Our Environmental Policy

Corporate Responsibility

Here at Temptation Gifts we take the environment seriously.  As a company we are aware that we have a responsibility to do all we can to minimise our impact on the environment, and we are proud of our commitment to improve our “green” credentials and to work on solutions to reduce our carbon footprint.   We believe that by working together with our customers, we can make our own small but important contribution to this goal.  Please see below details on what we have achieved so far and our aims for the future.

Things we are doing now

Sourcing our products:

Where possible, we source British made products to minimise our carbon footprint. We are proud to offer thousands of products made here in the UK from great brands such as Dunoon, Emma Bridgewater, Orla Kiely  & Carrie Elspeth.  

We have also dramatically increased our range of eco-friendly products such as water bottles, travel cups, bamboo dinnerware and foldable shopper bags, which are designed to encourage customers to ditch single-use plastics.

Packaging our deliveries:

We identified key areas in our packing and despatch operation where we could be greener. As a result, we have switched to more eco-friendly alternatives that can be reused or recycled.  We also want to be transparent about materials we use when shipping our parcels so that customers can use this information to take steps to recycle them.

For the vast majority of our orders we use 100% recyclable cardboard boxes. These are made of approximately 75% recycled material, the remaining 25% comes from managed forests which are FSC certified and fully traceable.

Our packers are trained to pick the smallest box for the order they are packing without compromising the safety of the contents, thus minimising waste, while making sure your order reaches you securely.

The gummed paper tape we use on our boxes is also fully recyclable. It is manufactured from FSC sourced paper and the glue is water soluble. This means you can just flatten the box and put it out with your local kerbside recycling without having to remove the tape, unlike other companies.   This is a very important point.  Cardboard boxes which are sent to recycling with “normal” plastic tape still on them, virtually never get recycled because the recycling plants don’t have the manpower or the necessary machinery to remove the tape.  But paper tape does not compromise the cardboard.  This is more expensive for us, but we believe this additional cost is one which we should bear if we are to act as responsibly as possible.

The tissue paper we use is 100% recycled acid free paper made from virgin wood pulp from sustainable sources. It can once again can be recycled with paper/cardboard (it is 100% recyclable) or used again.

When we do need to use plastic packaging (for smaller, or softer gifts that do not require cardboard boxes), wherever possible we ensure it is fully recyclable and reusable. We use mailing bags made from bio-degradable, 60mu virgin grade polythene which are recyclable. To create padding in our parcels, we use two types of airbags. One type is made from 50% recycled materials and we are working towards making sure that both types are made from 50% recycled materials. Both types are fully recyclable.  If your local council doesn't take this sort of plastic through its normal kerbside recycling, you can recycle them through carrier bag collection points at supermarkets. To see where you can recycle plastic bags locally, visit Recycle Now website.).

We have completely stopped using jiffy bags as they are not recyclable because of a non-separable mix of different materials required to make them.

In our Warehouse:

We strongly believe in “reduce, reuse, recycle” philosophy in our warehouse operations.

• As much as possible cardboard boxes from supplier deliveries are saved to be used again, either for storing products or for transporting goods from our warehouses to our shops and back again
• Any cardboard boxes that are not suitable to be used again are taken to our local Recycling Centre once a week by our own transport, ensuring they arrive clean, dry and safe.
• Any air-bags that we receive from suppliers are re-used to help package our orders
• Any polystyrene chips that we receive during deliveries are re-used to package our orders

Deliveries:

For our courier UK deliveries, we use DPD. They are one of the only 100% carbon neutral delivery companies in the UK and we are proud to partner with them. For more information in regards to this, see their website: https://www.dpd.co.uk/content/about_dpd/csr.jsp

For our standard UK deliveries we use Royal Mail. They are also committed to reducing carbon emissions and are already exceeding targets set to reduce emissions. For more information from them, please see their website: https://www.royalmailgroup.com/en/responsibility/our-focus-areas/environment/

For our overseas deliveries we use FedEx.  They are also committed to reducing the carbon footprint of their deliveries. To find out more in regards to this, please visit their website: http://www.fedex.com/gb/about/sustainability/environment.html

Head Office, Recycling & Company Culture

We have retro fitted our head office and large parts of our warehousing with LED lighting, which has reduced our electrical demand by up to 90%.   

We are committed to reducing the waste that we produce. That is why we have recycling boxes & bins available in our offices for all staff to use. Our printer and toner cartridges are recycled through local charities.

We also encourage travel to work to be as environmentally friendly as possible including the use of car sharing.

Our Stores:

We are committed to reducing the energy we use in our retail stores.

We have retro fitted LED lighting in all of our retail stores. This has helped to reduce our energy usage by up to 90%.  Our staff are instructed not to turn on display lighting until the store opens for customers.

Our stores offer paper bags for items purchased from our stores, helping to keep down plastic waste from plastic bags. Where we do still use plastic bags, these are hard-wearing re-usable bags and we encourage shoppers to re-use and re-cycle rather than throw away.

For our company vehicles that we use to deliver to our stores, we ensure that the routes, timings and intervals of our deliveries are as efficient as possible.  We have recently changed our systems to reduce store deliveries from two per week to one per week in most cases.  Our vans are at least EURO 6b compliant helping reduce emissions further.

The Future

The hard work we have started does not end here, we are actively continuing our work towards an environmentally sustainable future and here are just a few things we are looking at:

• Further reductions of plastic usage in our packaging both online and in store
• To work harder with our suppliers to enforce less single use plastic packaging.
• Introduction of plastic-free gift wrapping options
• To lower our electricity usage further with the use of more efficient heating and renewable energy