2024 Here’s what we’ve been working on in 2023 Award Winner 2023
OUR KEY COMMITMENTS 2023 Continuing our infrastructure improvements by moving from PCs to mini-PCs for office staff Introducing head office on-site sortation of waste Improving our carbon measurement tools to ensure accuracy across our operations Carbon data and key actions added to M2030 platform Starting a programme to eliminate unnecessary head office lighting and introduce motion-activated lighting Plant and cultivate the new head office wildlife garden Creating more recyclable and reusable display stands Over 88% of our own published calendars are now in plastic-free packaging, that’s 525 titles out of 595 45% of bought in calendars from other publishers have plastic-free packaging or no packaging. We’re confident we’ll be well over 50% this season Our dog breed slim calendar collection successfully converted to plastic-free packaging alongside large scale breed calendars and our easel formats 96% of Calendar Club calendar products now utilise FSC paper Plastic packaging on our sock giftware collection reduced by half this year We introduced biodegradable packaging bags for our bespoke charity Christmas card ranges, removing plastic waste on over 110,000 card packs PRODUCT ACHIEVEMENTS 2024 Introducing an electric car funding scheme to assist staff to make the move from traditional fuel vehicles to fully electric vehicles Changing existing office lighting to more energy efficient LED sources Working with printers to increase the use of soya-based inks across our giftware ranges Continuing SBTi work with our suppliers Developing gift product currently still using plastic packaging Reducing the use of finishes on some greetings cards Improving our eco message to end consumers, helping them to recycle/reuse our products We will be rolling out head office on-site waste sortation to our main office areas over 2024 FACTORY audited eco good practice
Award Winner 2023 Our wildlife garden is joyfully thriving, having achieved the second stage of development last summer where we planted and sowed a wide variety of plants and flowers in the prepared ground. We’re delighted to see evidence of a broadening diversity of flora and fauna from butterfly species to a plethora of creatures calling our pond their new home. As the old gardener’s adage states, the best fertiliser is the gardener’s shadow... now we simply tinker at the edges while we let nature work its magic making the space more fascinating with every passing month. We’re delighted to say that our progress with our SBTi commitment has been strong in 2023. We are on track to hit our published SBTi target to reduce our emissions by 46% by 2030. We’ve been working with suppliers to put them on their own SBTi pathway with one supplier signing up in early 2023 and another four partners close to completion. We expect to get 70% of calendar printers signing up to Net Zero targets by 2024. Our published target was 50% of our suppliers being SBTi committed by 2025, so we should smash our supplier engagement target. We thank our suppliers for their partnership, commitment, and global thinking when it’s come to embracing this programme. FURTHER TO THIS, WE ALSO AIM TO ENCOURAGE 50% OF OUR KEY PRODUCT SUPPLIERS TO SIGN UP TO SBTi BY 2025 Otter House, Carousel Calendars and Calendar Club (Zebra MTD Limited) commits to reducing Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions 46% by 2030 from a 2019 base year, and to measure and reduce its Scope 3 emissions. Our commitment is in line with a 1.5-degree pathway. All companies that are signed up to SBTi have their targets published on the SBTi website: https://sciencebasedtargets.org/companies-taking-action/ WILDLIFE GARDEN OUR PUBLISHED COMMITMENT WITH SBTi SBTi - NET ZERO We’re thrilled to announce that in November 2023 we were awarded the Products of Change Sustainability Development Goals award for our work on our calendar ranges. Awarded at the Sustainability in Licensing Conference in London, the award showcases the brand licensing and retail sectors and their work toward environmental goals in line with the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The award outlined our Climate Action goals which align with the UN goal number 13. Receiving the award was an honour for us and inspires us to keep pushing forward with our aims and to share our knowledge to enable others to start their own journey. PRODUCTS OF CHANGE
Exe Box, Matford, Exeter, EX2 8FD, UK Tel: +44 (0)1392 824300 • Email: sales@otterhouse.co.uk • www.otterhouse.co.uk Tel: +44 (0)1392 826482 • Email: admin@carouselcalendars.co.uk • www.carouselcalendars.co.uk Tel: +44 (0)1392 826800 • Email: info@calendarclub.co.uk • www.calendarclub.co.uk 77639 “We’re enjoying every step we take, from small operational tweaks to large group commitments, because we’re focused on achieving our goals” ELECTRICITY & GAS CARBON EMISSIONS REDUCTION In tandem with our move to home working options for staff, we’ve been consulting our team on the ways in which they commute to our head office. As many organisations do, we have people travelling on foot, some cycling, some utilising public transport and many utilising their own vehicles. Via improving our own facilities for cyclists, our new bike shed and our Cycle to Work scheme, we hope to see an increase in people cycling to the office, and through the opening of a new train station local to us, we hope more staff can utilise the railway network. As a group, we felt therefore the need to support staff who wished to make a positive change in regards commuting via their own vehicles, so in autumn 2023 we launched our Electric Car Scheme. The premise is simple, through a salary sacrifice method, staff will be supported to obtain a lease for an electric vehicle. Even if the employee cannot facilitate charging at home, via our on-site charging points, they will be able to charge easily and cheaply at our offices. With expected uptake, we are confident that this will help to further reduce our carbon footprint and assist our team to achieve their personal environmental goals. COMMUTING An important project for 2024 is the replacement of our existing office light fittings. After reviewing our options, testing products and running the numbers, we’ve decided to proceed with a head office wide lighting refit moving to energy efficient LED lighting panels. Our goal is to have the majority of this work completed by mid year and our calculations tell us we will reduce our carbon emissions by around 1.5 tCO2e per annum. For us this proves to be a relatively small task that will yield significant results for many years to come. OFFICE LIGHTING EXE BOX
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