In the past 12 months Blackmores has boosted our operations significantly to meet demand following unprecedented growth. This challenged our existing initiatives to reduce the environmental impact and the carbon footprint of our facilities and operations.

We have met these challenges with new initiatives, programs and processes to better manage our waste, recycling and energy consumption at our Blackmores Campus at Warriewood.

Blackmores’ comprehensive waste implementation plan was rolled out in 2015 to increase our capabilities in handling waste streams and to introduce new recovery streams and processes.

Our closed loop packaging process was introduced to enable the delivery of primary packaging components to be bulk delivered on returnable pallets and layer pads. The 2015/2016 results on inwards goods waste due to this process have resulted in substantial avoidance of cardboard/paper, plastic wrap and packing tape waste. The process has also improved efficiencies while reducing the potential for repetitive injuries. One activity saw the reduction in an activity reduce from 120 seconds to 20 seconds.

Our materiality assessment has highlighted five focus areas to meet our sustainability targets; (our aim); how we can achieve this goal (actions); and our status in implementing these actions (progress).

Blackmores sources its materials from around the world and supporting our suppliers is vital to the ongoing success of our business.  Understanding, managing and sharing knowledge with these suppliers in their sustainability practice to reduce their environmental footprint, act in an ethical and responsible manner; and support their local communities is an imperative for our company. Our overview enables us to understand, identify and mitigate the risks in our supply chain.

Blackmores Supplier Conference

We strive to partner with our suppliers and involve them in our business as much as possible. At our annual Blackmores Supplier Conference more than 55 suppliers from ten countries attended. We used the conference as an opportunity to provide clarity around our business strategic goals and differentiators. Sustainability was a focus with an award given for achieving excellence in sustainability practice.

Supply Chain Management

We have an extensive network of suppliers across the globe and our goal is to manage our supply chain in a transparent and sustainable manner.

Inventory spend by region

WWF Partnership

Product Stewardship has seen us partner with several leading organisations including the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) and Antarctic Wildlife Research Fund (AWR).

Since Blackmores launched our partnership with WWF in 2012, considerable work has been done to protect the oceans and to ensure marine oils are being sourced sustainably. We entered into a Fisheries Improvement Program for our Peruvian fishery which addresses the ecological issues the fishery faces and assists in achieving MSC certification.

We work with AWR to raise funds for research on the Antarctic ecosystem and wildlife.

Quality Products and Services

The high quality of our products and services is of fundamental importance to Blackmores.

• Our products are manufactured to Blackmores’ high quality standards. We build Quality into every batch.
• Every product we sell has passed a rigorous process to check and test for Quality.
• All of Blackmores Therapeutic products are manufactured to an international medicine standard enforced by the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA).

Partnering with Government and Industry

A high level of compliance with medical, regulatory and industry authorities has been achieved.

We proactively engage with government and regulatory authorities to optimise outcomes for our industry and business. To this end we are founding signatory of the Australian Packaging Covenant (APC), a government, industry and community initiative to find more sustainable packing solutions. For the third year we have received a High Achiever accolade from the APC acknowledging our efforts.

Our materiality assessment has highlighted three areas we need to focus on to meet our sustainable supply chain goal. For each issue we have identified our commitment, how we can achieve this goal (actions) and our status in implementing these actions (progress).

Blackmores remained the #1 vitamin and supplement brand and Group in Australia, and the number one brand in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong .

Every Blackmores’ employee has been rewarded with 44 extra days pay in the company’s long-standing profit share scheme. The business achieved outstanding employee engagement scores and a 100% vote for BioCeuticals staff to adopt the Blackmores Enterprise Agreement.

We have diversified our business entering new markets and categories, launching an infant nutrition range with Bega and acquiring Global Therapeutics – an Australian company specialising in a Chinese herbal medicine.

Our leadership and reputation in Asia was showcased with the appointment of CEO Christine Holgate as the Chair of Australian ASEAN Council by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, which is responsible for developing trade and cultural relations with all 10-member states.

