
serve around the world.
We are committed to continually improving the social and environmental
performance of Pukka to support healthy living though the provision of the highest
quality herbal products. We meet organic, Fairtrade and FairWild certification standards
for appropriate certified products which conserve plant resources and protect
ecosystem services and human rights. We also provide our suppliers and growers with
support to improve the yield and quality of their products and the wellbeing of their
team members, communities and environment.
Data collection challenge as above
As above **
Sustainable
Communities
Ethical Practices
We have very specialised requirements for our
packers, herb suppliers and testing laboratories due
to our organic status, ethical and quality requirements
which makes local sourcing difficult.
Ongoing challenge. See sourcing
policy (Appendix 4)
Internet search engines and the widespread use of
search engine optimisation by larger companies means
that smaller businesses are not always easy to find.
Ongoing challenge. We attend many
Bristol green networking events to find
ethical local suppliers.
Data collection challenge as above.
As above **
We have outgrown our current building and our team
have limited access to leisure and wellbeing facilities.
We will move to new offices in 2016.
Wellbeing fund established to enable
activities outside of work.
Our complaints monitoring system includes areas of
duplicated effort and does not store the action undertaken
in the same place as the no. of complaints and type of
action.
All of our people data are managed using manual systems
which is not efficient. We do not collect data on ethnicity
30
As above **
As above **
We operate a culture of fairness, openness, trust and integrity through sourcing,
sharing and giving. We comply with all applicable legislation and prevent pollution
from our facilities and operations. We assess the lifecycle impacts of our products
and minimise resource use and waste. We measure and report our greenhouse gas
emissions and work with our whole value chain to mitigate our impact on climate
change and adapt to its effects.
We communicate our policy to our team members, contractors and other
stakeholders and its values publically via Pukka Planet to promote our vision to the
outside world. We provide case studies of sustainable living and facilitate exchange so
that we can all learn from each other. We review our policy on an annual basis and
report our sustainability progress annually on our website and through Responsible
100 (an open source business responsibility community) to ensure transparency of
and accountability for our actions by seeking and responding to external scrutiny.
All of these principles are underpinned by Ayurveda, the traditional Indian health
system. Its guiding principles are all about fulfilling your potential, and this can be
described by the word dharma. This is the true nature of your life-path and promotes
a life that supports a healthy individual, society and environment. Dharma, is an
ancient concept, promoting a lifestyle that embodies continuity, social awareness
and right moral conduct. It is a code that inspires us to keep the whole world whole.
Deep down, dharma is about sustainable living and fulfilling Ayurveda’s main focus of
healthy living. This is why it is at the heart of everything we create at Pukka as well as
being integral to us living our sustainability policy.
31
Appendix 3: Climate change Policy
This climate change policy underpins Pukka Herbs’ sustainability
policy to mitigate our impact on climate change and adapt to its
effects. We recognise that climate change poses a serious risk to
global prosperity, sustainable development and security and we
support government policies and measures that prepare us to
succeed in a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy.
We will build our capacity to understand fully the implications of climate change
for our business and implement a strategy for minimizing risks and identifying
opportunities. We will be a champion for rapid and extensive climate action and
will work collaboratively with our partners to implement greenhouse gas reduction
initiatives and adaptation projects.
We believe that the strongest evidence of our commitment to climate change
mitigation is to achieve carbon neutrality for our company and we aim to achieve this
by 2017 as a result of the following actions:
•
•
•
We will minimise our energy use and encourage low-carbon transportation
We will work to minimise our product carbon footprint over the complete lifecycle
We will continue to send zero waste to landfill and will consider the carbon cost of
our procurement
In additional to our carbon neutral commitment, we will undertake the following
climate actions:
•
•
•
Our offices and warehouses will continue to be powered by 100% renewable
electricity
We will promote energy conservation and the use of renewable energy by our
suppliers and the wider community
We will invest annually in community renewable energy, forest conservation and
climate adaptation projects
We will set climate change targets and will report all direct emissions (Scope 1),
indirect emissions from purchased electricity (Scope 2) as well as other indirect
emissions (Scope 3) for which activity data is available and strive to continually
improve our data coverage and calculation methodology. We will offset all of our
reported emissions through verified Gold Standard carbon offset schemes to maximise
the social benefits of our contributions.
