All business has an inherent responsibility to its staff, its partners, the environment and the community that goes way beyond the creation and sustainability of profits.
K International is continually reducing its impact on the environment and does whatever it can to invest time and money in our industry and community. For our work in this area we have been awarded CAESER accreditation by the Home Office (with a score of 94%) for our CSR and diversity policies.
Planting Trees
We spent many years looking for a project that would ultimately be larger than our company and help us to put something back into the community that could be enjoyed by many future generations.
In the late 90s we found a 250 acre site in the north east of England which was in need of development. For the 200 years prior the land was home to 3 separate coal mines. We purchased the site and began to invest time and money in it. We re-built roadways which meant we could explore previously inaccessible areas and began to slowly prepare the ground so we could turn open areas into woodland and manage existing wooded areas.
Seeking advice from DEFRA and local service providers we are now rebuilding the area into its former glory (circa 1750) by re-populating the sparse woodland that has grown naturally on the land since the coal miners left. This (we estimate) will mean we add 50,000 trees to the site.
Our dream is to complete this within 5 years. We are to plant a mixture of native species which, once established, will form the basis of a naturally self sustaining woodland. This will become home to many native species of animals and insects, turn a disused area into a place of natural beauty and provide much needed employment in the area.
In 2010 we planted over 6,500 baby trees. We have more planned for 2011.
Impact on the Environment
Wherever we can we look to reduce our impact on the environment.
This has been actioned by:
- Moving to a new office which will reduce energy use by 20% a year.
- Educating all stakeholders about the environment.
- The introduction of 'auto off' taps and lights within our buildings.
- Recycling of all waste paper and toner cartridges.
- Encouragement of low carbon solutions wherever possible (e.g. Interpreting via the telephone)
- Video conferencing facilities at our headquarters (to cut down on face-to-face meetings).
- All company cars below 2 litre diesel.
- Public transport taken for over 75% of business trips.
- Carbon offset payments added to all flights.
Local Charities
We support as many charities as we can. We run for cancer research, we make cakes and sell them for the red cross, we provide free design for a youth charity and we support a local charity by lending them our car park at the weekend so they can hire it out.