Vegware Case Study – Green Claims Code
Founded in 2006, Vegware is an Edinburgh-based food packaging company like no other. They specialise in certified compostable ”Packaging made from plants”. With their pre-sales advice and market education, followed by their after-sales support with the Close the Loop service, their passion is to maximise food packaging becoming compost.
We have been supporting them with their certification to ISO14001 and ISO9001 for Environment and Quality Management since 2013 – in 2024, we expanded the depth and breadth of our internal compliance audit of Vegware’s market and customer communication to evaluate compliance against the 13 aspects of the Green Claims Code (GCC). You can read our case study on the project on our website here.
Here is what Kelly Falconer, Head of Marketing at Vegware, had to say on our work together:
B Corp Month
Last month was B Corp Month. This year’s theme was #GenB or Generation B – being part of a generation of businesses aiming to have a positive impact on the world.
The theme of generations of changemakers is a very relevant topic in sustainability conversations, so for this year, we decided to focus on different aspects of the role different generations play in driving change in business and in sustainability. Here are some of our thoughts on the topic:
- “When we forget that our present grew out of the seeds sown by people coming before us, we forget that it is never just on one generation to create change.” (What came before – LinkedIn)
- “We must all pull on the levers for change.” (A Generation for Good – Blog Post)
- What practical actions to support intergenerational collaboration are we taking as a business to make a difference? (LinkedIn)
International Women’s Day 2025
The theme for International Women’s Day this year was #AccelerateAction. Inspired by the theme for B Corp Month this year, we reflected on how different generations can work together in accelerating action for women’s rights, within our shared space of sustainability work.
We’ve reached out to women in our professional networks to get some of their thoughts on what they’ve gained from working with different generations of people, and on what they’d like to see for the future. Read our blog post for International Women’s Day 2025 here.
Making A Difference
After all this talk about being a business for a good, we feel it is only appropriate to share a couple of the areas where we see an urgent need for action.
Disability Benefits Cuts
As a B Corp as well as a Disability Confident Leader, the news of the planned benefit cuts for ill and disabled people and the huge impact the cuts would have on the most vulnerable populations is difficult to see. The wider conversation is often skewed towards individual responsibility, without accounting for the systemic barriers to work for disabled employees or the role of organisations in addressing them. We’ve shared some of our thoughts on the responsibility of businesses to support our disabled employees on LinkedIn.
It is also on us as businesses to speak up, and to support our employees in doing so if they would like to. Disability Rights UK has pulled together resources on how to take action against the proposed disability benefits cuts.
Support for Trans Women
With the recent UK Supreme Court ruling on ‘woman’ as an identity being based on biological sex, it is now more important than ever to think about how we can support our trans employees, co-workers, and connections in our community.
The ruling and the uncertainties around what comes next will have a significant impact on a lot of people’s lives and mental wellbeing. Staying informed and checking in on your trans contacts can make a world of a difference during a time when they may be made to feel unwelcome and isolated.
In addition, a good first step to making a difference is to share resources, appropriate training materials and opinions from people directly impacted, so these are some of the resources we’ve found helpful:
- This excellent list of support resources for trans people, pulled together by the Good Law Project
- Disability Rights UK’s blog posts on the connections between disabled and trans experiences
- Biological Science Rejects the Sex Binary (Article) – “The data-driven bottom line is that “man/woman” and “masculine/feminine” are neither biological terms nor rooted exclusively in biology.”
At Beyond Green, we’ve been focused on accessibility and general inclusion in our social sustainability work over the last few years, but the current situation has highlighted to us that trans rights should be its own theme within our advocacy for responsible business practices.