Environmental Policy & Animal Welfare

GERMAN DESIGN CONSULTING INC. | LAST UPDATED, May 1st, 2025

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY STATEMENT

German Design Consulting, Inc. is committed to protecting the environment, the health and safety of our employees, and the community in which we conduct our business. It is our policy to seek continual improvement throughout our business operations to lessen our impact on the local and global environment by conserving energy, water and other natural resources; reducing waste generation, recycling, and reducing our use of toxic materials. We are committed to environmental excellence and pollution prevention, meeting or exceeding all environmental regulatory requirements, and to purchasing products with higher recycled content, lower toxicity, and minimal packaging to reduce the use of natural resources.
To achieve these goals, we have implemented specific strategies to monitor and improve our environmental performance.

Policy:

German Design Consulting, Inc. is committed to protecting public health by conducting our operations and activities in an environmentally responsible and sustainable manner.  We are committed to complying with all applicable laws and regulations.  We recognize that reducing and, where possible, eliminating the environmental impacts of our activities is an important part of our mission as stewards of public health.  We strive to be a leader in achieving environmental excellence and will work with our employees and other external entities to establish and follow principles.

The German Design Consulting, Inc guiding principles and practices to achieve resource conservation, waste reduction, and sustainability overall are summarized below:

  • Comply with mandatory requirements and conduct our activities and operate our facilities within applicable environmental laws and regulations
  • Conserve energy and other natural resources
  • Minimize energy and water use at all offices and sites.
  • Seek to reduce consumption of materials in our operations, choosing wherever possible, to reuse and recycle rather than dispose, and where new purchases are made to specify recycled products.
  • Minimize the production of hazardous waste
  • Offer environmental awareness training
  • Continue to review and minimize the impacts of our activities
  • Minimize pollution arising from our activities and services, particularly the impact of travel, by encouraging people to make use of public transport, car-sharing, and encourage more walking and cycling.
  • Raise awareness of environmental issues and sustainability within the team and the wider community.
  • Encourage services to consider the environmental impact of the goods, services or works that they are procuring when they are writing their specification.
  • Evaluate suppliers’ environmental policies in pre-qualification questionnaires or in tender specifications.

STAFF ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY CHECKLIST / RESPONSIBILITIES

This environmental checklist outlines basic practices which have been agreed in departmental policies.

Energy Conservation

Employees shall:

  • Turn off lights when not in use and use natural light when possible.
  • Turn off, not just log off, all computers, terminals, speakers and other office equipment at the end of every work day.
  • Turn off your power strip at the end of every work day.
  • Activate the power down features on your computer and monitor to enter into a low-power or sleep mode when not in use.
  • Unplug equipment that drains energy even when not in use (e.g., cell phone chargers, fans, coffee makers, desktop printers, radios).
  • Use energy-efficient light bulbs in desk lamps, floor lamps, ceiling lamps whenever possible.
  • Use the stairs when possible.
  • Utilize videoconferencing and conference calls as an alternative to travel when possible.
  • Limit the use of space heaters.
  • Limit the use of AC units.

reduction of materials consumption

Employees shall:

  • Avoid using paper by distributing and storing documents electronically.
  • Print and photocopy only what you need and double side your jobs when possible.
  • Tell staff and colleagues that you prefer double-sided documents.
  • Use the back side of old documents for scrap paper, or drafts.

REDuce fossil fuel consumption and air pollution

Employees shall:

  • Ride mass transit or other alternative forms of transportation, whenever possible.
  • Use carpools/vanpools or car sharing, when possible, over single use cars.

minimize waste and increase recycling

Employees shall:

  • Use durable reusable beverage containers, plates, and utensils.
  • Reduce the amount of toner in documents that will be printed when possible.
  • Print documents in black and white or grayscale whenever possible.
  • Recycle paper, paper products, plastic, binders, folders, catalogs, boxes, bottles, cans, batteries, electronics, toner and ink cartridges, etc.
  • Recycle plastic and paper products in accordance with county regulations.
  • Donate used furniture and electronics.

minimize toxics and hazardous waste

Employees shall:

