OUR CODE OF ETHICS.

Here at TOMbag we are a mission-driven business and as such are guided by a set of ethical rules that represent our core values and beliefs. All these principles are guiding us in our day-to-day work with clients, community, our team and suppliers network, and other stakeholders. Overall purpose of TOMbag is to deliver a profit whilst having an overall positive impact on society and the environment. 

GOVERNANCE

At TOMbag, we are committed to use our business - products, profits, and practices - as a force for good. In both every day and long term decision making we strive to follow the following principles:

- Create multiple forms of value for all stakeholders; 
- Be honest, factual, trustworthy, and transparent; 
- Respect privacy for all stakeholders and honour their confidentiality;
- Strive for the highest quality in our everyday conduct; 
- Embrace principles of continuous learning that improve our professional competence; 
- Embrace principles of design thinking that improve end user experience. 

COMMUNITY

Being a part of any community comes along with certain responsibilities and moral obligations. Being a social enterprise, we strive to benefit our community through protecting it and giving back to it. 

- Share our professional knowledge and expertise through content, networking, and public speaking;
- Introduce innovative products designed with circularity in mind that could replace products that are harmful to the environment, thus protecting local communities overall well-being;
- Strive to engage with the local communities by being an active member in various local organisations that are aligned with our values and beliefs; 
- Respect the privacy and confidentiality of community members; 
- Be attentive to community’s needs. 

ENVIRONMENT

TOMbag was born as a result of our desire to reduce harmful effects of single-use plastic industry and our passion for innovation. Care for the environment is a part of TOMbag’s DNA and environmental protection is one of our most important guiding principles. When making any decision we are directed by the following principles:

- Minimise the harm to the environment through innovation and introducing to the market products that can replace environmentally harmful solutions; 
- Design “zero waste" solutions (e.g. made from either recycled or renewable materials that can be fully upcycled/composted at the end of their life); 
- Design solutions contrary to planned obsolescence. 
- Be a part of circular economy contributing to it with our fully circular products; 
- Reduce our business environmental footprint through allowing work at virtual/home office and encouraging taking public transport instead of private vehicles when needed. 
- Maintain a healthy work environment with practices such as composting, waste sorting and recycling, printing minimisation and switching to reusable and circular options whenever possible. 
- Minimise our carbon footprint by choosing the most environmentally friendly freight options whenever possible and avoiding air freight. 
- Minimise our carbon footprint by shipping our products to customers using 100% recycled plastic mailers and paper tape. 
- Contribute over 2% of our revenues to local charities that improve the life in local communities (environmental protection focus) - currently, planting a tree for each product sold via our partnership with One Tree Planted. 
- Track energy and water consumption for our operational activities;
- Aim for zero waste operations.

CUSTOMERS

Here at TOMbag, we greatly value all our customers. We exist for our customers and seek constant improvement to make their life easier and better. Below we outline a number of ethical principles that are incorporated into relationships with our customers:

- Always strive to provide the highest quality service to every customer; 
- Seek for customers’ feedback for our products and service (via regular customers feedback survey); 
- Make it easy for our customers to be more environmentally friendly through curated end-of-life programs for our products; 
- Provide additional value to our customers through educational content; 
- Respect the privacy and confidentiality of each and every customer; 
- Prioritise honesty and transparency in all communications with customers.