Giving Back

Education

Marketing in traditional terms is the activity involved in the transfer of goods from the producer or seller to the consumer or buyer through activities such as the use of slogans, celebrity endorsements, advertising and general media exposure. At ONEgroup, we firmly believe it is everyone's right and duty, to make informed and responsible decisions in their lifestyle and purchasing for their health, from a financial, social & environmental perspective. We believe it is the duty of businesses, governments and organisations to assist and promote this, through honest and responsible disclosure of their agenda, business practices and relevant product or service information. This includes promoting awareness of the indirect, as well as the direct impacts and implications of these products and services. You will therefore discover that all our promotional materials are based on education, not influence through "engineered hype" and purely self-serving messages.

Support

At ONEgroup we believe that what goes around comes around and one of our paths of giving back is our support of the David Suzuki Foundation, to help further their work in preserving our environment.

We chose the David Suzuki Foundation for two reasons. Firstly we admire David himself as a responsible scientist in today's world community. And secondly, that since 1990 the David Suzuki Foundation has worked through scientific research and education, to find ways for society to live in balance with the natural world that sustains us. As people in business, we know that our economy is totally dependent on our ecology and not the reverse.

Just after David's final visit to Australia, he wrote in a letter to us "...you at ONEgroup have put your money where your words are. I thank you for your generosity...thanks for helping us carry on"

At ONEgroup we understand the principle of 'no margin, no mission'. That is, we operate on a profit; otherwise we could not contribute in such a manner. To get a glimpse at the wonderful work of the David Suzuki Foundation, go to www.davidsuzuki.org

Ingredient and Product Integrity

We choose to be third party certified organic to the highest international standards. ONEgroup's brand miessence® is the first skin care product range on the planet to be submitted and comply with, the rigorous processing and labelling requirements for certified organic food products.
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The benefits of Certified Organic products go much further than the products themselves. This approach effectively removes chemicals from the agricultural practices of growing our ingredients, as well as removing the manufacture of synthetic chemicals, and their by-products, that would otherwise go into equivalent conventional commercial products. In addition, it removes chemical exposure of our customers when using these products and of the environment when some of these products are washed down drains or disposed of, after use.

Certified products not only promote organic farming, health and public awareness of environmental ethics, they also create a more sustainable supply chain. For a product to be organic, there are conditions from the grower all the way through transportation, processing and packaging, so that all stakeholders in this supply chain make a business of becoming more green. All our suppliers must meet international organic standards. In the case of ONEgroup, we are the processor and distributor of our products and continue to find ways to make all aspects of our business practices greener.

In promoting product integrity, ONEgroup not only uses organic ingredients wherever it is available and possible, but we also meet organic food standards. We continue to support this high standard at a time where other companies are just beginning to attempt this and are lobbying for changed and lower standards for non-food products such as skin care.

Countering Freight & Manufacturing Pollution

Freight

A concern is the amount of greenhouse gases we emit as we deliver many products worldwide to our customers homes & retail outlets. As a company that has firmly put our principles into practice with our products, we decided during 2006 to engage the not-for-profit organisation Greenfleet to calculate our freight emissions and in turn provide the service of planting trees on our behalf, which would offset our impact on the environment. Science shows that 17 mixed native species of trees will help create a forest. As they grow whilst absorbing greenhouse gases, these trees will also help tackle salinity, improve water quality and provide habitat for native species.

Manufacturing

The same CO2 pollution applies for our production facility. To counter this we now pay a premium and source wind-powered electricity through the grid. This is made possible through our local energy provider. By using electric forklifts and machinery run on compressors that all run off this green renewable energy, we can claim zero emissions from our manufacturing.

Packaging Integrity

Our packaging materials fall under the organic certification standards for our products (i.e. PVC plastic is not permitted as dioxin is a by-product of its production) and we use both glass and plastics that most councils recycle. We have for some time been researching the possibility of utilising bio-degradable plastics made from starches such as corn & potatoes. Since 2003 we have been using a product packaging filler made from these substances and during 2006 we have been researching a possible alternative to petro-chemical plastic for our bottles & jars, that would breakdown in landfill and therefore be part of the world's waste problems solutions. Various packaging and display solutions are emerging from this research & development and the possibility that suitable bottles and jars for all our products will be available in the next few years is very promising.

Greener Offices

While we have goals for a greener premises in the future, ONE Group currently offsets our plant and offices, as well as our events and promotional tours with tree planting to make our day to day business activity carbon neutral. Conscientious use of recycled materials and use of electricity are promoted and observed throughout our operations.