We are so proud our business has achieved B Corp certification.
For over 29 years, Futures Supplies has been at the forefront of sustainable business practices, offering eco-friendly solutions to a wide range of customers. This certification underscores the company’s holistic approach to sustainability, not only through the products we supply but in every aspect of our operations.
B Corp is more than a stamp of approval. It is an objective framework for us to continue to build our business so that it works for both people and planet.
As a certified B Corp, Futures Supplies joins an elite group of companies—over 6,000 globally—dedicated to using business as a force for good. The company is now part of a global movement to drive a shift towards more sustainable and ethical business practices across industries.
It gives us the language and tools to share our story with the wider world. It raises the bar for us to reach and it helps us to share our journey towards becoming the world’s definitive zero carbon Washroom & Cleaning partner – one toilet roll at time!
B Lab’s social and environmental business standards define how businesses can be a force for good. Based on stakeholder input, research, and established best practices, these standards are the basis for B Corp Certification requirements and B Lab’s impact management tools, and they inform the network’s programs and collective action initiatives.
Overseen by B Lab’s independent Standards Advisory Council, the standards help companies improve, measure, and manage their impact on people and the planet.
By certifying, B Corps step into a framework for continuous improvement. In order to maintain certification, companies must undertake the assessment and verification process every three years, demonstrating they are still meeting B Lab’s standards, which are themselves always improving, with continual input from expert stakeholders.
“We see this as a new chapter for Futures Supplies—one that aligns with our vision for the future of business and sustainability,” said Marc Kemp, Managing Director. “This certification gives us a framework to grow responsibly while holding ourselves to the highest possible standards.”
At Futures Supplies we recognise that our business activities have an unavoidable impact on the environment. Our approach is therefor to support the environment by continually striving to make it part of our ethos to reduce the creation of waste through recycling.
This approach is applied throughout our organisation and through third parties involved in, or with our business, in such a way to facilitate the protection of the environment. We are committed wherever possible and practicable to sustainable practices, encouraging similar standards from all customers, suppliers, and contractors on environmental matters.
As part of this commitment to reduce, reuse, and recycle, we strategically segregate all our scrap plastic film waste such as stretch pallet wrap, pallet covers and plastic packaging.
This plastic waste is collected on pallets by our supply partners and reprocessed into recycled pellet ready to be re blown into new films for reuse in the recycled range of refuse sacks we sell thereby closing the recycling loop.
We have also successfully implemented measures to reduce and recycling all of our paper, card and plastics. Our printer cartridges are recycled and postage stamps are recycled through the Royal National Institute of Blind People.
Regularly independently audited and recognised with numerous green accolades, we currently recycle over 75% of our waste, proving small steps can have a big impact!
Always keen to keep up with regulatory changes, our Managing Director Marc Kemp and Office Manager Andy Hills, recently attended an event hosted by the Finnish-British Chamber of Commerce, in collaboration with their Patrons Borenius and Metsä Group.
Held at the Leonardo Royal London St Pauls, the event consisted of two keynote speeches, as well as a panel discussion moderated by Lord Justice Snowden.
Sustainability and associated topics are top-trending subjects, on all platforms, across all organisations. However, what does sustainability really mean? What is required, legally or ethically, how is it achieved and how do you sort out the “buzz” from the reality?
Aksu Tuominen from Borenius gave an insight into the Green Claims Directive, the Proposal for Regulation on Packaging and Packaging Waste, and Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR).
The second keynote speech was provided by Maija Pohjakallio and Kalle Ikonen from Futures Supplies’ partner Metsä Group. They focused on the practical experiences against the background of recent regulations, also shedding light on current EU deforestation regulation and nature restoration laws.
The insightful speeches lead to an interesting and insightful panel discussion on how the topics affect the ongoing concerns of businesses with panellists were Kalle Ikonen and Maija Pohjakallio from Metsä Group, Casper Herler from Borenius, and Andrew Griffiths from Planet Mark.
Our Managing Director, Marc Kemp was delighted to be invited to visit the beehives at the Bee Urban site in Kennington Park by Hive Cleaning who we have been in collaboration with, though their sponsorship program, to support this worthy project.
Bee Urban is a social enterprise that aims to work with communities to improve the environment for the benefit of us all. Focusing on responsible urban beekeeping, horticulture and community growing. It’s not just about bees, people are vital to Bee Urban.
Community engagement and volunteering is important to the project, providing opportunities to contribute to the locality, be creative and reduce social isolation.
Our friends at Hive Cleaning are a B Corp certified, ethical office cleaning company who are committed to making a positive impact on the environment. As part of their efforts, Hive Cleaning have pledged to sponsor a beehive for every new cleaning contract they are awarded.
