WE BELIEVE IN BETTER
Our Sustainability Strategy
At Bunzl, we believe that meaningful, sustainable outcomes are achieved by being present where it matters most—on the ground. Our central position in the value chain, combined with our “sleeves up” culture, uniquely positions us to work with customers, suppliers, and beyond to navigate major challenges in pursuit of a better world.
‘We Believe in Better’ brings our initiatives together into an overarching sustainability strategy and holds us accountable to our commitments. Heavily informed by a double materiality assessment engaging over 50 external stakeholders, our focus areas align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. These focus areas guide our actions toward solving the world’s most pressing issues, including better supply chains, enhanced diversity and inclusion, sustainable energy sources, and resource utilisation.
This strategy serves as a north star for Bunzl Asia-Pacific businesses, guiding business decisions and supporting customers in achieving their sustainability goals.
Download Bunzl Asia – Pacific Sustainability Highlights 2024.
Embedding Ethical Supply Chains
With over 2,000 suppliers across 35 countries in the APAC region, we prioritise embedding ethical supply chains. In 2023, we conducted 1,022 audits, identified 66 suppliers needing improvements, and terminated 10 suppliers as a last resort.
We aim for 90% of our spend on products from high-risk regions to come from assessed and compliant suppliers by 2025. Currently, 81% of our global spend in high-risk regions is with assessed and compliant suppliers.
More information about our work on ensuring adherence to standards on human rights and working conditions and eliminating modern slavery available in:
Our businesses leverage procurement to support local communities, including First Nations communities, through partnerships with organisations like Supply Nation, Cole Supplies, Wallawa, and Ochre Sun.
As a member of Sedex, we transparently share data on social and environmental sustainability. As an EcoVadis member, we are part of the world’s largest and most trusted provider of business sustainability ratings
We are firmly committed to ethical practices.
Ensuring everyone counts
Our people and the communities we operate in are central to our success. We promote an equitable and inclusive work environment, focusing on health, happiness, and wellbeing through safety-first approaches, flexible working arrangements, and mental health support.
Recognised as a Great Place to Work since 2023, we extend our wellbeing culture to communities through charitable donations and partnerships, such as donating 13,370 meals to OzHarvest since November 2022.
We champion diversity through initiatives like ‘Women In Bunzl’, resulting in 44% of our leadership positions being held by women. Our commitment to diversity earned us a finalist spot in the Banksia Sustainability Awards for Diversity in 2023, and our gender pay gap audit places us in the top 20% of employers in Australia.
Our Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan is our commitment to delivering value through meaningful actions to facilitate equitable outcomes to First Nations businesses and communities across Australia.
We promote health, happiness and wellbeing inside and outside of Bunzl.
Accelerating Climate Action
Aware of our environmental impact, we are committed to net zero emissions—targeting Net Zero for scope 1 & 2 by 2030 and Net Zero across scope 1, 2, & 3 by 2050.
We bring a robustness to our approach by committing to the Business Ambition for 1.5° campaign, having our targets approved by the SBTi, and joining the Race to Zero.
Our Environmental Policy, supported by a certified ISO 14001 environmental management system, demonstrates our commitment to minimising environmental impact through sustainable practices and regulatory compliance.
Energy Efficient Facility and Renewables
Initiatives include building and powering our operations efficiently, with 75% of our distribution sites having roof top solar and 16% of our fleet now hybrid or electric.
We voluntarily report climate risks and impacts through our parent company Bunzl Plc in line with the Taskforce on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP).
We’ve been tracking scope 3 emissions associated with the goods and services we supply for several years, and we have a plan in place to address them. We have recently advanced this plan by engaging with our largest supply partners to learn more about their carbon reduction journey, and informing them about our policies, targets, and other requirements.
We are committed to Net Zero emissions.
Transitioning to Circularity
As a member of the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO), we continually look for new ways to reduce the negative impacts of our packaging – and we report our progress every year in our APCO Annual Report.
We embed circular economy principles to reduce our environmental impact and are committed to the phase-out of problematic and unnecessary single-use plastics packaging as well as sourcing reusable, recyclable or compostable packaging where possible.
Circular Economy Efforts Recognised
Our efforts have been recognised by winning the APCO Industry Engagement award in 2022, Packaging Innovation and Design Award (PIDA) in 2023 and WorldStar Packaging award in 2024 for our OzHarvest Sustain cup collection.
We are proactively enabling better customer choices.
Looking Ahead
While proud of our achievements, we are excited about future opportunities. We will continue to exceed mandatory standards, share our journey transparently, and collaborate with partners and customers to address significant challenges. By innovating and collaborating, we believe we can drive the change needed to deliver a sustainable future for all. We believe in better.
To learn more about Bunzl’s global sustainability strategy, see our full sustainability report here.