  • Not pour toxic or hazardous substances down the drain.
  • Reduce the use of toxic chemicals and use fewer toxic alternatives wherever possible.
  • Not use or purchase mercury or mercury-containing equipment, unless approval has been obtained.
  • Purchase chemicals in the smallest quantities needed to avoid over-ordering.
  • Dispose of hazardous chemicals appropriately and in accordance with the Disposal Guide and other legal requirements.

commitment to green purchasing

Employees shall:

  • Purchase copier and printer paper that contains at least 30% post-consumer recycled content.
  • Purchase office supplies and furniture that contain the highest percentage of recycled and non-toxic content whenever possible.
  • Purchase products that contain biobased content whenever possible.
  • Purchase Energy Star office equipment.
  • Use the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) to identify computers and monitors with environmental attributes and purchase computers and monitors with at least a Bronze rating.
  • Use Fairtrade coffee and tea for meetings. Avoid all single-use plastic cups, use porcelain mugs, plates, drinking glasses and silver ware instead.

All employees are required to complete the Environmental Responsibility awareness training course assigned to you via ADP Total Source MyLearning during the hiring process.

STAFF ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY CHECKLIST / RESPONSIBILITIES

This environmental checklist outlines basic practices which have been agreed in departmental policies.

Energy Conservation

Employees shall:

  • Turn off lights when not in use and use natural light when possible.
  • Turn off, not just log off, all computers, terminals, speakers and other office equipment at the end of every work day.
  • Turn off your power strip at the end of every work day.
  • Activate the power down features on your computer and monitor to enter into a low-power or sleep mode when not in use.
  • Unplug equipment that drains energy even when not in use (e.g., cell phone chargers, fans, coffee makers, desktop printers, radios).
  • Use energy-efficient light bulbs in desk lamps, floor lamps, ceiling lamps whenever possible.
  • Use the stairs when possible.
  • Utilize videoconferencing and conference calls as an alternative to travel when possible.
  • Limit the use of space heaters.
  • Limit the use of AC units.

reduction of materials consumption

Employees shall:

  • Avoid using paper by distributing and storing documents electronically.
  • Print and photocopy only what you need and double side your jobs when possible.
  • Tell staff and colleagues that you prefer double-sided documents.
  • Use the back side of old documents for scrap paper, or drafts.

REDuce fossil fuel consumption and air pollution

Employees shall:

  • Ride mass transit or other alternative forms of transportation, whenever possible.
  • Use carpools/vanpools or car sharing, when possible, over single use cars.

minimize waste and increase recycling

Employees shall:

  • Use durable reusable beverage containers, plates, and utensils.
  • Reduce the amount of toner in documents that will be printed when possible.
  • Print documents in black and white or grayscale whenever possible.
  • Recycle paper, paper products, plastic, binders, folders, catalogs, boxes, bottles, cans, batteries, electronics, toner and ink cartridges, etc.
  • Recycle plastic and paper products in accordance with county regulations.
  • Donate used furniture and electronics.

minimize toxics and hazardous waste

Employees shall:

  • Not pour toxic or hazardous substances down the drain.
  • Reduce the use of toxic chemicals and use fewer toxic alternatives wherever possible.
  • Not use or purchase mercury or mercury-containing equipment, unless approval has been obtained.
  • Purchase chemicals in the smallest quantities needed to avoid over-ordering.
  • Dispose of hazardous chemicals appropriately and in accordance with the Disposal Guide and other legal requirements.

commitment to green purchasing

Employees shall:

  • Purchase copier and printer paper that contains at least 30% post-consumer recycled content.
  • Purchase office supplies and furniture that contain the highest percentage of recycled and non-toxic content whenever possible.
  • Purchase products that contain biobased content whenever possible.
  • Purchase Energy Star office equipment.
  • Use the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) to identify computers and monitors with environmental attributes and purchase computers and monitors with at least a Bronze rating.
  • Use Fairtrade coffee and tea for meetings. Avoid all single-use plastic cups, use porcelain mugs, plates, drinking glasses and silver ware instead.

All employees are required to complete the Environmental Responsibility awareness training course assigned to you via ADP Total Source MyLearning during the hiring process.

ENVIRONMENTALLY PREFERABLE PURCHASING POLICY

The goal of this policy is to ensure that products and services purchased or contracted for conform to the goals of our company’s environmental policy. We will strive, where feasible, to purchase environmentally preferable products and services to meet the company’s office and operational needs.  We will also favor suppliers who strive to improve their environmental performance, provide environmentally preferable products, and who can document the supply chain impacts of their efforts.

