Our commitment to sustainability
At Joseph Flach and Sons, we recognise our responsibility to contribute to a more sustainable environment and society across all areas of our business. We may be relatively small on the global stage but we are firm believers that unless everyone does their bit, positive change will not be possible.
Our values are central to our commitment to supporting positive outcomes.
You can make a difference if you care, if you can and if you will—and we do.
We Care: We care for the environment, our staff, supply chain, customers, and communities (both local and abroad).
We Can: Just some of the ways we’re making a difference include reducing waste and carbon emissions, responsibly sourcing all our botanicals, operating efficiently, and donating to causes that improve the lives of others in the UK and overseas.
We Will: Our commitment for the future, as outlined in our ESG strategy, is to consistently strive to achieve the following:
- Reduce our negative impact on the natural environment.
- Fiercely respect and protect the equal rights of all people and animals.
- Create sustained, gainful employment and profit to help others who are less fortunate than us.
Environmental
The environment is our life, without it we have no business or indeed no existence as a species and therefore it is at the heart of our mission at Joseph Flach and Sons. From reducing waste to lowering our carbon footprint, read up on what we’re doing across the organisation to help protect the planet.
“To promote and supply high quality, naturally good plant ingredients for their many benefits and to support a sustainable diversity of plants and their habitats for the future of our planet.”
Healthy and sustainable diets
From the root to the tip, we sell the entire plant to actively help reduce food waste. Whether it is roots, barks, leaves, seeds, flowers or gums, there is a use for everything that is harvested. Not just a sustainable food source, our products also promote a healthier diet. The rising demand for botanicals is not just because they offer exciting flavours, but because they are enriched with nutrients that are thought to have a number of physical benefits for the body.
Low carbon footprint
We are trying to do our bit to reduce our carbon footprint, and our ESG strategy sets out the targets we have set ourselves to achieve this goal.
What are we currently doing?
- We source our electricity from a green energy supplier.
- We drive electric-powered company cars to help reduce air pollution.
- We use LED lights, which are free of toxic chemicals and 100% recyclable.
- We use almost 100% recyclable packaging and recycle our waste.
Social
We’re proud to work with local, national and global communities to improve the lives of people and animals. Our mission is to do our bit to make the world a better place, one charity donation at a time. Find out more about the charities and community projects we support and how our team helps to drive these initiatives.
We aim to be an employer of choice and looking after our team is of paramount importance to us
Local charity donations
We believe in giving back. Last year, we donated over £30,000 to good causes, getting our staff involved in deciding where the funds were donated. We support local charities with regular monthly donations, such as the East Anglian Air Ambulance and the Peterborough Soup Kitchen, and the donkeys at the sanctuary are often welcome recipients of excess stock!
By donating to local charities, we’re doing our bit to help them achieve their goals – many of which have life-changing or even life-saving impacts for people and animals. Giving back to the charitable organisations in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire and the wider East Anglia region ensures that positive actions and change keep moving forward in the community.
Global community projects
We also support global projects with one-off donations, such as the DEC earthquake appeal in Turkey, the Ukraine appeal and the Power for the People’s Osupukiai village project, which provides sustainable access to clean water and renewable energy in a Kenyan community.
Our support for the non-profit organisation, Power for the People, matches perfectly with our values of providing resources that empower communities to build a sustainable future. Access to education and safe water should be for everyone, and we’re proud to be part of the solution. From building water wells to schools, we are honoured to help fund projects like this and look forward to seeing the transformative changes this will create for those living in the village of Osupukiai.
Our people matter
Our family of JFS staff is what makes us great. It’s also why customers have made us their supplier of choice for decades. With an open and transparent ethos and a commitment to corporate social responsibility, we encourage feedback to be the best that we can be.
Whether improvements come in the form of providing a more sustainable, efficient procurement service or deciding which non-profit organisations to support, we listen to our staff and take their innovative ideas onboard to drive positive change.
When the business performs well, our staff see the benefit, and so do the charities we support.
We are passionate about equality in every sense. We are a living wage employer and offer guaranteed hours, stability, and flexibility to our team.
Governance
Doing the right thing is at the heart of our values. Whether that is vetting our suppliers, gaining quality accreditations, or our policies on modern slavery, environmental sustainability, equality, diversity and inclusion and anti-bribery, we always act with honesty and integrity.
Sustainability and community news
Get to know the latest updates on what we’re doing as a company to make a positive impact in the community and the environment.
Responsible sourcing
Most of our products are wild-harvested by local farmers. All our botanical suppliers are vetted to ensure they meet our strict sustainability, quality, and ethical standards. We have robust supplier selection and monitoring procedures verified through our BRC and ISO accreditations and choose farmers that don’t rely heavily on pesticides. What this means for the buyers of our botanicals is that they can trust that their ingredients have been responsibly sourced.
