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Sustainable and Environmental Responsibility

Mission and Purpose of the Policy

As a business, we put sustainability at the heart of our strategy through understanding, improving, and ensuring that our business activities are carried out with full respect for people, the environment, and the community at large.

Ultimately, we aim to conduct our business in a way to ensure that our growth today does not impact future generations.

That is why we aim to uphold the highest professional standards as well as being transparent, as we foster a culture of partnership and collaboration with our stakeholders and create value for them.

We consider our stakeholders to be our team, customers and suppliers, community and future generations.

5 September 2023

Most importantly, as a brand born in the United Arab Emirates (“UAE”), our sustainability policy aims to align us with the relevant UAE Sustainable Development Goals (“SDG’s”).

Purpose of the Policy

This Policy outlines the principles we use as a guide for our longevity as well as considering the long-term impact of our actions.

The values outlined within this Policy are used to guide our decision-making through the alignment of our mission, core values, and commitment towards sustainable development. This is done by ensuring that our actions do not have a negative impact on our team, community or environment.

Principles

Our principles are broken down into four main pillars:

1. General Business Model:

We conduct all areas of our business ethically and responsibly and do our best to apply them within our value chain. We use the principles outlined within this policy to guide our decision-making process so that our short-term decisions and actions do not have a negative impact on our business, team or community in the long-term.

This is done through the following:

Conducting all our business with integrity
Fair competition
Focusing on the long-term instead of immediate profitability
Fostering creativity and innovation
Creating value for our customers by maintaining and continuously enhancing our products
Not making any compromises in quality
Working with our franchisees to ensure that they also follow the same values and principles

Through these actions, we aim to align ourselves with the following UAE sustainable development goal (“SDG”):

SDG #9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

2. Social Responsibility and Sustainable Sourcing:

Social responsibility also plays an important role in our sustainability policy as we certainly don’t see our responsibility ending with ourselves or with our team. As a company that is proudly based in the UAE, we aim to positively impact our community through our actions.

We aim to do our part in working in line with the UAE’s sustainable development goals (“SDG’s”).
Giving back to the community whenever possible through various charities.
Respect for human rights, both within the company and across the supply chain.
Supporting community engagement initiatives.

Sustainable Sourcing:

Sourcing locally as much as possible to reduce the fuel utilized in delivering the products.
Preference for suppliers who share the same commitment to sustainability and ethical practices.
Encouraging transparency of the supply chain.
Working closely with key suppliers to identify areas of “waste” and how they can be addressed.
Supplier code of conduct to encourage sustainable practices by our suppliers.

3. Environmental Responsibility:

These activities aim to reduce our impact on the environment as we invest in new products and processes to help us take steps towards becoming more environmentally friendly.

Internal environmental policies:

Limiting the use of single-use plastic.
Carefully using (and re-using) our resources and reducing waste generation.
Introducing a new eco-friendly product line which includes biodegradable packaging and seed paper message cards, as well as the elimination of traditional floral foam in this product line.
Use of eco-friendly material wherever possible when it comes to packaging, supplies, cleaning materials, etc.
Local production of our signature packaging and stationery as well as encouraging the use of locally sourced material wherever possible. This is done in order to reduce carbon emissions associated with transportation.
Promoting the conservation of electricity and water.
Promoting efficiency in our deliveries to ensure that we utilize the least amount of fuel possible.
Reusing materials wherever possible rather than disposing of them.
Promoting recycling and responsible disposal of waste materials, including flowers, packaging, and other items.
Reducing the use of paper and printed materials:
- Encouraging emailing receipts to our customers instead of printing them and eventually eliminating printed receipts completely
- Digital business cards
- Eliminating printed brochures
Educating employees and customers about the importance of switching to eco-friendly alternatives, waste reduction and recycling.
Continuously monitoring our consumption to identify any areas where there is unnecessary waste and implement improvement measures.

Through these policies, we aim to align ourselves with the following UAE sustainable development goals (“SDG’s”):

SDG #12: Responsible Consumption & Production
SDG #13: Climate Action

4. Responsibility Towards our Team:

We put our team at the heart of everything that we do and strongly believe that they are the company’s biggest asset. Therefore, a large part of our sustainable practices directly relate to our team and work environment. We do not tolerate any breaches of our core values when it comes to our team and their wellbeing. These values include:

Ensuring safe working conditions for all employees.
Fair wages, reasonable working hours and appropriate benefits.
Promoting diversity and inclusion within the team.
Equal opportunities and equal pay within our wage brackets for employees doing the same job.
Fostering a culture of appreciation and respect.
Zero tolerance for discrimination on any grounds, including but not limited to gender, race, age, disability, religious beliefs, etc.
Zero tolerance for harassment or bullying, whether direct or indirect.
Prohibition of any exploitative practices, including but not limited to child labor or forced labor.
Creating value within our team by investing in them and offering training and development opportunities.
Complying with all legislation covering the employer/ employee relationship.
Having in place appropriate and clear grievance and disciplinary procedures.

Through these policies, we aim to align ourselves with the following UAE sustainable development goals (“SDG’s”):

SDG #3: Good Health and Wellbeing
SDG #5: Gender Equality

Accountability

All team members are accountable for upholding the values and principles outlined within this policy.

Each department head is responsible for parts of the policy that relate to their team. For example:

The Procurement Manager is responsible for ensuring that we apply these principles with vendors and throughout our supply chain.
The Human Resources Manager is responsible for ensuring that we uphold our commitment to our team. The Human Resources Manager is also responsible for ensuring that practices within the head office and warehouse with regards to efficient use (and re-use) of materials are in line with the policy.
Each Boutique Manager is responsible for upholding these practices within their boutiques.
The Head Florist is responsible for suggesting new products that meet our sustainability requirements and keeping track of trends related to sustainability in the floristry sector.
The Head of Operations is ultimately accountable for ensuring that all department heads are adhering to these guidelines and working with their teams to ensure that there are no breaches.

Monitoring:

Practices will be regularly monitored to ensure that the team are following the principles outlined within this policy.

Each line manager is responsible for monitoring their departments. Any non-compliance will be immediately reported to the Head of Operations for corrective action to be taken.