Wherever possible, purchasing decisions will favor products that:

  • Reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
  • Are made with renewable energy.
  • Reduce pollution from all discharges (releases to air, water, and land).
  • Reduce the use of toxic materials hazardous to the environment, employees and public health.
  • Contain the highest possible percentage of post-consumer recycled content.
  • Reduce packaging and other waste.
  • Are energy efficient.
  • Conserve water.
  • Are reusable and/or durable.
  • Minimize transportation (local sources, concentrated products).
  • Serve several functions (examples: copiers/printers, multipurpose cleaners) to reduce the number of products purchased.

Environmentally preferable products and services that are comparable in quality to their standard counterparts will receive a purchasing preference. In situations where the most environmentally preferable product is unavailable or impractical, secondary considerations will include production methods and the environmentally and socially responsible management practices of suppliers and producers. Environmentally preferable purchasing is part of our long-term commitment to the environment. By sending a clear signal to producers and suppliers about this commitment, we hope to support wider adoption of environmentally preferable products and practices.

ANIMAL WELFARE POLICY

Our Animal Welfare Policy is complementary to our ​Code of Conduct and other sustainability and ethical standards​, which set the baseline for social, environmental and chemical compliance, and applies to all our Business Partners, including, but not limited to: suppliers, agents, trading companies and service providers (hereinafter “Business Partners”) of German Design Consulting, Inc. and all its subsidiaries. It lists the principles to which Business Partners must adhere.

We have adopted a continuous improvement approach towards our ambitions, which we expect Business Partners to adopt and demonstrate clear progress against. This improvement reflects our ambition to raise the bar across the industry and only work with partners who align with our ethical standards. In addition to ongoing compliance checks carried out, German Design Consulting, Inc will perform regular spot-checks on the product assortment to verify Business Partners’ compliance with this policy. Business Partners must provide all relevant information on request.

Further, German Design Consulting, Inc. reserves the right to suspend partners or terminate the business relationship, if they violate these guidelines and the legal requirements for such termination under applicable law are met.

PRINCIPLES

  • German Design Consulting, Inc. does not permit animals to be slaughtered solely for the purpose of design and comfort (car interior: color, trim and material). We believe that killing animals solely for the purposes of design products is unnecessary.
  • German Design Consulting, Inc. is against the sale of products made from wild animals. ​This includes materials derived from wild-caught animals and wild animals reared in farming environments, particularly those species classes as vulnerable or endangered, which appear on either the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (​IUCN​) or the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species ​(CITES​) checklists.
  • German Design Consulting, Inc. is against animal testing.​
  • German Design Consulting, Inc. requires all Business Partners selling animal-derived products to promote good animal welfare throughout their supply chains. We encourage all Business Partners to establish and implement their own Animal Welfare policies, which adopt the Five Domains Model and according Five Provisions and Aligned Animal Welfare Aims designed to assess and encapsulate both the physical and mental state of animals. We commit to strive for the same level of Animal Welfare within our Private Label supply chain, and to understand and reduce confinement, body alterations and journey times, whilst improving enrichment provision across the supply chains. We believe that animals should be pre-stunned at slaughter and are committed to supporting One Health approach to antimicrobial resistance.
  • German Design Consulting, Inc. does not permit the use of live animals in photoshoots. ​Business Partners using animal imagery in marketing materials should ensure imagery used is sensitive to animal welfare issues.
  • German Design Consulting, Inc. is committed to increasing traceability and transparency across our supply chain and the industry as a whole. ​We acknowledge that progress in implementing our Animal Welfare Policy can only be achieved where Business Partners have systems in place to trace back to the source of primary production within their supply chains. We expect all Business Partners to provide key sourcing information as standard about the animal-derived materials they use, including the name of the species of animal (common and Latin), country of origin where applicable (where the animal was reared and slaughtered), and any relevant documentation showing proof of good animal welfare or compliance of materials.

CONTACT US

If staff has any suggestions as to how the GDC Team can reduce its impact on the environment or if you require any further information, please contact German Design Consulting and add in the subject line: Attention Green Team

info@g-dc-inc.com