Blackmores winning commitment to delivering high quality innovative products and services underpinned by sustainable business growth and strong leadership was recognised by more than 35 awards across Asia-Pacific in 2016.

Risk Management

We have developed and integrated a company-wide risk management framework to manage risks across all aspects of our business operations. This provides a constant and systematic view of our exposures.

Through this risk assessment we have identified potential risks and challenges facing our business.

For further information on our risk management framework and how we intend to manage these risks refer to the Operating and Financial Review section of our Annual Report .

We are continuing our training and communication on anti-corruption policies and procedures.

Investment in Research

Investment in research, education and scholarly activities underpins the quality use of complementary medicines and enhances health outcomes for the community. Led by our research and education arm, Blackmores Institute, and BioCeuticals, our practitioner only range, we have generated 447,816 opportunities to educate consumers and customers about health and wellbeing.

We promote online education programmes in multiple languages, which are accredited by leading universities and governing bodies. The Blackmores Institute hosts five symposia across Australia, New Zealand and Asia for healthcare practitioners. The BioCeuticals FX Medicine podcasts, with integrative medicine education, have been downloaded 65,000 across 40 countries and are ranked third in their category on iTunes.

Over the last year we have committed $764,000, to research institutions; 24 research projects, including clinical trials; and 24 alliances with research bodies such as:

• The National Institute of Complementary Medicine (NICM), University of Western Sydney
• The Australian Research Centre in Complementary and Integrative Medicine (ARCCIM), the University of Sydney
• Chulalongkorn University Thailand
• Taylor’s University, Malaysia
• National University of Malaysia
• Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology – Integrating CM education into allied health degrees
• Rangsit University to strengthen pharmacists education in Thailand.

Our materiality assessment has highlighted three areas we need to focus on to meet our sustainability commitment to Industry leadership, and the actions and our progress in achieving this goal.

Blackmores employs 843 people in permanent full-time and part-time roles. Many of our team speak an Asian language as their first language. We value the importance of diversity, we are committed to creating a flexible working environment and an emphasis on developing talent. The outcome has been a rich diversity of people in age, gender and skills.

Our employees are engaged in our business and this is reflected in the employee engagement score of 86% we achieved as measured by AON Hewitt. Our team rewards are aligned to shareholder returns and in this financial year staff received 44 days extra pay under our longstanding profit share scheme.

We are continually investing in our people through training and development programs. As our company has expanded across Asia we now offer our Australia-based employees Mandarin classes and our Asian based employees participate in English language classes.

We have built a leadership competency-map to assess new and existing talent and restructured our rewards programmes; to ensure we build an incentivised and skilled work-force fit for our future.

Work Health & Safety (WH&S)

Blackmores’ operations are a ‘low risk’ work environment meaning that there is a low level of occupational hazards. Our records show that there are no long term injuries (impairment) and no fatalities. We have established WH&S committees across multiple sites. These involve representatives from all tiers in the staff structure.

As a company in the health and wellbeing category we are focused on protecting the health and safety of our employees through safe work practices, a formal reporting process for workplace incidents, injuries and potential risks and the publication of a monthly B!Safe newsletter for employees.

To help improve wellness outcomes for our staff we have an on-site corporate wellness centre including a treatment rooms, gymnasium and swimming pool. The business has recently introduced stand up desks to improved wellbeing outcomes for staff.

Supporting our communities

Blackmores recognises our responsibilities within the communities in which we operate. Each market has its own local charity initiatives.

At the company’s Warriewood Campus the Blackmores community day saw more than 4,000 local residents tour the facilities, learn about health and wellbeing, and meet representatives from more than 30 local charities and organisations such as Lifeline Northern Beaches. 75 Blackmores’ staff were on hand to help on the day, and $26,000 was raised to support local charities and not-for-profit organisations.

The Blackmores Sydney Running Festival is an annual event. In 2015 there were more than 32,000 participants, including 1,000 staff, family and friends, from 60 countries. This event raised more than $1.3 million for charities.

Our staff are encouraged to participate in local community events such as 30 of Blackmores employees participated in the Clean Up Australia campaign picking up rubbish at Mona Vale Beach.