Corporate and Social Responsiblity Policy
- Commitment
- Purpose and Aims
- Standards of Business Conduct
- Corporate Governance
- Human Rights
- Impact on Society
- Environmental Impacts
- Ethics and Ethical Trading
- Vendors (Supplies)
BES 6001 Responsible Sourcing of Construction Products
- Greenhouse Gas Emissions
- Solar Panel Generation
- Waste (KG/Tonne Sold)
- Water
- Transport
- Employment and Skills
- Local Communities
With the Government's increasing focus on sustainable development, many construction companies are recognising the need to prove that their buildings are built with sustainability in mind.
Metal Technology are fully certified to BES 6001. This is not only as part of our commitment to support our supply chain partners but we also recognise the importance of our Purchasing decisions and the impact they may have on our environment and society.
BES6001 also complements our environmental management system ISO 14001 that we implement to enhance our environmental performance. We work to operate our business in compliance with all Environmental Regulations, Legislation and initiatives relating to the building industry and the wider Environment.
Metal Technology is committed to furthering the understanding of sustainable principles and specifically responsible sourcing. The following information helps demonstrate this commitment.
We are commited to:
- Continuous improvement in our Corporate and Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy;
- Encouraging our business partners to strive for matching performance;
- Acting in a socially responsible way;
- Continually improving our performance and complying with all relevant legislation, regulations and industry codes of practice;
- Encouraging our staff to be mindful of the effect of their actions on any natural resource.
The purpose of the policy is to make clear to all stakeholders what we mean by CSR and how we propose to work towards achieving it. This policy governs our approach to all our activities.
In implementing this policy we aim to:
- Be responsible;
- Be an exemplar of good practice.
- We recognise that good CSR embraces all aspects of sustainable development and the way we affect people through our business operations;
- We shall operate in a way that safeguards against unfair business practices, including anti-bribery and corruption;
- We believe that a responsible approach to developing relationships between companies and the communities they serve, global or local, is a vital part of delivering business success;
- When carrying out our business, in consultation with our customers, we will determine the environmental, social and economic issues;
- We will ensure the effective implementation of the policies set out within our company handbook and continually review our business practices to encourage engagement with and development of the regional supply chain;
- We will carry out annual training reviews and provide training programmes for all employees to ensure that the company has adequate skills, knowledge, and attitudes to meet our customers’ requirements;
- We will operate in accordance with our health and safety policy, and ensure this is followed at all times by employees, contractors, and other stakeholders or visitors.
- We will share and declare information on personal and corporate conflicts of interest and seek guidance from higher authority before acting;
- We are committed to ensuring that our business is conducted in all respects according to rigorous ethical, professional and legal standards;
- All groups and individuals with whom we have a business relationship will be treated in a fair, open and respectful manner;
- Competition will be reasonable and based upon the quality, value and integrity of the products and services being supplied;
- Feedback on performance will be actively sought, and we will continually review all activities to ensure best practice is observed at all times;
- We will allow our customers and vendors to give feedback on our performance and ensure that all customer comments are analysed, responded to, and where appropriate, acted upon in a transparent manner.
- We aim to support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights;
- Vendors are actively encouraged to observe international human rights norms within their work.
- We will take steps to understand our impact on the local and wider community and how we can most effectively support the needs of them and implement initiatives accordingly;
- We understand that we have a range of internal and external stakeholders who are affected by our operations and activities and we will consult with them as appropriate on company and supply chain issues;
- We will continually develop our products to contribute to a sustainable built environment.
- We will seek to continually improve our energy efficiency, minimise emissions of greenhouse gases to reduce our impacts on climate change and invest in clean, energy efficient technologies;
- We are committed to recycling all our scrap aluminium and maximising our use of recycled material in our products;
- We will use our environmental management system to manage all our environmental impacts accordingly and seek to act as responsible stewards of our site by preventing pollution;
- We understand that water is a finite resource and we have a role to play with regard to minimising demand on potable water supplies;
- We will strive to minimise all waste by adopting the waste hierarchy and managing and treating all waste streams in line with our waste management procedures;
- We will encourage the use of backloading where possible and monitor the performance of our third-party transport hauliers and our own fleet of vehicles to ensure we are using appropriate mitigation strategies to minimise the adverse environmental and social effects of transport.
- We will ensure clear visibility and traceability through our supply chains, so we know where all our products are made;
- We will maintain a proactive dialogue with our supply chain to ensure that vendors uphold the workplace standards and behaviours consistent with the our requirements.
- Vendors will be worked with to help us achieve our policy aspirations in the delivery of our products and services;
- We shall encourage vendors to adopt responsible business policies and practices for mutual benefit;
- Vendors are regarded as partners and we will work with them to help us achieve our policy aspirations in the delivery of our products and services;
- We are committed to ensuring that the welfare of workers and labour conditions within our supply chain meet or exceed recognised standards;
- Where necessary, we will exert procurement pressure to ensure that all of our vendors behave in a socially responsible way. This includes environmentally-friendly products and making sure that workers are treated properly;
We will continue to work with vendors to:
- Promote more environmentally friendly products and promote these to our customers;
- Reduce the amount of packaging and transit where possible;
- Implement schemes to take-back, recover, re-use and recycle products at the end of their use/life.
Greenhouse gas emissions
In 2016 we started measuring and monitoring the greenhouse gas emissions that occur because of our activities. We will continue to do this going forward to drive performance improvements and reduce our emissions per tonne of product we sell.

