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Sustainable development: we make the difference

Sustainable development is not a style; it is part of the sense of history. Being more than a simple commitment with an ecological undertone, Sustainable development has forced itself to become more and more the business model of a world that is constantly changing.

The PGS Group intends to play an important role in the consideration of the stakes involved in Sustainable development. The integration of a procedure of Sustainable development has been achieved by respecting the current company culture, without causing any major upheaval in the organization. In the heart of our organization, we have defined a certain number of strategic priorities for Sustainable development based on 3 main themes:

• Master and reduce the impact of our activities on the physical and human environment;
• Contribute to the economic and social development of all the parties involved;
• Better anticipate the needs of tomorrow.

These ambitious commitments, given as tangible goals through concrete actions, are impacted on all of our activities and are integrated into our management processes (investments, information systems, communication,…). A regular follow up is ensured and organized around an internal as well as an external communication.

Fore more information: Download our Environmental Policy

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Since 2002, the PGS Group has confirmed its social commitment by creating partnerships with Organisations or Services that offer assistance in the field of work (ESAT ou ex-CAT). This commitment is demonstrated today by the collaboration with 6 regional ESAT sites, in which the activity is the production of new pallets.

Through joint ventures for the supply of services with the main players of the given sector, PGS supports the professional integration of handicapped workers. Almost 200 individuals have been employed where working allows them to consume and limit their dependence on the State.

This is a social investment that PGS has accomplished through this joint venture and a strong commitment that the Group intends to maintain in the future. The promotion of diversity is an important objective of our human resources strategy. Our difference is not to differentiate…

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We would like that all the companies with which we collaborate, especially partners or suppliers, share our values, participate in our ethical procedures and  become immersed in our policy when it comes to Sustainable development. This is the reason for having initiated with them a procedure of awareness and accepting responsibility through an action and progress plan that targets:

• Guaranteeing transparence and fairness in the procedures for choosing suppliers,
• Choosing in priority suppliers that are against illegal work practices and are keen to respect safety rules,
• Encouraging them to turn to innovative solutions and to use products that are not harmful to the environment.

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PGS Rouen, Head Office of the Group, is certified ISO 14001 for its site at Saint-Etienne du Rouvray. This certification was issued in November 2008 for the activities of recovery, repair and recycling of pallets as well as flow management, drying, ISPM 15 heat treatment and services at customers’ locations.

In concrete terms, this means among other things: sorting out and optimized management of waste, making the staff aware and training them in environmental and fire hazards, the implementation of good environmental practices (reduction of electrical and gas usage and of consumables…), implementation of regulations concerning legal requirements etc. Progressively this certification procedure is expected to spread to other sites of the Group.

For more information: download our Certificate.

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Preserving our forest resources and using them judiciously is a very important element of progress and evolution for PGS. The guarantee that a new wooden pallet comes from a forest that is "durably" managed has become a legitimate requirement that can no longer be overlooked by a large number of industrial groups as well and small and medium sized companies and industries. The PEFC certification (European program of certified forests) aims to guarantee the origin and the follow up of wood used for the production of wooden or wood based products.

In October 2008, the 3 TECHNIPAL sites of the Group that produce new wooden pallets were all PEFC certified; then in February 2009, the BEYNEL sawmill, a production unity of the Group already PEFC certified for pallet sawn timber, obtained the extension of its certification that now included the pallet. Today, PGS possesses a unique selling capacity of PEFC pallets in France.

The PEFC chain of control is the only means to guarantee our customers that our pallets are produced with sawn timber that comes from durably managed forests. In other words, by respecting their economic, environmental and social functions.

With respect to the PEFC system, the PGS group has vowed to respect a certain number of requirements and procedures such as:

• Not to use wood that comes from controversial sources
• To evaluate its current suppliers
• To conduct internal and external audits
• To ensure the training of staff involved in the chain of control
• To regularly establish a system’s review etc.

Give into the PEFC wooden pallets…, a new environmental contributor to the health of the forests!

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Pallets that have arrived at the end of their life span (cannot be repaired or no longer satisfy the requirements and needs of the market) become a secondary product or a fully fledged secondary material.

