About us Ethics and environment

Our approach

• At Nathan, our commitment to CSR is nothing new. For many years now, our activity and our relations with our partners (suppliers, customers, service providers, employees, public institutions, etc.) have incorporated social, environmental and economic prerogatives.

Today, we are pursuing and intensifying our commitment:

- With our official endorsement, in June 2012, of the United Nations Global Compact, the objective of which is to promote 10 universal principles concerning human rights, labour rights, environmental protection and anticorruption.
- With the implementation of a Corporate Social and Environmental Steering Committee responsible for its deployment in the company.
Our CSR commitment revolves around three principles:
- Reducing the impact of our activity on the environment.
- Acting to ensure greater equality and fulfilment in the workplace.
- Making our business reflect our social commitment.

 

Preserving the environment
Offering sustainable, environmentally-friendly products
• Nathan has always been committed to the idea that "socially-responsible" quality is by its very nature made to last:
- We are developing products using environmentally-friendly materials and new materials that are harder-wearing and lighter, so as to reduce the impact on the environment and to optimise the serviceable life of our products.
- We perform checks at key stages of the manufacturing process in order to guarantee optimal quality and finish.
- The woods used in the manufacturing process for our furniture mainly come from environmentally-managed forests and we are against the use of wood taken from illegal logging.
- Our paper comes from environmentally managed forests and is elemental chlorine free (ECF). ECF bleaching has been recognised by The European Commission and US Environmental Protection Agency as the "best available technology".
- Depending on the intended use of our materials, we concentrate on environmentally-friendly, water-based paints. These water-soluble paints are guaranteed solvent-free.


Promoting responsible purchasing policies
- We favour reliable manufacturers and partners who provide excellent quality and are committed to the environment: reduced energy consumption, processing and re-use of waste (wood, paper, gloss paints, etc).
- We carefully select our suppliers based on ethical criteria: respect for ILO (International Labour Organisation) conventions regarding forced child labour, respect for basic human rights and inspection of working conditions. Our ICTI (International Council of Toy Industries) certified toy suppliers are subject to inspection audits every year, according to very strict criteria.


Acting as a socially-responsible company
• Acting to respect human rights and rights of the child, especially the basic right to education
- Nathan is a partner of Unicef, working to raise awareness among young people of the rights of the child, international solidarity and citizenship.
- Nathan is developing special schemes to combat illiteracy and to help the insertion of young people and adults in difficult circumstances into the world of work.
• Education about sustainable development
Our role as publisher of education resources also creates the responsibility to act alongside children and teachers to raise awareness of "living together" and respect for the environment.