As part of our social and sustainability promise, we’re committed to building responsible and sustainable partnerships. We want to team up with suppliers that care about the social and environmental impact of their processes and whose sustainability goals align with ours. This includes striving for net zero by 2030 and reducing our scope 3 emissions wherever we can.
In 2021, we chose to transfer all our printed mail provision (incoming & outgoing) to Ciconi, an established, local supplier. As part of our tender, we not only wanted to make sure our chosen supplier could find efficiencies with our mailings but also had a sustainability focus. We wanted a provider who used environmentally friendly resources, decreased the amount of wasted natural resources, had a commitment to corporate responsibility and supported local communities. Working with Ciconi gives us all of this.
Driving down our Scope 3 emissions
In the first 6 months with Ciconi we sent more than 642,000 items out to customers, but thanks to Ciconi’s initiatives, our environmental impact was offset. Ciconi’s paper is FSC and PEFC accredited, and the environmental impact of the paper used was offset with the Carbon Capture programme, which focuses on mitigating CO2 emissions and creating native woodland in the UK. During the 2021-2022 financial year, Ciconi contributed £258.38 to this programme through its paper use, creating 426.33m2 of new native woodland in the UK to remove 17,005kg of carbon dioxide.
As well as Ciconi’s ‘greener’ paper sourcing, their RISO printers use vegetable-based ink and maintain a much smaller environmental footprint than toner-based printers. They use less power, require fewer replacement parts, have lower emissions, and use ink cartridges made from partially recycled components.
Giving back to the community
As one of Ciconi’s largest customers, we were able to donate £1,606 to our local charity of choice, Magpas Air Ambulance. This was made possible through the Ciconi Mail® scheme, which allows their customers to give back to the community, by way of donation. For every 1,000 items mailed, £2.50 is donated to a charity of the customer’s choice.
Looking to the future
As part of our continued focus on social and sustainable values, we’re looking to align our sustainability goals with our suppliers. Ciconi’s initiatives are a great foundation for this and working together we’ve already achieved great results. Wave’s Facilities Manager, Matt Hobbs, commented:
“Since delivery, Ciconi has surpassed itself repeatedly, improving efficiencies and making continuous improvements to deliver even better results and more environmental benefits over time. You wouldn’t have thought a company whose revenue is dependent on printed volume would be so focussed on helping us remove and reduce waste, expenditure and environmental harm”.
Ciconi’s Business Development Manager, Erin Walker-Williams, commented:
“We know climate change is real, and as a business, we are keen to ensure that all of our clients are producing their mailings with the environment in mind. Working with clients that care about their carbon footprint, like Wave, allows Ciconi to identify, quantify and continually improve the company’s environmental impact, such as introducing smarter paper sourcing and adding environmentally efficient equipment to our plant list. With the addition of our CiconiMail® scheme that saw us donate over £10,000 to charities across the UK in our last financial year, we are proud that we can also get our clients involved in giving a little back to those that do amazing work for people in need.”