The value system that we have implemented includes:

• The reuse of parts in good condition (planks or blocks) that provide a source of reusable raw materials for the repairing of used pallets;
• The production of wood shavings that can be used in the creation of wooden boards (secondary raw material) or in industrial and collective boiler rooms in order to produce energy.

Combustible wood shavings: “dry” product with a LHV*one and a half times higher than that of the bark’s : combustible, a complement for the bark and sawdust allowing the optimisation of combustion conditions. It is a regular, calibrated and clean grading product which has a certain consistency in its caracteristics.

*Lower heating value

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Investments on professional training have been one of PGS’s main commitments for many years,   aimed at increasing its partners’ expertise. Internal training programs are regularly put in place in order to allow its staff to face up to the quick evolution of jobs and processes.

The PGS Group practices its values of respect and solidarity on a daily basis towards its own employees. In this way, the Group is ready to incorporate diversified skills and to value different cultures and paths. One of the keys to PGS’s success is surely its expressed will to work for the integration, assimilation and improvement of its veteran staff as well as their new employees. Our main objective is skills management, which involves the detection of practical know-how and the possibility for everyone to aspire to evolving functions, as long as the motivation and the will to succeed are present.

At PGS, managing its skills is to ensure its knowledge and practical know how within a group. It is also a required element in the promotion of partners in the company.

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PGS regularly examines the possible health risks involved for its partners while performing their duties. It has put sufficient measures of protection in place and trains its staff so that they can highly contribute in their health and job safety. This involves among other things:

• The implementation of quality control procedures that regulate the air and sound levels at our production sites;
• The updating of documents that are specific to each unity;
• The drafting and internal diffusion of procedures and instructions dealing with health and safety issues for the staff.

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Global Compact, an international commitment

Global Compact is an initiative that was launched in 1999 at the Davos Economic Forum in Switzerland, by former UN Secretary General, Kofi ANNAN. In 2008 the PGS Group became a member of Global Compact which involved committing itself to the 10 points linked to Human and Employment Rights, Protection of the environment and the Fight against corruption. In 2010 and 2011, PGS has decided to concentrate its efforts on points 2, 7 and 8.

The 10 points of Global Compact are to:

1. Promote and Respect the protection of internationally recognized Human Rights.
2. Ensure that none of the company’s bodies participate in the violation of Human Rights.
3. Respect the freedom of association and recognize the right to have collective negotiations.
4. Eliminate all forms of forced or compulsory labour.
5. Abolish child labour.
6. Eliminate any discrimination concerning a job or a profession
7. Adopt a preventative approach towards environmental issues.
8. Undertake certain initiatives that promote a larger environmental responsibility.
9. Encourage the development and the diffusion of technologies that are not harmful to the environment.
10.  Fight against all forms of corruption.

Every year we publish a progress release that shows the upward course of our actions in terms of figures. For more information...

GRANDDE network, practical tools in order to move forward

In 2009, PGS became a member of the GRANDDE network (Regional Group for main players in Sustainable development from the Normandie region). This association brings together large, medium-sized and small companies as well as universities…, in order to control the quality of collective actions that it implements, inter partner network exchanges and a watchdog mission that it has implemented that enriches each member.

PGS regularly participates in different work groups focused on Sustainable development (Responsible Purchasing, Eco-conception, Carbon balance, etc.) and shares the fruits of its own labour for a mutual enrichment.

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The Carbon balance is used to measure all greenhouse gases emissions directly or indirectly linked to a company’s activity, based on a methodology created by ADEME (Environmental Agency and Energy Control).

Our Group, which is proactive when it comes to all issues involving the environment, decided in June 2009 that it was going to commit itself to carrying out its carbon balance and entrusted this mission to the FCBA Technological Institute (Forest, Celulose, Wood and Furniture).

Today, the PGS-BEYNEL Group is the first French pallet producer to have accomplished it carbon balance. Since then, points for improvement have been defined in order to limit the most significant impacts and a project is in progress concerning different lines of improvement.

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