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Golden Bear goes green to meet London 2012 sustainability goals

With London 2012 set to be the first 'green' Olympic Games, organisers are relying heavily on the sustainability commitments of the businesses supplying them. For Golden Bear Toys, a small to medium-sized toy manufacturer based in Shropshire, that's good news - not just because it has won the contract to supply the toy mascots for London 2012 - Wenlock and Mandeville - but because the games are providing the company with the opportunity to put its operations on a more sustainable footing.

Like most of the Olympics' suppliers, Golden Bear Toys is required to abide by LOCOG's "Sustainable Sourcing Code" to be considered for a contract. They were awarded the contract to supply mascot toys for the Games at the end of last year - a deal which they helped to clinch by showing how they met LOCOG's code. According to their Operations Manager Phil Hancox, "We had already begun a green policy and are members of the British Toy and Hobby Association, which promotes sustainability and the environment," he explains. "This helped us with our bid."

But Hancox admits the company is only at the start of its sustainability journey, with many obstacles to overcome. "It's difficult because our manufacturing is done in China," he explains. Hancox says the LOCOG bid is providing the company with the framework to green its operations, though. For example, over the next year the company plans to complete lifecycle assessments of its mascot toys to measure the entire carbon footprint of them from production to end of use. This will provide it with a benchmark to make further reductions and find more sustainable materials to use in its toys.

The company, meanwhile, is committed to reducing packaging and making sure all the packaging used for the mascots is from recycled material. Hancox says this policy has so far seen a reduction in packaging of 25 to 30 per cent. The company is still a way off achieving an environmental certification, such as ISO 14001, but is committed to getting there with the help of the LOCOG.

"The bid will provide us with a [green] legacy, which we will be able be roll out across all our products," says Hancox.

Extract taken from an article by Michelle Ward - "London 2012: SMEs help to deliver sustainability goals", published by Greenwise on 22 October 2010.

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Golden Bear goes green to meet London 2012 sustainability goals

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