Corporate Responsibility

At Onzo, we believe that a successful business has to be a responsible business.

Aware of the impact of our activities, Corporate Responsibility increasingly matters to us in the running of our everyday business and corporate decisions. We are proactively dedicated to undertake any aspect of the business in a responsible manner and ensure that our contribution is always a positive one.

The following sections provide information on the initiatives already implemented within Onzo to act as responsible business. However, as our business grows, our responsibilities grow too, and new areas of commitment will be included in the future as we continuously improve our performance.

Developing greener products

We believe that we should all tread as lightly on the planet as possible and have from the beginning turned our attention to our own products.

We have already made small but highly considered decisions about their design, manufacture and distribution in order to lessen their environmental impacts. We are proud to say that our products tell a lot about our company ethics and values.

Enhancing design 

The products we make represent the biggest impact on our environment. This is why from the early stages of development, we focus on product design. Our efforts have proved us right as our smart energy kit, one of our touchpoint, has won a red dot product design award.

This top international prize demonstrates Onzo ethos in terms of innovation, functionality, ergonomics, as well as durability and ecological compatibility in the design of its sensor and display. Here are some of the features we have considered when developing our smart energy kit in order to reduce its environmental impact:

• Screw assemble to enable quick disassembly at end of life
• Thin profile to enable postage
• Rechargeable RAM cell batteries that do not contain cadmium, nickel or lead
• Self-harvesting sensor that does not require batteries
• Multi-positioning support to maximize energy consumption awareness
• High contrast screen to require no backlight

Optimising our packaging

Our innovative thinking does not only shine when creating our products but is also embodied in our packaging. Conceived to perform a function of protection when the products are dispatched, they can have a great impact on the environment when produced and disposed.

Along with the increase of the recycled and renewable content to conserve resources, we have developed a product packaging that is light, yet protective and most important optimized in terms of material use, waste and transport:

• Mono material construction to enable easy separation of materials for different recycling streams
• Packaging sized optimized to increase number of packs per pallet during shipping from factory and therefore reducing the emissions and energy required to transport the products
• Pack designed to fit through a standard letterbox to enable postal delivery, rather than individual couriers
• Reduced numbers of colours to allow low energy ink application

We will still strive to progress further towards sustainability and are willing to continue making environmental friendly choices wherever we can.

Operating responsibly

Our approach to Corporate Responsibility also considers how our operations might impact the environment. We believe that it is incumbent on every corporate entity and all of us individually to take actions to reduce the impact of our activities. As a business, we intend to achieve this task by managing our carbon emissions but also by making our expertise available to our own employees.

Monitoring our carbon footprint

To take a proactive stance and address our contribution to climate change, we have enrolled in the Carbon Smart Programme and received a Blue Certification.

This award demonstrates our commitment to take a proactive approach and to undertake practical steps to improve our overall carbon footprint performance resulting from the everyday running of our business. Our environmental policy addresses the main impact areas identified from our office operations and we have set key environmental targets in order to reach a 5-8% reduction in our carbon footprint by 2012.

We will monitor our carbon footprint over years to identify opportunities to further cut emissions and as well as implement ways to operate more efficiently. 

Moreover engaging with our employees and stakeholders on these issues is essential to achieve our objectives and we seek to always openly communicate with them.

Sponsoring our employees

With the spirit of fostering common energy awareness and making our expertise available to our greatest asset, we are proud to sponsor each staff member and give them a tool to live lighter at home: a personal smart energy kit, Onzo’s intelligent home energy monitor. 

We also aim to inspire our staff to live healthier lifestyles. Since 2008, we have taken part in the Government Ride2Work Scheme and encourage our employees to benefit from this initiative which does not only promote a travel cost-effective option but also help reducing the carbon footprint of commuting to work while burning calories and being fit.

Promoting an eco-friendly workplace 

We aim to create a workplace that is inspiring for our employees and that reflects a responsible attitude towards the environment. Doing our bit at our own workplace is important to us and we are highly enthusiastic about contributing. It means being wise about how we use our offices, what we buy - Fair traded certified products and sourced from recycled materials - but also how we dispose of our waste. We have developed a strong recycling ethics and for the last 2.5 years we have collaborate with the Laundry to collect our recyclable waste: paper, cardboard, plastic bottles and packaging, drinks cans …