VEKA Plc is proud to have been shortlisted for not one, but two categories at this year’s G21 Awards. The winners will be announced at the famous G Awards dinner which will take place at Park Lane’s London Hilton in November and will see VEKA among those named as a finalist in the ‘Best Sustainability Initiative’ and ‘COVID 19 Business Hero’ Award categories.
The Best Sustainability Initiative looks to honour companies who have adopted measures to minimise, reuse and recycle waste, protect the environment, and minimise energy use. They are also interested in measures that have demonstrated the mitigation of climate change.
VEKA demonstrated to judges its ongoing commitment to sustainability after publishing its second comprehensive CSR, (corporate social responsibility), report earlier this year. Not only is CSR a key strategic objective for the business, but it also inspired VEKA’s new positioning statement for 2021, ‘We Care | We Act’ and new mission statement, ‘We care about our partners, our people & our environment.”
Like many businesses in the last 18 months, VEKA had to remain firmly focused on survival and the continued supply of product, to protect the welfare of its employees, suppliers, and customers. For many that would mean that CSR would take a back seat, and although they were honest in admitting they haven’t been able to achieve all the goals that they identified in their 2019 CSR report, they have still made progress and reported some impressive energy savings, ways to reduce waste and community support.
The ‘COVID 19 Business Hero’ Award looks to play tribute to the businesses that have reacted to the global pandemic and pivoted the way they operate to be a force for good within the glass and glazing industry.
VEKA’s strategic response to the pandemic protected the welfare of its customers, suppliers and employees. VEKA supplied material essential in the manufacture of the ‘Nightingale’ hospitals and helped to support 200 local families with food over Christmas. Despite unprecedented demand and shortages of raw materials, VEKA’s innovative approach has resulted in continued supply to its customers.
Dawn Stockell, Marketing Director at VEKA plc, said:
“We’re honoured that our strategic approach to sustainability and our actions during the pandemic have been recognised by the prestigious G21 awards. Like many businesses, our crisis management plans didn’t include a global pandemic. However, by the time the national lockdown was announced in March 2020, our management team had a robust plan. With a newly earned respect for the need to be able to flex our strategy, our plans remained ambitious, but sustainable, as we will never put the stability of the business or people at risk.”
Dawn added:
“We are also very proud that our sister company VEKA Recycling is also a G21 Awards finalist. I believe that having two independently managed companies from the same group appearing amongst the finalists in this category, offers a very clear picture of the commitment the VEKA Group has to sustainability.
We’re looking forward to what promises to be a great event and we wish all the finalist the very best of luck.”