Futures Supplies are delighted to sponsor this worthy project as of one of our key sustainability initiatives.
It’s never been so important to keep places hygienically clean by killing bacteria and viruses, including the Coronavirus, while also reducing pollutants and the huge amounts of waste plastic in our oceans and landfill.
When combined with the fact that long-term use of cleaning chemicals can have a serious impact on your health, this means we need to think differently about how cleaning can reduce our impact on the planet. Quite literally, we need to clean up our act.
Here, we explain what makes Toucan Eco sustainable. But before we do this, let’s understand the basics.
What is Toucan Eco?
Toucan Eco puts the power of electrolysed water at your fingertips. No chemicals, no single-use plastic bottles. Just a proven, effective way to wipe out germs without harming the environment.
Using a process of electrolysis, it transforms tap water and table salt – both natural and sustainable resources – into a disinfectant cleaner that kills more than 99.99% of germs and replaces 80% of chemical cleaners and the single use plastic bottles they’re supplied in.
It’s completely safe to use as it’s based on the same infection fighting hypochlorous acid that our own immune systems produce, which makes it non-toxic and hypoallergenic.
So, let’s run through the key points that put the ‘eco’ in Toucan Eco.
Toucan Eco Espray
Toucan Eco Worktop
Toucan Eco Active Plus
Does it reduce single-use plastic waste?
Yes, it does, and that’s why it’s great for supporting single-use plastic reduction initiatives.
You no longer need to buy 80% or more of your chemical cleaners, which are most commonly supplied in single-use plastic bottles. Plus, concentrated chemical bottles are mostly made from virgin plastic too, and many of these can’t be recycled as they contain toxic ingredients. With around 30% of all plastic being recycled in the UK, according to the British Plastics Initiative, the majority will still end up in landfill.
By switching to Toucan Eco, for every typical one litre plastic bottle you’re saving over two litres of water, 4 million joules of energy, and a quarter of a litre of oil. And, for every ton of plastic, you’re saving about three tons of CO2.
Does it reduce chemical use and their side effects?
It’s well known that chemicals can be harmful to the environment. For example, some aerosols damage the ozone layer and cleaning chemicals carry health warnings as they can cause allergic reactions such as coughing and skin irritation or dermatitis.
Recent studies have found that regular exposure to cleaning products may significantly affect lung function and suggest that the chemicals in cleaning products irritate the mucous membranes that line the airways of the lungs, causing long-term damage. In a long-term study, the effects were also found to be more severe among women than men.
Toucan Eco doesn’t contain any of these synthetic ingredients – so no phthalates, ammonia, additives, or fragrances. 99.99% of the solution is water, and the pH (a measure of acidity and alkalinity) of the solution is around a gentle 7.8 to 8.5. This means it’s mildly alkaline but not aggressive like common bleach, which has a pH of 10 and above. As it’s safe, you don’t need protective clothing.
Can it contribute to making our buildings green?
The World Green Building Council talks about how we can make our buildings greener through a combination of factors such as minimising energy use with renewable and low carbon technologies, reducing water consumption, minimising waste, maximising reuse, and recycling anything left – of which Toucan Eco can contribute effectively to achieving.
We can also promote health and wellbeing with improved air quality, while avoiding chemicals that create harmful or toxic emissions.
Can Toucan Eco contribute to WELL or BREEAM-rated buildings?
The simple answer is yes. We spend over 90% of our lives in and around buildings. And these buildings can trap pollutants – such as spray cleaners and VOCs – in the air which then circulates within the building. If there’s little or no ventilation these pollutants will remain within the building for some time.
So, the more we can do to remove the use of airborne pollutants – replacing synthetic chemical cleaners with systems such as Toucan Eco – the better the air quality and the healthier the environment.
As well as pollution, Toucan Eco also neatly aligns with BREEAM’s and WELL’s focus on sustainability in a building’s energy use, waste, transportation, carbon emissions, and healthy attributes.
Does Toucan Eco reduce transportation?
Yes, as the solution is made on demand where it’s used there’s no need to transport the solution from place of manufacture to place of use. And once on-site, as it only uses water and salt, the carbon footprint of generating the combined the solution is minimal.
And while electrolysing, the models do not generate any hazardous gases, and the amount of electricity used to generate a litre of the solution is around 10th of that used to boil a kettle so energy consumption if very low.
Is the solution safe to dispose of?
Yes, it’s safe to pour down drains and reverts to slightly salty water. Or you can pour it into the device and reactivate.