We will report publicly and annually on the achievement of those targets in our annual
sustainability report, financial statements and through our membership of the West of
England Climate Challenge. We will seek and respond to external scrutiny through our
membership of the Responsible 100 Standard for ethical performance.
Appendix 4: Sourcing Policy
Pukka’s vision is to build a successful
business that has a positive impact on
people and the planet through producing
the highest quality organic herbal products.
This core purpose guides our overall
Sustainability Policy and specifically, our
approach for the growing, collection and
processing of the essential herbs we need to
source to delight our customers.
The purpose of this document is to outline Pukka’s
policy in relation to sourcing these critical raw
materials. Our sourcing policy can be broken down into
three main themes: 1) Trading Fairly, 2) Environmental
Sustainability, 3) Product Quality and Safety.
Trading Fairly
Pukka operates a culture of fairness, transparency, trust
and integrity with all our raw material suppliers. All
supplier relationships are based on Pukka’s principles of
partnership, in which all parties agree to a ‘long-term
working relationship in which there is a mutuallybeneficial flow of information and resources with a
shared vision of continual improvement of service and
products’.
We purchase the raw materials direct from the
country of origin ourselves or we work with partners
who purchase on our behalf. Regardless of how the
raw materials are sourced we will ensure there is an
appropriate level of traceability and quality control, and
that we have the opportunity to visit the farmers and/
or collectors to gain a mutual understanding of each
other’s challenges and needs.
We will use certified fair raw materials where the
quality and availability are appropriate for our products.
Regardless of 3rd party certification status, we conduct
internal supplier audits to ensure that producers have
good working conditions and are fairly remunerated for
their work.
Environmental Sustainability
All of our raw materials are certified organic by
internationally recognised and accredited certification
bodies. This provides assurance that the raw materials
are grown and/or collected using organic methods that
rely on ecological processes, biodiversity and natural
cycles adapted to local conditions, rather than the use
of artificial inputs with adverse environmental impacts.
We only source wild collected herbs if we can
guarantee that the collection is carried out in
a sustainable manner. Where possible FairWild
certification is obtained to provide 3rd party assurance
of sustainability through rigorous resource assessments,
monitoring and regeneration studies.
In all activities related to sourcing of raw materials we
strive to reduce carbon emissions, minimise waste and
conserve resources. We have long-term commitments
to partners to support conservation and carbon
sequestration projects. This supports our carbonneutral policy.
Product Quality & Safety
We use pharmacopoeial grade raw materials as the
benchmark for our quality standards; this means
that before herbs are approved for use in Pukka’s’
products they must adhere to quantitative and
qualitative parameters as specified in selected national
pharmacopoeias.
Where necessary we provide our partners with training
and/or guidance on how to implement best practices
to achieve pharmacopoeial grade herbs (summarised
in a set of guidelines known as Good Agricultural
and Collection Practices for Medicinal Plants, or
GACP for short). Suppliers must demonstrate strong
controls for key criteria; selection of seed, methods of
cultivation and processing, packing and storing dried
raw materials. For those materials for which there
are no pharmacopoeial standards, we use our own
specification to ensure consistency in quality.
All raw materials are rigorously tested to be safe for
consumption and for consistent high quality.
This policy will be communicated to all team members, contractors and stakeholders
and will be reviewed every two years.
32
33
A big Pukka thanks to…
With grateful thanks to Anne Barr and Vicky
Murray for writing this report and to Ally
Grieveson, Barry Moore, Ben Heron, Chloe
Fogarty, Dace Jece, David Anderson, Ian
Ashbrook, Laura Jones, Marin Anastasov, Mark
Gracey, Mike Lee, Saf Hareshe and Tony Pottrell
for providing the data, Tom de Pass for creative
input, Sarah Holloway for her expert guidance
(http://www.sarahholloway.co.uk/), Lizzie de Pass
for the beautiful design (www.elledeepea.com)
and everyone at Pukka for supporting our vision
to create a Pukka Planet benefiting people, plants
and planet.