Our responsibility along the entire supply chain
As an international disposal and recycling company, we adhere to high social and environmental standards.
Representing important components, we expect all of our suppliers, service providers and partners to comply with these standards. We take responsibility for services within our own business area as well as for our immediate business partners who provide services to us. We currently work with more than 60,000 business partners and service providers in more than 20 countries.
Our understanding of sustainability is characterized by three features:
Innovative strength
Protecting the environment is a key concern for us. That is why we consistently invest in modern technologies, work on innovations and our claim to think in new ways.
Efficiency
We are committed to streamlining processes, conserving resources and optimizing structures on a sustainable basis. We are constantly optimizing our processes, because the aim is to reconcile ecology and economy.
Readiness for change
We are open to ideas and make bold decisions that have the potential to bring about improvements for the environment and society. We are ready for change. By solving the problems of our time, we create the basis of life for future generations and assume social responsibility.
Our position
Our goal is to improve human rights, both along the supply chains in Germany as well as worldwide, while ensuring legal certainty and fair competitive conditions in the supply chains at the same time. Every link in the supply chain must live up to its responsibility and respect human rights and the environment. A violation must not remain without consequences.
The competitive conditions must be fair in the entire European and international context. Therefore, regulations and standards with international binding force are required. Binding regulations must be equally applicable to all value chains.
The limits of the due diligence obligations should always represent the actual legal and economic influence of a company along the supply chain.
Equality
Equal rights play a very important role in the observance of human rights. Vulnerable population groups such as people with disabilities, women, children, LGBTQIA + (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans *, queer, inter *, asexual and other persons) or ethnic and religious minorities are increasingly experiencing discrimination or the disregard of their human rights.
Respectful interaction with each other is our top priority. Therefore, it is our duty to all stakeholders
- to practice and enforce equal treatment,
- to provide support and
- fair remuneration, as well as
- to take preventive measures and
- to prevent incidents that indicate discrimination immediately.
Workplace
We are committed to ensure that the workplace is a safe place for all employees. This is why we, at PreZero, promote the health, safety and wellbeing of our employees. Taking safety precautions ensures a safe work environment, even for high-risk activities in our company.
At PreZero, workplace-related topics are managed by the operational central department Health & Safety, in coordination with the HR department. Exemplarily, an international accident reporting process has already been set up, which allows for an exchange of experiences and for the derivation of preventive measures to ensure the health of our colleagues in the field. In addition, we are working on a program to increase safety at work in our countries.
Children
As part of the vulnerable stakeholder groups, we focus particularly on children and adolescents. We offer adolescents various training opportunities, secure jobs and career opportunities at PreZero.
To protect children and adolescents, we observe the guidelines of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the ILO Core Labor Standards, and we also advocate for the abolition of child labor with our contractual partners.
Employees
Our employees make major contributions to the material transformation. About 75% of them work in the operational area, for example within collection, sorting and transportation.
We take responsibility for our employees by offering them development opportunities with a right to participation, long-term prospects, and attractive remuneration. In addition, we are committed to a healthy work environment, the compatibility of private and professional life, as well as respectful cooperation and fair recruiting.
Environment
For us, the environment is an important stakeholder that requires protection. By being a member of the UN Global Compact and by considering many guidelines, including those of the Minamata Agreement, the Stockholm Agreement, the Basel Agreement, and the Paris Agreement, we meet this need.
As a player in the circular economy, we already contribute to environmental protection via our own business activities and constantly engage in optimizing it.
Our business principles
We are committed to fair business practices, transparency, good working and living conditions, human rights and environmentally friendly behavior in our supply chain.
Code of Conduct
Our Code of Conduct for business partners stipulates that cooperation can only take place in compliance with applicable law, internal guidelines and ethical principles. This means that we are committed to upholding human rights and environmental standards with every business partner.
Policy statement for human rights
Together with our employees, customers, business partners and stakeholders, we work every day to promote human rights - we are particularly committed to fair business practices and good working and living conditions.
As a foundation, all companies of the Schwarz Group have drawn up a policy statement. It supplements existing corporate principles and policies and affects the impact of our activities at all locations and in all business areas worldwide.
UN Global Compact
„Responsible corporate governance is self-evident for us ”- for this reason, as part of the Schwarz Group, we have joined the UN Global Compact and are thus committed to the principles of responsible and sustainable corporate governance.
Together with thousands of colleagues in companies and organizations from over 160 countries, we are committed to the people in our global supply chains, our employees, and the protection of the environment and natural resources.
Further information and the ten principles of the UN Global Compact can be found here: www.globalcompact.de
Our suppliers
Raw materials and recyclables go through many hands in our supply chains. Our activities often start where both private individuals and companies provide their waste for transport. To close loops, we work with more than 60,000 business partners and service providers in more than 20 countries.
Compliance with human rights and environmental standards is of utmost importance for all of our activities. This applies to all service providers along our value chain - including those with whom we do not maintain direct business relationships. We expect all stakeholders involved to adhere to our high standards and use a variety of instruments and measures to monitor our requirements. We are systematically and continuously expanding this complex task together with the departments Procurement, Sales, Risk Management, CSR and Legal & Compliance.
Our tools and measures
1. Mandatory sustainability requirements
We pass our Code of Conduct on to our contractual partners. We have established ethical, social and ecological international standards along the entire value chain.
2. Training on human rights and environmental law topics
We support our business partners in minimizing or even preventing risks in their business area. An important measure is our training for business partners, which can, of course, also be used to train our own employees.
Risk analysis
We continuously evaluate potential and real risks within our value chains. These can be social or ecological. Based on internationally recognized guidelines and indices, we assess in which countries the risk of injury is greatest. Our risk analysis uses, among other data, the following resources as a basis for assessment:
ILO Database, Global Slavery Index, UNICEF Global Database, Gender Inequality Index (UN), Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), World Bank, Exiobase, World Input-Output Database (WIOD)
Our goal is to systematically identify, analyze and evaluate risks for the company. We then derive risk-oriented measures for prevention or response from the results.
Our complaint system
Our compliance reporting channels are available to all affected parties. Internal and external parties can use the complaint procedure to inform the company about human right risks or environmental risks.
In doing so, problems can be identified and solved at an early stage before people or the environment are actually harmed. If damage has already occurred, the complaints procedure provides access to appropriate remedy.
We take complaints seriously and follow up on them.