Summing up the parts
Toucan Eco has minimal environmental impact and reduces the use of harmful chemicals and the single-use plastic bottles they are supplied in. There’s also the reduction in energy, oil and carbon needed to make the solution when compared with synthetic chemicals. This means it helps to reduce your carbon footprint and supports plastic waste initiatives.
It doesn’t harm building air quality that cleaners, or customers, work in, live in, or visit, and there’s no need for protective equipment as the solution is non-toxic, and hypoallergenic.
It’s not tested on animals and is vegan-friendly. Once used, the solution reverts to slightly salty water, and can be safely disposed of without any environmental impact.
That’s why it’s revolutionary in the way that it is eco-friendly – and another step towards reducing the amount of toxic chemicals through concentrates, tablet form or alternative ingredients which can still be harmful.
Toucan Eco eSpray
Lets you make a powerful, safe and eco-friendly disinfectant cleaner from just water, ordinary salt and electricity that kills more than 99.99% of germs, including the coronavirus.
Toucan Eco Worktop
Designed for cleaning in the home and smaller workplaces.
It makes one litre of eco-friendly antibacterial multi-surface cleaner in around five minutes.
Toucan Eco Active
Suitable for small to medium-sized facilities, and produces 10 litres of solution in around 15 minutes.
Toucan Eco Active Plus
Suitable for medium sized facilities and one activation, which takes around 40 minutes, produces 20 litres of antibacterial cleaner.
As we celebrate 26 years in business, we thought it would be fun to share a few interesting facts and milestones with you.
We are a family business that was started in the original owner’s garage back in 1995! After renting premises for 10 years in 2005 we decided we were here to stay so we purchased and moved into our very own self-contained, purpose-built offices and warehouse in South London.
Members of the CHSA, the Cleaning and Hygiene Suppliers Association since 1997, Futures Supplies successfully achieved 100% compliance to the Distributor Accreditation Scheme.
To ensuring that our customers can have confidence in the quality of goods and in the provision of our services, we have been independently certified since 1997 for our Quality Management System to British Standard ISO 9001
The company’s Manging Director, Marc started working in the business in 1998. Working through all aspects of the business, and following 20 years’ experience at the sharp end, he became the natural successor to drive the company forward and lead the young dynamic team when in 2018 his Mum retired.
After surviving the dreaded Millennium Bug our premises survived a substantial fire in 2000 which started at a neighbouring National Tyres site. Continuing to trade without any break in service, we went on to achieve our first £1million in annual sales.
In 2004 the company ethos, to effectively tackle and improve its environmental, social and economic impact on the community, saw it provide its first work experience placements to disadvantaged young care leavers.
We won our first business award in 2005 for ‘Best Commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility’ and have gone on to be recognised with over 30 accolades including numerous sustainability awards as well as Best SME!
Pioneering the use of Eco-Friendly products and sustainable business practices we became CarbonNeutral certified in 2006. Delivering carbon neutral supplies to our customers we are proud to say the net greenhouse gas emissions associated with our business are ZERO.
Since 2007 we have successfully achieved certification for our Environmental Management System to British Standard ISO 14001. This illustrates that Sustainability is at the heart of our business. We are passionate and committed to ensuring that we meet the needs of today without compromising those of future generations, through minimising negative impacts on our planet and our people. We purchased our first fully electric van in 2008!
Early adopters of social media and our first tweet went out on Twitter in 2009!
One of the few independent family business in our industry, we genuinely care about our customers. Our growth has been organic and as a result of consistently delivering high levels of Service, Quality, Value and Reliability with Environmental Consideration through Innovation and Technology.
We still supply our very first customer and have been since 1995! We believe in working in partnership with suppliers and customers, taking into account their individual needs, to deliver the best possible customer experience.
Dan, our operations Manager, and Andy our Office Manager, are brothers and have worked in the business for over 20 years. We think our team are our heroes, operating throughout the Covid Pandemic since March 2020, they are key workers supplying essential services and products to valued customers ensuring they could continue to open and run their businesses.
It has been a tough year for everyone and as such, never has there been a more important time to continue to support each other.
As 2020 comes to a close, we really cannot thank all our loyal customers enough for your support throughout these turbulent times. Rest assured we will continue to go above and beyond to exceed your expectations in delivering an exceptional customer experience.
Our carefully selected suppliers will continue to receive our full support and we are grateful for your help in what has been one of our most challenging years in our 25 years of trading.
Our heart goes out to those who have lost loved ones from this awful virus. If nothing else this year has taught us all to be kind, think of others and remember business is not just about the bottom line but giving back and standing together to overcome this enormous challenge.
