With a continued focus on producing more sustainable products in a fair and ethical manner, Trust starts off the new year with great news of recently being awarded the Gold EcoVadis medal. This award, which recognises Trust as being in the top 5% of sustainable businesses in the industry, is a great achievement and only further spurs the company’s eco-goals for 2023.
After integrating Environmental, Social and Governance into its company strategy, Trust has made a number of positive changes towards producing products that are better for people and the planet. These include not only requiring suppliers to be BSCI certified and provide certifications to guarantee the origin of recycled materials; but also focus on making the products themselves more sustainable.
2022 saw the expansion of the company’s eco-portfolio with the arrival of new products such as the Trezo, Fyda, and Boye, all made using recycled materials; along with more sustainable packaging such as the YVI+ mouse’s 100% plastic-free packaging. From now on, the company strives to make 80% of all new products with recycled materials and 90% of all new packaging from FSC®-certified carton.
Such efforts resulted in the achievement of the Gold EcoVadis award at the end of 2022, with Trust particularly commended for its practices in sustainable procurement (top 1% in the industry). CEO Jeroen Hoogland says of the Gold award: “We are extremely proud to have received this award. With this result, Trust proves its sustainability ambitions in our purpose, vision and mission as it demonstrates the impact of our sustainability efforts across the Trust organisation in all areas of Environment, Social and Governance. It is the result of great teamwork within and beyond Trust, and would not have been possible without the cooperation of our partners in the industry."
Whilst the Gold EcoVadis medal is a fantastic accomplishment, this is not the end of the company’s journey towards protecting the environment whilst continuing to provide consumers with products they know, love, and Trust. Hoogland says: “Our intention is to continue reducing our footprint where we can – this will be done through a number of upcoming sustainable projects in the pipeline, along with a sustained focus on inspiring other businesses and partners to work with us in a way that is fair for people and the planet.”
As such, 2023 is sure to be another year full of challenges and opportunities with regards to Trust’s sustainability efforts. For instance, the company is currently working on finding the right recycled, and at the same time affordable, materials for the parts of a new gaming chair to match the FSC®-certified wood and recycled fabric that has already been procured. It is due to be launched this year in the first foam-free packaging for a gaming chair, with the aim of also making it SIOC-proof (ship in own container).
Foam packing buffers have a negative impact on the environment, something which Trust aimed to tackle via the KVK Business Challenge in the Netherlands last year. Whilst there is still currently no sustainable version of it available, finding a viable solution to this problem is just another of the challenges that Trust looks forward to rising to in 2023. The steps might seem small, but all together the effect on the future is quite the opposite. Through goals like this, and everything else planned for 2023, the company hopes to continue to challenge its partners and others in the industry to become more sustainable too.