eco-ethical

ETHICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL STATEMENT

Since our beginnings, Fifth Column has striven to follow its ethical and environmental values. In the real and ever-changing world, this is not a task that has a static beginning and end, but rather an ongoing process which we commit ourselves to pursuing.

At present we are in a position to make the following claims:

EMPLOYEES: We value our workforce as members of Fifth Column and as individuals.

We show this by:

• Paying a decent living wage 
• Providing paid holidays and sick leave over and above the legal requirement 
• Investing in a safe and healthy working environment
• Helping our employees pursue their personal interests in a variety of ways including a flexible attitude to working hours

We currently:

• Recycle all possible waste 
• Dispose of any remaining waste responsibly through accredited companies
• Practise minimising waste of printing materials 
• Promote the use of organic and fair traded cotton 
• Actively seek out alternative and cleaner products such as inks and cleaning fluids 
• Supply ourselves with recycled and/or fairtraded goods wherever possible 

PRO ACTIVE: We proactively support various local activities and campaigns, which we believe make our environment a better, fairer and cleaner one. We do this by participating in events, sponsoring activities or supplying free goods.

At present we offer our support to:

• Local schools - providing free silk screen printing workshops 
• Bikes for Namibia - providing free T-shirts 
• Providing free and discount T-shirts for local charities
• Tai Chi in schools - we currently fund a project which teaches Tai Chi in primary schools
• Supporting Art and Clay - a community arts project

FIFTH COLUMN ACTIVELY SUPPORTS THE MERCY CENTRE IN THAILAND

Last year Fifth Column has donated £2000 to this remarkable orphanage for HIV positive children.