Sustainability Statement

British Crystal Ltd. commits to adopting and implementing fully sustainable practices and constantly evolving its approach as new technology and practices become available. We will always operate ethically and sustainably. We will implement new sustainable practices into our traditional business of fine crystal product production and commit to aligning our policies and processes to nurture the planet by reducing our environmental impact.

The business owner is committed to this strategy for several reasons: for the environment, for our staff and their families, for our customers, and our supply chain. We care about our business's social impact on the communities in which we operate. It is imperative to us that we work with our key stakeholders to ensure that our principles and business ethos are replicated along the entire length of our supply chain.

The Environment

British Crystal Ltd is dedicated to operating responsibly. The business strives for operational excellence, which in turn reduces waste and wasteful practices. This includes a policy to increase local sourcing wherever we can to reduce our carbon footprint. Most of the materials we use to manufacture our products are sourced and produced locally.

We are committed to working closely with our suppliers to limit environmental impact by complying with all applicable legal and environmental regulations. We are continually looking to reduce, optimise, and recycle our packaging materials and waste glass.

• Recycling and safe disposal of manufacturing waste.
• The eradication of all plastic in our business as far as practicable.
• Reuse fully recyclable packaging materials – including packing materials.
• training across the business to encourage recycling within the offices and warehousing and reduce energy consumption, for example; changing to LED lighting and upgrading our old electrical equipment.

Our Products 

We are proud to produce products which can last a lifetime. The quality and safety of our products during their useful lifetime is of key importance to us. We aim to minimise waste by selling imperfect products through our factory outlet rather than the product being discarded.

Social Impact

We appreciate our employees and recognise that without our dedicated workforce, we have no business. We have an excellent health and safety record, fair and balanced equality policies, and no barriers to entry or development.

We like to retain our employees at all levels and offer a good working environment. Our staff attrition rates are very low, and we have team members who have been with us for over 50 years. We recognise loyalty with long service awards. We make sure that those members with issues – either inside or outside the workplace – are listened to and given assistance where possible. Our priority was, and remains, the health and safety of our employees, customers, and suppliers.

We are an ambitious business and we want to grow profitably. Growth and profitability allow our business to generate opportunities for our people, which in turn benefits both them and their families, and by extension, brings growth to the local rural economies in which we operate. We have an apprentice program and most of our employees live within 10 miles of the Torrington site.

Diversity

We recognise and value all forms of diversity in our employees and endeavour to promote a culture of inclusiveness in our workplace to enhance the success of our business.

Training & Wellbeing

We are a business that is motivated by developing talent across all areas to ensure that we have the best teams motivated to deliver our goals. As a business, our priority is to support people to acquire new skills for them to perform better in their role, or to acquire new skills which will help development. We offer development opportunities for professional development such as first aid and fire marshal training, together with opportunities for people to have new experiences through job sharing and shadowing.

We are committed to paying the National Living Wage to all our staff.

British Crystal Ltd is committed to compliance with all relevant Health & Safety legislation. We promote a positive health and safety culture throughout the business through safety programmes and learning opportunities to ensure that all our people consider health, safety, and welfare issues while at work and make an effective contribution toward maintaining and improving health and safety.

Sustainability Policy

British Crystal Ltd is committed to continuing to produce British-made products responsibly and in line with its ambitions to reduce its impact on the planet by enforcing and abiding by moral and ethical values in the management of the company and supply chain.

We will incorporate our sustainability aspirations into any future practices to add further value to our products. Also, make a positive difference to our team members and surrounding communities. Our employees are encouraged to find new ways of reducing waste, and negative environmental impact, removing unsustainable methods of packaging and production, and promoting team members and stakeholders to incorporate a more sustainable approach to fulfil our aims. 

British Crystal Ltd works closely with local companies to transfer waste from our business in the most sustainable manner, being conscious of our impact on our immediate and far-reaching environment and reducing landfill.