Sustainability Programmes

Badges And Medals prides itself on being a sustainable business. Find out why!

Most award suppliers don't think about the environment.

The awards industry has been doing things the same way for years, and those old habits often ignore the very real impact that making awards has on the planet. If you’re someone who values sustainability, that can be frustrating.

At Badges and Medals, we aim to do business in a way that:

• Makes people aware of their environmental impact.
• Helps to protect and regenerate the planet.
• Upholds the rights of workers and keeps them safe.

To back up these commitments, we’ve passed two independent audits on environmental responsibility.

In this article, you'll learn how partnering with Badges and Medals can help both you and the environment.

How Your Purchase Supports Sustainability:

Plastic Bank

For every medal you order, you help us remove two plastic bottles from reaching the ocean.

And it's all thanks to our partnership with Plastic Bank.

Plastic Bank works by encouraging people in vulnerable communities to collect plastic waste.

This waste is usually found in places where it would otherwise end up in the ocean.

Once the plastic is collected, it's turned into plastic feedstock, which is used to make new plastic products.

In return, the people who collect the plastic get income and social benefits, such as insurance or school suppliers.

This gives them the tools they need to break out of poverty.

So far, our customers have helped over 208 people in Egypt, Indonesia, Thailand, and Cameroon build better lives.

They've also removed over 31.8 tonnes of plastic from our oceans.

That's the same weight as six adult African elephants! Imagine what your event could do.

You'll get a sustainability certificate showing exactly how much plastic you've helped save.

One Tree Planted

Trees pull carbon dioxide out of the air and store it as they grow.

Through your orders, you add to their numbers, helping to protect the planet's atmosphere and rebuild canopy ecosystems.

How? Thanks to our partnership with One Tree Planted, a tree is planted in the Amazon Rainforest for every 100 medals you order, once you give the go-ahead. You can take pride in knowing that your medals are contributing to a greener future.

Plus, your order builds on the work we've already begun: by March 2025, we will have planted 1500 trees in the Amazon!

A One Tree Planted worker plants a tree in the Amazon Rainforest.

Carbon Offsets

Carbon emissions are the release of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

They're primarily caused by human activities, like burning fossil fuels such as oil or gas.

These emissions trap heat in the atmosphere, leading to global warming and climate change.

As a customer of Badges And Medals, you’re choosing a company that actively reduces its carbon emissions.

We know that our biggest impact on the environment likely comes from transporting your awards.

That’s why we take concrete steps to counterbalance this impact:

• Reforestation:
  Forests are one of the biggest carbon sinks (aka absorbers) on the planet. This year, we are planting 1500 trees through our partner One Tree Planted to help soak up the carbon emissions released while delivering your order to your door.
  
  
• Carbon credits:
  We’ve also teamed up with Explorate to track and offset our shipping emissions.  For every shipment you receive, we purchase carbon credits that fund projects designed to absorb or counteract the exact amount of carbon we emitted.

We offset our transport emissions using carbon credits.

Sustainable Packaging

Packaging helps your awards arrive in perfect condition. 

Without it, they could hurt each other during transportation, and that’s the last thing you want after waiting weeks for your custom award. That’s why your products come with three layers of protection: outer, inner, and product packaging.

Currently, about 80 per cent of the packaging you receive is made from reused, sustainable, or recyclable materials.

To put that in perspective, for every tonne of packaging used, about 800kg is sustainable.

Let's peel back each layer:

• Outer packaging:
  Your orders come in boxes made from 100 per cent recycled materials. And the best part? You can reuse or recycle them again when they arrive on your doorstep.
  
  
• Product packaging:
  Inside those boxes, about half of your products are wrapped in recyclable, unprinted paper – and soon, this will be the case for all your items. At the moment, these paper-wrapped products are bundled in a large plastic bag for safety. But using paper instead of plastic still slashes our plastic usage by an impressive 80 to 90 per cent, compared to the traditional method of packing each award in individual bags. This change not only reduces waste but also speeds up your unpacking process. And by 2025, you can expect all your orders from to be free from single-use plastic bags.
  
  
• Inner packaging:
  The cushioning around your products is made from recycled or reused materials. Whether it’s repurposed packing peanuts or bubble wrap made partially from recycled plastic, every layer of inner packaging is chosen with your commitment to sustainability in mind.

A volunteer easily unpacks our custom medals. CREDIT: Round The Bays

Wooden Medals

When you choose our wooden medals and trophies, you’re selecting products made from three types of sustainable wood:

• About a third of the wood used to make your medals comes from a supplier certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). This internationally recognised certification guarantees that the timber you’re using is sustainably harvested.
  
  
• About half of our wood is sustainably sourced basswood.
  
  
• The remaining 15 per cent of the wood in your products comes from a business that recycles timber which would have otherwise gone to landfill. This includes repurposed wooden skirtings, fence posts, and beams. In fact, some of your trophies are made from timber salvaged from buildings that collapsed during the Christchurch earthquake in 2011.

Make your future sustainable!

You came here wondering if Badges And Medals is sustainable and can leave here thinking "Absolutely!".

We've shed light on our sustainable practices, demonstrating how we can offer you not just world-class products but a partnership grounded in environmental stewardship. We invite you to join us in making a lasting impact.

Contact us for a free quote or design consultation.

Let's bring your vision to life in a way that reflects your commitment to a greener future!