Top Midlands recruiter SF Group ditches plastic for bamboo as part of new brand and environmental pledge

The leading Midlands recruitment specialist, SF Group, has vowed to ditch all single-use plastic and turn to a more sustainable material – bamboo.

In what is believed to be a first for a recruitment agency in the area, SF Group has made the pledge as it launches its new name, brand and values this month.

Now called SF Recruitment, the company, which has offices in Birmingham, Leicester and Nottingham, and covers the entire Midlands region, has chosen the natural resource of bamboo to represent the values a recruiter needs to be successful and its drive to replace a wide variety of plastics being used throughout the business.

The new tagline for SF Recruitment is “a natural fit’ – chosen to highlight the business’  philosophy on finding the perfect match between people and companies.

CEO Saira Demmer said: “This sustainable resource was chosen by the company for a whole host of reasons. Similar to bamboo, successful recruiters need to be strong and flexible. We have also made the decision to step forward and be leaders in our field, in being environmentally aware. We believe this is an industry first certainly for the region – and bamboo is a resource that provides many answers to a number of the world’s environmental problems.  Our employees speak to hundreds of business decision makers a week, and perhaps we can inspire and influence them to be more actively environmentally aware too.

“Alongside this, we didn’t want to just tweak our name and logo, but closely associate our internal behavioural values which we all work so successfully by with something meaningful  while standing for something pictorially and ethically,” he added.

Bamboo, which is the world’s fastest growing plant, is ‘a natural fit’ for replacing non-renewable material*. Recyclable and biodegradable, bamboo renews itself within weeks making it a green alternative for many plastic items that, when disposed of irresponsibly, cause such harm. It’s fast growing properties even make it a more environmentally alternative to metal and more surprisingly paper. It lessens the need for deforestation in production of standard paper, does not require any pesticides or fertilisers to be grown and cleans the air whilst greatly decreasing the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, as bamboo releases 30% more oxygen into the atmosphere and absorbs more carbon dioxide compared to any other plant.

The company will be reflecting this change in its corporate gifting, switching from plastic to more environmentally friendly products such as bamboo. It will also be looking to eradicate the use of items such as plastic straws, forks and single-use water bottles.

Saira added: “This is the last straw for us. We believe all businesses now need to be more aware of what they do and the effect it has on their surroundings. Plastic is still everywhere, on our streets and flowing in our waterways, and this should be of concern to all of us. It needs a joined-up effort to make any difference. While we may be landlocked, Birmingham has miles of canals and our offices in Nottingham and Leicester are by the Rivers Soar and Trent.

“Much of the plastic waste that goes in them, will eventually make its way into the ocean and may even end up in the food chain – so we all need to play our part. At SF Recruitment, it’s time that we became known for being green by name, but also now green by nature, as wildlife simply cannot stomach anymore plastic,” she added.

Figures from Greenpeace have shown that an estimated 1.15 – 2.41 million tons of plastic end up in the sea each year (the equivalent of 100,000 rubbish trucks) from our waterways** – and the environmental group has called for corporations to be more environmentally aware.

There have been big changes for SF Recruitment which has Dragons Den James Caan as an investor. Last autumn it celebrated reaching 20 years and placing 40,000 professionals throughout the region. It has also expanded at an impressive rate, with 120 employees now recruiting across multiple sectors for all sizes of company and across all industries, and now solely focussed on the Midlands area. They have also achieved an average 40% year on year profit growth for the last six years.

Staff will also be soon taking part in some activity to push for more people to sign the pledge and are set to work with a number of charities to help with this.

For more details about their pledge and about bamboo as a resource, visit www.sfrecruitment.com/bamboo

 

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