We love working with great people and we have high standards of the people we work with and how we work together – as a team and with our wider community. Our standards – a code of behaviour rooted in our values – help guide us to the right choice and shapes how we work day-to-day.

Surface Matter is committed reducing environmental impact, defend and promote human rights and to fight corruption, discrimination and all forms of forced labour. It’s essential to us that our Suppliers do the same. We are constantly working to reduce our environmental impact by optimising resource management, reducing emissions, reducing consumption of energy and water, and treating waste as a valuable resource. Our team follows a Code of conduct that mirrors our Supplier Code of Conduct, to make sure we’re aware of our joint sustainable commitments and expectations. We expect our team to always act in goodwill and in a way that doesn’t negatively affect the brand, our stakeholders or our community.

We have a responsibility to the environment beyond legal and regulatory requirements. We are committed to reducing our environmental impact and continually improving our environmental performance as an integral part of our business strategy and operating methods, which we will regularly review. We will encourage customers, suppliers and other stakeholders to do the same.

The Directors are responsible for making sure our policy is implemented, and all team has a responsibility to understand the policy and factor these into daily tasks. 

We want to:

• Comply with and exceed all relevant regulatory requirements.
• Continually improve and monitor environmental performance.
• Continually improve and reduce environmental impacts.
• Incorporate environmental factors into business decisions.
• Increase employee awareness through training.
• Promote and share our commitment to sustainability.
• Minimise the use of paper.
• Reduce packaging as much as possible.
• Buy recycled and recyclable, unbleached paper products.
• Reuse and recycle all packaging where possible.
• Measure, record and reduce use by setting targets.
• Explain to our customers how they can recycle our packaging.

Reducing our impact

Paper

• Minimise the use of paper.
• Reduce packaging as much as possible.
• Buy recycled and recyclable, unbleached paper products.
• Reuse and recycle all packaging where possible.
• Measure, record and reduce use by setting targets.
• Explain to our customers how they can recycle our packaging.

Energy and water

• Reduce our energy use as much as possible.
• Switch off lights and electrical equipment when not in use.
• Adjust heating/cooling with energy consumption in mind.
• Consider energy consumption and efficiency of new products when purchasing.
• Reduce the amount of water used as much as possible.
• Measure, record and reduce use by setting targets.

Before purchasing

It’s important that any purchases for the business are made with the Surface Matter mission in mind so we take a considered approach to ordering supplies. When finding products for the business to use think about the following statements:

• Do we definitely need it? Can this need can be met in another way?
• Does it do a great job? Will it last?
• Is renting/sharing an option?
• Is there a local option?
• Is it sustainably sourced?
• Is the supplier doing good? We value companies with a social + environmental mission including certified B Corps.
• Can I buy this more efficiently?
• Evaluate the environmental impact of new products.
• Favour more environmentally friendly and efficient products where possible.
• Reuse and recycle everything possible.

Environmental management

We proactively work to track and reduce our environmental impact and comply with relevant environmental legislation and requirements. Relevant environmental aspects shall be identified and appropriate actions taken to address these should be identified including resource consumption, emissions, chemicals and waste reduction.

We have processes to review and reduce our impact in our operations, logistics and transportation including:

• reducing packaging and consumables
• reducing discharge of hazardous substances and minimising use of harmful products
• tracking and reducing greenhouse gas emissions
• reducing all forms of waste, focusing on reuse or recycling
• reducing energy and water consumption

Transportation

• Promote travel alternatives such as email or video/phone conferencing.
• Make additional efforts to accommodate public transport or bicycles.
• Favour fully electric, hydrogen or hybrid vehicles and maintain them for ongoing efficiency.
• Reduce packaging weight and group deliveries where possible to reduce associated carbon emissions.

Maintenance and cleaning

• Use cleaning materials that can be refilled, without excess packaging, from local sources and avoid harmful chemicals.
• Regularly maintain equipment and products to keep them in good use as long as possible.
• Use licensed organisations to dispose of waste.

Monitoring and improvement

• Comply with and where possible exceed all relevant regulatory requirements (such as the implementation of a net zero carbon or carbon positive policy)
• Continually improve and monitor environmental performance.
• Continually improve and reduce environmental impacts.
• Incorporate environmental factors into business decisions.
• Review this policy on an annual basis.

Culture

• Involve team in implementing this policy, for greater commitment and improved performance.
• Consult team and stakeholders when updating our policy.
• Work with suppliers, contractors and consultants to improve their environmental performance.
• Use local labour and materials where available to reduce CO2 and help the community.

Ethical marketing

Our ethical marketing policy includes specific attention to avoid exaggerating, making false or misleading statements or claims around environmental and social impact. 

Footprint + offsetting

To reduce our impact we need accurate information about our processes and those of our partners to calculate our carbon footprint. In 2024 we started a thorough analysis of our Scope1, 2 and 3 emissions calculated for our 10^th business year, by working with an independent 3^rd party to obtain a verified calculation. We will use this data to benchmark emissions, create a reduction strategy and find an offset partner who focuses on genuine, verified sustainable projects. This data will be made available to all our stakeholders in our Impact Report.

Quality control

Surface Matter work to consistently provide products within their specified tolerances, warranties and/or certifications. We continuously work to improve quality to help employees identify potential non-conformance, make sure our processes are efficient and cross-checked and wherever possible if something does not live up to the quality, downgrade or recycle rather than waste materials.

To do this we inspect outer packages on all deliveries and check/raise any damage with the carrier, following up with images in the event of any damage to the material. Goods brought into our warehouse are inspected initially that they match the product information from the purchase order, paying special attention to size, thickness, colour and any visible surface imperfections. Where material looks incorrect, consultation of samples, measuring the sheet and mic’ the thickness should be done and checked within the relevant tolerances. Batches and Purchase order numbers are preserved and recorded to maintain chain of custody and minimise variances between production batches. Any known variation between batches is communicated to customers to reduce disappointment and manage expectations.

To minimise handling and keep existing quality control procedures from our manufactuers, as well as the nature of the packaging and the volume of some of the materials we supply, a physical inspection of every piece of material is not needed unless damage to packaging is identified. Instead, any time a pallet is opened, material should be wiped and checked on packing a new pallet. Any issues should be documented, photographed and recorded/downgraded – discussing with any customers up front should an immediate replacement not be necessary.

Every order should be picked and packed alongside the packing list and double check activities are automatically assigned so that a different/second team member can make sure quantities and products are correct and matching. An image of the source pallet/batch should be logged against every Pick and an image showing the fully packed order should be logged against every delivery note to help avoid any claim/issues from damage in transit or mislaid items.

Suppliers should be notified along with batch numbers and images of every manufacturing defect or quality control issue. Depending on the issue if a fault is not found until after it is delivered or machined by a customer, a return may need to be arranged of the full sheet or a partial specimen.

Where packaging is ineffective or could be improved, suggestions to improve this will be shared and made (while also working to improve the efficiency, reuse and recycling of these packaging materials).

All available documentation including specifications, MSDS, Tech Sheets, warranties, certificates, procedures and Chain of Custody related items should be saved and stored within the internal system and reviewed annually to make sure they are relevant and up to date.

Care and Maintenance information should be shared to the client or end user and is also available on surfacematter.co.uk.

Impact reporting

We want to keep making changes to reduce our impact. We have are now a Certified B Corp - after taking part of a rigorous process that has helped consolidate areas of the business where we were already doing good and also highlight parts where we could be doing better. In the future expect to see our latest Impact Report here, which will share our journey and keep us on track.