Corporate Social Responsibility

From initial design to finished product, we’ve thought long and hard about our impact on the environment and who to work with to help this. Here are the steps our screen printers have taken to make sure our printing process stays environmentally friendly.

Energy

  • Solar Panels: Producing 100% of their electricity they use during the summer months and then around 50% throughout the rest of the year!
  • Equipment: Their Adelco EcoTex tunnel dryer is one of the most energy efficient machines on the market.

Waste Management

  • General Waste: This is converted into energy at their local incinerator.
  • Paper/Cardboard: They recycle all their paper and cardboard packaging.
  • Glue Cans: They safely puncture all used canisters and then recycle the metal.
  • Chemicals: Their automated screen-cleaning equipment keeps all screen recycling chemicals in self-contained booths, so chemicals only need to be changed once every 6 months. These chemicals are solely handled by a certified waste management service.
  • Garments: Misprinted and damaged garments are used as test sample shirts until they can hold no more prints – at which point they’re turned into rags to clean up their inky messiness!

Water Usage

  • Screen Developer and Automated Screen Cleaning: The introduction of this specialised equipment has seen a 50% reduction in their water usage.

The Future

  • Direct-to-screen: They aim to reduce their consumables as much as possible by using a direct-to-screen system, removing the need for printed acetates.
  • LED Exposure Unit: Further reductions of their power usage will be achieved through acquiring an LED Exposure Unit.
  • Rainwater Reclamation: They aim to make use of the rain through installing a rainwater reclamation and filtering system.
  • Wastewater Filtering: To stop any foreign particles derived from the screen exposing procedure escaping, they plan to invest in a wastewater filtering system
  • Paperless Processing: In order to minimise company-wide paper usage, they aim to establish a paperless job processing system.

 

Pledges

The use of the following pledges has been permitted by Business Wales after working with them for a period of time to ensure our eligibility and to ensure we are operating correctly.  

Equality Pledge ARETE

By signing up to the Equality Pledge, ARETE is undertaking to act against the following commitments:

  • Deliver an accessible service. This business has considered physical and social barriers to customers and has considered how to overcome them. ARETE sells solely online making our products easier to access.
  • ARETE promotes its commitment to delivering an inclusive service. We are working with local council and government organisations to promote our products and service in Welsh, to allow local people to better understand our business and brand.
  • ARETE will advertise vacancies widely to widen the number of potential applicants. We will advertise job vacancies ourselves whilst also working with recruitment agencies in order to be able to reach more people.

Green Growth Pledge ARETE

By signing up to the Green Growth Pledge, ARETE is undertaking to act against the following commitments:

  • Working with responsible suppliers - ARETE is taking steps to encourage good practice within its supply chain. We have increased the proportion of our suppliers that are based in our region. We have also chosen suppliers based on their demonstrable good practices. 
  • Appropriate packaging - ARETE is taking steps to ensure packaging protects products and the environment. We check our packaging to ensure it meets functional requirements, our packaging weight is minimised and some of our packaging is designed to be re-used, recycled or composted.
  • Preventing waste and pollution - ARETE is taking steps to reduce its impacts. Areas of risk are identified along our supply chain, process and within our premises.
  • Branding and Marketing - ARETE is taking steps to raise awareness of its good practice and get positive results. Our good practised are published and made accessible to all, which is also reflected through our promotions.