2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | |
Direct Emissions | 93.6 | 90.3 | 87.3 | 84.9 | 66.3 | 81.8 | 68.9 |
Indirect Emissions | 30.1 | 26.5 | 25.8 | 25.5 | 23.7 | 21.6 | 22.8 |
Total Emissions | 123.7 | 116.8 | 113.1 | 110.4 | 90.0 | 103.4 | 91.7 |
Solar panel generation
Solar panels installed on our warehouses mean greenhouse gas indirect emissions have been reduced as follows:
2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | |
Generation (kwh) | 55592 | 54364 | 59136 | 55186 | 57804 | 57870 | 57409 |
Indirect Emissions reduced by (tonne) | 23 | 19 | 17 | 14 | 13 | 12 | 11 |
2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | |
Total waste generated | 13.67 | 13.01 | 11.8 | 12.95 | 12.53 | 11.93 | 11.99 | 11.89 | 11.03 | 11.89 | 11.65 |
Waste to landfill | 3.15 | 2.99 | 3.14 | 3.85 | 3.05 | 1.66 | 1.74 | 1.73 | 1.63 | 1.62 | 1.51 |
Waste recycled | 10.52 | 10.02 | 8.66 | 9.1 | 9.48 | 10.27 | 10.25 | 10.16 | 9.40 | 10.27 | 10.14 |
We record the amount of waste we generate year-on-year. Due to the nature of our products, we recycle the majority of our waste and send only a small proportion to landfill. We are continuously driving ourselves to be more efficient with resources and reduce the amount of waste we are sending to landfill.

We strive to reduce the amount of waste we generate from our activities. Following an internal benchmarking exercise, we decided to benchmark ourselves against our 2016 performance to drive us going forwards.
Waste Best Practice
We have a commitment to apply the waste hierarchy and maximise diversion of waste from landfill. Effective management of all waste streams will be achieved by adhering to the waste regulations. A register of licences for waste carriers is detailed in the Metal Technology environmental management system which is certified to ISO 14001:2015. Performance metrics are also set around minimising waste as far as practicable, and that waste produced is diverted from landfill. As part of its wider waste management strategy Metal Technology monitors and measures the amount of waste that it produces as an organisation in tonnes.
The amount of waste generated can then be derived in terms of kilograms of waste generated per tonne sold. At this moment in time industry benchmarking is not possible.
We have had success with staff engagement with waste reduction activities through promoting behavioural change to encourage office recycling. This also forms part of our supplier evaluation process which we use to engage with our suppliers.
Water
As a company, we use very little water in our production process, with most of our use being for domestic purposes. However, as a company we recognise water is a scarce resource and so understand the importance of conserving water. We therefore measure our water consumption to ensure we are being as efficient as we can.
Our use for 2016 was 13 m3 per employee and in 2017 11.5 m3 2018 to 10.3 m3 2019 11.7 m3, 2020 8.2 m3 and 2021 10.13 m3 and 2022 9.52 m3 .
Water Best Practice
We have a commitment to use water as efficiently as possible. Metal Technology commits to monitor and minimise water usage as far as practicable, given that all water used by Metal Technology is sourced from mains water supplies and thus no water is extracted directly from the source. Water meters are installed allowing Metal Technology to measure domestic water consumption – no water is consumed during the production process. A reduction in water use will be strived for by setting performance metrics around water use, which will monitor and measure domestic water use in litres. The litres of water used per employee can then be derived. Objectives and targets are focused upon minimising use and staff are educated in the efficient use of water in the workplace.
Transport
- 1. We deliver our products both within Northern Ireland and to the UK mainland. We therefore understand that emissions from transport of our product to our customers have potential to cause significant environmental harm. For deliveries within Northern Ireland, we use our own fleet of vehicles, and we use our ISO 14001 certified environmental management system to identify environmental impacts from our fleet. For our deliveries to the UK mainland, we use several third-party hauliers, who we survey to establish how they identify and manage their environmental impacts. We will strive to work with our hauliers to help them meet our environmental ethos and comply with our CSR policy.
- 2. Through our environmental management system, we have identified our impacts on the environment from transport as emissions of CO2, CO, NOx, particulate matter and other volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
- 3. To mitigate against our significant environmental impacts, we ensure all our drivers and the drivers of our third-party hauliers are CPC trained in fuel efficient driving techniques. We have upgraded our fleet to lorries with Euro VI emissions class engines to reduce our impact on the environment from vehicular emissions. In addition to this, we also plan routes to ensure deliveries in the same locality can be grouped on the same lorry and we use full loads where possible to minimise our emissions per tonne of product transported. Our hauliers have also been surveyed to understand what actions they take to minimise their environmental impacts, with planning of routes, monitoring of fuel efficiency, and use of Euro VI emissions standards vehicles all tactics employed by our hauliers.
Employment and skills
We recognise the importance of having a skilled workforce to deliver our products. We therefore invest in providing our employees with learning and development opportunities to help them in carrying out their day to day role.
In 2016 we provided a total 524 hours’ worth of training increasing to 536 in 2017, 654 in 2018, 724 in 2019, 741 in 2020, 658 in 2021 and 686 in 2022.
Local Communities
As a responsible organisation, we recognise the importance of giving back to the local community in which we operate as and when we can. We therefore make a number of cash donations throughout the year to a number of good causes.
In 2016, we donated a total of £45,885 to local community and other charitable good causes. In 2017 this figure increased to £61,118 and again in 2018 to £75,061. In 2019 we donated £58,744, 2020 £42,552, 2021 £40,247 and 2022 £56,050.
We also recognise the importance of being a good neighbour and therefore take any community complaints that we might receive very seriously.
In 2016 we received zero community complaints and it is our aim to ensure we continue to achieve zero community complaints going forward. In 2017, 2018, 2019,2020 and 2021 we did not receive any complaints.