Environmental Stewardship policy

Aksa accepts its corporate sustainability responsibilities and is committed to environmental stewardship and the need to work towards sustainable development. 

We strive to minimise our environmental impact by focusing on the following  key principles:

Efficient use of resources

To ensure the most efficient use of energy for running and maintaining our home office, we have implemented the following energy efficient measures

• Minimizing water and energy use to the extent possible
• Managing equipment and furniture responsibly in order to maximize useful life
• Zero approach to paper usage and printing - we do not print invoices, packing slips etc. except our address labels (printed on compostable labels by thermal printer thus avoiding use of ink cartridges) 
• Banking and accounting is done online
• Website hosting is done on Shopify. It's business operations and platform are carbon neutral
• Minimising waste through recycling
• Conserving energy through personal diligence, using energy efficient equipment (such as laptops and low energy light bulbs), keeping equipment switched off when not in use
• Ensuring products and materials are reused or recycled at the end of their lives as much as possible
• Using public transport when possible in the course of our work
• Minimising journeys through use of virtual communications (phone calls, video calls with suppliers)

Environmental Awareness

We strive to use environment positive products and services where applicable. 

• We aim to reduce waste in our processed as much as possible
• We avoid mixed material packaging that cannot be efficiently separated in recycling facilities
• We re-use packaging materials where possible e.g. using cardboard boxes from other small businesses instead of buying new ones
• Our packaging mailers are home compostable (from Hero Packaging or The Better Packing Co.)
• We are proactive for our energy efficiency
• We follow hazardous waste policy (click to read the hazardous waste disposal policy) 
• We leverage sustainable raw materials or recycled/upcycled raw materials for all the products that we sell 
• We often use our blog, social media and interactions with customers to spread awareness about climate and people issues and to encourage them to adopt Fair Trade principles
• Commitment to taking a stance against greenwashing
• We communicate and explain our policies to supply chain partners, to allow them to incorporate improvements where applicable. Our product manufacturing sits with Fair Trade producers.