The Global Stone Group is a leading provider of natural stone and porcelain products for the construction and landscaping industries. With a secure supply chain and strict quality control measures, the group offers the UK’s widest range of paving products that are ethically sourced and packaged with care. As part of its commitment to sustainability, the Global Stone Group has invested in a number of initiatives to decrease its carbon footprint and improve environmental awareness. This includes the installation of a 4.75 Mega Watts wind turbine and a photovoltaic solar power plant at production facilities, as well as the use of hybrid or 100% battery-powered company vehicles. The group is also actively working to reduce waste packaging in both India and the UK and has implemented a water filtration plant on-site to recycle water. Furthermore, 100% of the group’s energy usage in India is met through sustainable means, with any overuse being sold to the Indian State Government.

The Global Stone Group is dedicated to promoting sustainable practices and ensuring the health and safety of its employees and suppliers. With senior management in both the UK and India, the group regularly audits both its own sites and those of its suppliers to ensure that its sustainability, health and safety, and ethical trading and modern slavery policies are strictly followed. The group is also working to become fully UKCA-compliant by 2023. The Global Stone Group strives to offer a majority of its products from ethical and sustainable sources, using BSCI/SA 8000-certified factories. This certification verifies that the production process adheres to standards for fair labour practices, human rights, and environmental protection. As a result, customers can have confidence in the quality and responsible sourcing of the products they receive from the Global Stone Group.

The Modern Slavery Act 2015 was approved by the UK Government in March 2015 and, in short, addresses the crimes of holding another person in slavery, servitude, forced or compulsory labour or trafficking a person. Although organisations are not obliged to respond to the Act, an amendment in October 2015 known as the Transparency in Supply Chain Provisions requires businesses with an annual turnover above 36 million, to publish an annual statement. This statement should either confirm the steps taken to ensure that slavery and human trafficking are not taking place in their business or supply chain or declare that no steps to confirm the existence of slavery or trafficking have been taken.

As a direct response to the act we have put in place a Global Stone Supplier Code of Conduct where our suppliers are asked to adhere to our required standards. Our rolling Supplier Audit Programme has been updated to specifically include references to the Act and has already been implemented. Our Indian suppliers have been audited, co-operating openly and providing a wide range of evidence to support their trading position. This information le and will be reviewed on a regular basis to ensure compliance and provide a basis to assess for continuous improvement. We will continue to rollout across all our suppliers throughout the year. Global Stone continue to do all that we can ensure that our suppliers have employees who could be not be considered a slave, in servitude, forced into compulsory labour or be a victim of human trafficking.