Paper
Our use of paper is one of our main environmental challenges, since Home Shopping requires large quantities of paper to produce catalogues and sales documents as well as mailings for direct marketing operations…
It is therefore essential for us that the paper used for our catalogues comes from forests managed according to the principles of sustainable development.
For our supplies, we favour maximum traceability, based on stringent certification as to the origin of the wood. In Europe, two labels have our preference: the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) international certification and the PEFC (Pan European Forest Council) pan-European certification.
in 2007, 65% of the fibres contained in all of our paper used for catalogues are from certified forest and therefore managed according to sustainable development principles, preserves the biodiversity and guarantees traceability (this figure of 65% is 10 times higher than the global average).
La Redoute recuperated 140 tons of paper in 2006 thanks to the special ELISE bins, which allow us to sort the paper and send it to paper recycling factories. That represents 2200 trees spared, 391 million liters of water saved and 72 tons of CO2 not released into the atmosphere.
Concerning global environmental management, 100% of our suppliers are ISO 14 001 certified, and 85% of them abide by the EMAS European standard (Eco Management and Audit Scheme, a European standard that defines a voluntary system of ongoing improvement in the environmental performances of an organization). Over the past five years, we have reduced the basic weight of our catalogues in France by 15%, which amounts to 10,000 tonnes of paper. We are also striving to optimise the logistic chain for the manufacturing of our catalogues. This performance is attributable to a financial incentive inciting our entities to use the printer located closest to the paper factories.
Wood
As a furniture distributor, we refuse to use wood stemming from illegal cutting or virgin forests. We remain very vigilant as to the origin of the wood.
The wood used for the manufacturing of the furniture we distribute essentially derives from South-East Brazil and from forests under permanent replanting programmes. Our Group also favours local certification and traceability of the woods which must come from planted forests.
Redcats Group is committed to reforestation. In 2004 we renewed our partnership with the non-governmental organisation ESSOR in Brazil, which is the main source of our supplies. This agreement provides for our brands and their Brazilian suppliers to donate 0.1% of the amount of the purchases made in the country to a reforestation programme. The results have exceeded the objectives: 130,000 trees have been planted in North-East Brazil since 2003, providing a living for 1,100 families.
Packaging & waste
Management of packaging, due to our activities, is a field where we need to be very active.
In France, we have been shareholder of Eco-Emballage since its creation in 1992. We have also played a pioneering role in Scandinavia through our acknowledged efforts in the management of numerous types of waste, using extremely stringent sorting processes on our sites.
For product packaging and parcels, our policy essentially rests on compliance with European regulations concerning household packaging waste.
We have set up an action plan to act in compliance with the European directive concerning the disposal of obsolete electric and electronic equipment.
Concerning supplier packaging (pallets, cardboard boxes, plastic film), the company's position consists in promoting very stringent sorting and recycling the waste on industrial sites.
In the United States, our Redcats USA division has designed re-sealable distance selling delivery bags that can be reused after they have been used to return products. Out of the 15 million bags designed for this purpose, 3 million were returned in 2006. These new bags were designed to be smaller in order to use less material and also now contain recyclable materials: 53% of the bags used (by weight) are now made with 10% recyclable materials.
In the United Kingdom, Redcats UK is following ECCC recommendations. The objectives of the ECCC directives are to reduce the environmental impact of discarded electric equipment and excessive electricity consumption by increasing recycling and reducing disposal in landfills.
Bio products
Thanks to their products and innovations, the Redcats Group brands are also demonstrating the Group's Social and Environmental Responsibility commitments which include promoting environmentally-friendly products, integrating environmental criteria and proposing the products at more widely affordable prices. This approach takes many forms but is above all based on promoting fair trade products, backing the organic channel and developing the eco-design offer.
- For many years now La Redoute has been committed to sustainable development and environmental protection. La Redoute is constantly developing its organization and its offer to respond to this universal concern. For the Fall/Winter 2008/2009 season, the brand continued its commitment by proposing a 100% organic shopping bag so that each of its customers can contribute on a daily basis to protecting our environment. This eco-friendly shopping bag is also a way for customers to support a good cause since for each bag purchased, 10 Euros is donated to the ESSOR international solidarity association. It is a way for La Redoute and each of its customers to support the charity's work to raise awareness about environmental protection amongst local communities in Brazil, Mozambique and Cap Verde and promote sustainable and mutually beneficial development.
- Within the scope of a partnership with the Max Havelaar France association, we help to develop a new fair-trade cotton channel in Africa for our textile products. For the first time ever, a line of 12 different T-shirts bearing the fair-trade label was included in La Redoute's 2005-2006 Autumn-Winter catalogue, coming from Mali, Senegal, Burkina-Faso and Cameroon. This label guarantees the 3,000 small producers concerned a minimum purchase price 20 to 30% higher than the international market price and a development bonus is given to producer organisations. This bonus will be used to sponsor general-interest work: drilling of wells, road work, etc. The Spring/Summer 2008 collection includes a BIO clothing range for women, men and children.
- La Redoute has been a partner of the Ethical Fashion Show since 2005 and its prize 'Launching an Ethical Fashion Collection with La Redoute' recognizes the talents of designers participating in the show and gives them the opportunity to create a collection for La Redoute. 'Tudo Bom?' and 'Judith Condor-Vidal' won the prize in 2007, while in 2008 Kamakala won the jury's hearts and the prize. So the brand created by Stéphanie Troyard and Chloé Rogier will appear on all La Redoute websites for the Fall/Winter 2009-2010 season.
- Since 2005, the Somewhere brand proposes products made with organic cotton. This line is called BIO which, as well as being the French word for 'organic', stands for 'Believe In Origins'. A Swiss label certified by the Institute of Marketecology (IMO) guaranteeing the absence of pesticides and chemicals in the cotton farming process and the use of dyes that do not contain heavy metals.
In its Fall/Winter 2008/2009 collection Somewhere has introduced the Cruselita jewelry line, which respects fair trade regulations by supporting sustainable economic and social development actions to help severely underpaid craftsmen and women in Madagascar.
- In its Fall/Winter 2008/2009 collection Cyrillus takes a stand to preserve the planet by creating sweaters made of recycled fibers. These fibers have exactly the same quality characteristics as new fibers but are obviously much more environmentally-friendly.
- Verbaudet has created an organic cotton baby clothing range called BB Bio. Around a dozen articles were designed for Spring/Summer 2007 using cotton certified by the Dutch label Skal Internationnal, which guarantees that no pesticides or chemicals were used to produce the cotton. The brand has also chosen to support Unicef in its Spring/Summer 2008 collection by proposing fundraising products linked to the charity organization (1.50 € donated for each product sold).