Primark- Ethical and Environmental objectives

“The ethical and environmental initiatives my business have introduced to benefit society”

Business Outline

The business I have chosen is Primark. The business sells clothing, shoes and home ware such as curtains, pillows/cushions, rugs and simple bathroom equipment e.g. toilet seats. Its key business goal is to provide what the public needs in a 'good quality, low price' way. The products should last quite a long time and keep working as long as possible; the guarantee on the product gives the customer a rough guide of when it should stop working. Seeing as we don't charge much for any of our products, we expect people to realise that nothing will last as long as more expensive products. Also the quality of the product and its use will be taken into account and the price will be based on this.
The businesses aims and objectives are:
To provide good quality products for the public; we want the public to realise we are a good company and just because our products are cheap, it doesn't mean that they are rubbish. We will achieve this by having our products made by people that know what they are doing and test them to check that they are good quality.
To sell goods at reasonable prices; We want the public to have a wide range of options to them, so we offer them good quality products at reasonable prices; This will be achieved by looking at other stores, selling similar products, and making our prices lower than other places.
To be friendly and helpful towards customers and staff; the public need to think that they are a friendly company; this will make them want to come to the store if they feel welcome. They will achieve this by greeting customers as soon as possible and making them feel welcomed.
To treat everybody the same; The public need to feel like they treat everybody the same. The people with less money will be treated the same as people that have lots of money. This will be achieved by making everyone in the store feel individual; we will make everyone feel like they are 'special'.

Environmental & Ethical Objectives (C and P)

We are committed to meeting the following targets:

Reduce our direct UK CO2 emission by 10% by 2013, relative to sales. We intend to achieve this target by taking action to avoid or reduce emissions wherever possible. This includes the following:
We are undertaking detailed carbon performance assessments across our stores to identify areas for improvement
We are ensuring that carbon efficiency lies at the heart of our store refurbishment process and associated specification criteria
We are carrying out a project to develop a model ‘Green Store’, which will provide an opportunity to ...

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Environmental & Ethical Objectives (C and P)

We are committed to meeting the following targets:

Reduce our direct UK CO2 emission by 10% by 2013, relative to sales. We intend to achieve this target by taking action to avoid or reduce emissions wherever possible. This includes the following:
We are undertaking detailed carbon performance assessments across our stores to identify areas for improvement
We are ensuring that carbon efficiency lies at the heart of our store refurbishment process and associated specification criteria
We are carrying out a project to develop a model ‘Green Store’, which will provide an opportunity to ‘road-test’ emerging low-carbon technologies
We will put in place a carbon measurement and reporting system in order to manage our emissions more effectively and track progress towards our targets
We will set up a Carbon Action Group to drive the implementation of our strategy and action plans and share best practice across our stores
We will ensure training needs are met so that our people can pursue our carbon goals with confidence
We will roll out a behavioural awareness programme across our company and encourage continuous input from our staff
We will identify means of communicating positive and responsible messages regarding climate change to our customers and other stakeholders

We will review our policy and targets annually to ensure they remain relevant, challenging and consistent with our overall business strategy.

Responsibility for the achievement of our carbon reduction targets lies with all our people and we will ensure that sufficient support and encouragement is provided to our staff.

Green stores

We opened our first model ‘Green Store’ in June 2010 in East Ham. This store was designed to reduce CO2 emissions by up to 40%, compared to a standard store, and incorporates features such as rainwater harvesting, low energy lighting, free cooling, efficient chillers, sustainable timber, cycle racks and a wildlife habitat.

We operate a closed front door policy in all our stores to ensure that there is no wasted energy leaking through the front door.

We use infra-red sensors in staff areas in all our stores, so that lightning and air conditioning only function when rooms are being used.

We are installing low energy lighting in all our new stores, following a successful pilot in our new Tooting store in May 2009, which showed an energy saving of 20%.

80% of our stores have Building Energy Management Systems (BEMS) in place, and these are installed in all our new stores. BEMS strictly control energy consumption in stores by monitoring lighting levels and temperatures to ensure there is no wasted energy consumption.

We used large arrays solar panels on the roof of our new store in Cambridge which provide the store with 1% of its energy.

By recycling unwanted clothes and textiles we can help the environment by reducing what we send to landfill and reusing valuable resources.

We encourage all our customers to recycle their clothing.

Newlife Foundation for Disabled Children

Primark supports disabled and terminally ill children and their families across the UK by donating all our un-required goods and customer returns. These goods are recycled, in an environmentally sound manner, and the profits support the work of Newlife Foundation for Disabled Children.

Funds raised through this recycling scheme help pay for:

• Equipment: such as wheelchairs, pain relieving beds, and technology and aids to improve communication. Equipment can cost from a few pounds up to thousands of pounds, and can revolutionise a child’s life.
• Nurse services – qualified nurses inform, care for and support families. Often parents can face sad and challenging times and having a dedicated nurse to rely on gives immeasurable support.
• Medical research – the foundation’s research has been successful in many areas including diagnostics, understanding foetal development, basic and clinical science related to conditions, finding relevant genes and understanding the causes of conditions.
• Campaigns – the successful campaigning and awareness activities of the foundation have revealed the challenges faced by many families and children through the media, and have prompted government review and Commons debates. The foundation also challenges local policy makers to ensure children and families are supported.

Recycling our store waste

We recycle almost all of our store waste from our UK stores including cardboard, plastic, and hangers through our new centralised recycling plant at Thrapston; effectively making our UK distribution network carbon neutral.

We estimate that in a year, we will have

Recycled 23,000,000 hangers
Recycled 14,000 tonnes of cardboard in a 21-day closed loop system to make the paper carrier bags we use in store
Cut 21,576 lorry trips to our stores
Reduced road use by 160,525 miles
Saved 27,869 gallons of fuel
Saved 238,000 trees per year
Ensured our UK distribution network is effectively carbon neutral*

Conclusion

All of these sustainable things Primark are doing are beneficial towards the society. They provide a range of products / services for consumers which might otherwise not be available, also they contributes to the country’s wealth, creates jobs, pay taxes to help with public spending. They raise money for disabled children by donating un-required goods- this helps to recycle unwanted things and make the wastage more reusable. This allows Primark to provide equipment like wheelchairs and nurse services as well as raise public awareness through campaigns. Also because they are doing things like recycling and reusing waste this will increase their reputation as a whole, as it will boost the public image and raise PR. Therefore with increased awareness about the business’ ethical objectives, the public may want to shop there more because of how environmentally beneficial Primark are and this in effect could raise revenue, which again contributes to society’s wealth.