We hope 2021 will bring better times for us all in the meantime all the team at Futures Supplies would like to wish you and your families a very happy New Year and everything you wish for.
As an ethical business, our ethos is to deliver service, quality, value, reliability, with a commitment to environmental sustainability, using the most up to date technology and innovation.
Futures Supplies are committed to integrity and transparency in the way we operate, how we supply goods and services and in our business partnerships.
We believe that whilst it is critical, it is not enough to just reduce carbon emissions through our certified Environmental Management System BS EN ISO 14001:2015 targets. Therefore, we offset our unavoidable emissions through our partnership with The CarbonNeutral® Company in a responsible best practice model.
Unfortunately, we all have to use energy as part of our commercial process and therefore, until technology and innovations can provide more answers to help further reduce or eliminate emissions, ‘offsetting’ is the only way to deal with the problem.
In partnership with The CarbonNeutral® Company, Futures Supplies is delighted to have achieved CarbonNeutral® status since 2006. This accreditation positions us as an industry leader with one of the strongest and most credible approaches to climate change.
As a result of our reduction process coupled with measuring the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and offsetting the unavoidable emissions associated with our business, our carbon footprint is reduced to net zero.
As Cleaning and Hygiene Suppliers Association Accredited Distributor, Futures Supplies are committed to trading ethically and maintaining standards in the industry and throughout its supply chain.
We are delighted that the Cleaning & Hygiene Suppliers Association has launched an Accreditation Scheme for the Manufacturers of Cleaning Chemicals alongside its already recognised Manufacturing Standards Accreditation Schemes for Soft Tissue, Plastic Refuse Sacks and Industrial Cotton Mops and its Distributor Accreditation Scheme.
This means the CHSA has achieved its strategic ambition of accrediting all members. The combination of the Association’s rigorous Code of Practice and its Accreditation Schemes guarantees its members trade ethically and work hard to maintain standards in the industry.
The existing Chemical Manufacturing members of the CHSA have passed the Scheme audit and are now Accredited. The members of the Scheme as it launches are (in alphabetic order): Bio-Productions, Chemex International, Diversey UK, Eastern Valley Chemicals, Easy Cleaning Solutions, Evans Vanodine International, GoJo Industries, Greyland, Holchem Laboratories, Kitchenmaster NI, Mirius, P&G Professional, Prochem Europe, PVA Hygiene, SC Johnson Professional and Selden Research.
All members of the Scheme have signed a commitment to maintain the highest standards and trade ethically. They have successfully passed an audit, conducted by the CHSA’s Independent Inspector, against that commitment. This includes is a determination on the part of Scheme members to support and facilitate the recycling of the plastic containers holding the cleaning chemicals, initially by including the recycling emblem on the packaging.
The Schemes mean buyers of cleaning and hygiene products can be certain they are trading with an ethical company and that ‘what’s on the box is what’s in the box’. Through its Accreditation Schemes and Code of Practice, the CHSA maintains standards in the industry.
Futures Supplies is delighted to have its green credentials independently endorsed for the tenth year running achieving the credible and sought after Carbon Neutral certification.
This is a highly sought after accolade and recognises the company as an industry leader in its field for its environmental commitment and for delivering carbon neutral supplies to its customers.
We are proud to be taking a net zero position on emissions by measuring the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions associated with our business, reducing them at source and then offsetting any unavoidable emissions by purchasing carbon credits.
Supporting the Andipatti Wind Power Project located in the state of Tamil Nadu, India, this 49.5MW wind power project delivers zero-emissions renewable electricity to the Southern regional grid. The project is validated and ‘Verified Carbon Standard’ (VCS).
This wind farm consists of 30 Vestas turbines, each of capacity of 1.65 MW, generating approximately 100,000 MWh of clean renewable electricity annually. This reduces CO2 emissions by displacing electricity which would have otherwise been drawn primarily from fossil fuel power stations; subsequently, the Andipatti Wind Power Project generates 90,000 tonnes of emissions reductions on average per year.
Demonstrating our commitment to reducing CO2 in accordance with leading edge quality assurance standards, the CarbonNeutral trademark is one of the worlds most recognised and robust brand marks for greenhouse gas emission reduction.
As a result of this reduction process coupled with offering the unavoidable emissions associated with our business, our carbon footprint is reduced to net zero.
Pioneering the use of Eco-Friendly products and sustainable business practices we became CarbonNeutral certified in 2006. Delivering carbon neutral supplies to our customers we are proud to say the net greenhouse gas emissions associated with our business are ZERO.
