Short blog covering the shortlisted retailers for the CSR award at the Draper's Awards.
Since trading began in 1884, Marks and Spencer have grown into a global retailer. With 82,904 employees, ensuring corporate social responsibility must be no small task. However, they appear to be doing a pretty good job. In 2007, M&S implemented Plan A – a set of 100 commitments that they aimed to achieve before 2012. These goals were both ethical and environmental, and largely achieved by their set deadline. This lead to Plan A 2020 being introduced, which includes even more commitments.
Animal welfare is an important part of Marks and Spencer’s ethical goals. They have partnerships with charitable organisation WWF and the Marine Conservation Society, which assist in fulfilling a great number of M&S’ Plan A commitments. Beauty fanatics be assured: none of Marks and Spencer’s beauty products are tested on animals.
In a world where 350,000 tonnes of used clothing enters landfills per year in the UK alone (Source: Wrap), it is excellent to see the efforts that M&S are putting into the sourcing of their materials. From plastic, to wool, to nylon, a wide variety of materials used in M&S products have been recycled. Currently, exploration is taking place into potential natural and man-made fibres with an even lower environmental impact. And their sourcing efforts don’t end with textiles. A vast number of products are Fairtrade including tea, chocolate, wine and flowers.
(Source: Marks and Spencer)
