BIC - 2018 Registration document

OUR ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL, AND SOCIETAL RESPONSIBILITY

Responsibility concerning our products [NFPS]

Policy, approach and measures implemented ❯ Writing the Future, Together – 3.2.1.2. #1 Fostering sustainable innovation in BIC ® products BIC has set the goal of fostering sustainable product innovation and has codified this ambition in the following commitment: By 2025, the environmental and/or societal footprint of BIC ® products will be improved. In 2018, BIC reached the first milestone in fulfilling this commitment by defining the process and criteria for evaluating and improving its products, summed up in the “Sustainable Scorecard.” Designed to accelerate sustainable innovation across the Group, this tool brings together all R&D projects conducted at BIC for the purpose of product improvement. The criteria defined in the Sustainable Scorecard will be applied to all products (both new and updated existing products) and to all the steps in the product development process. To evaluate the products’ environmental and societal footprint, eight criteria (light and long lasting, recycled plastic, second life, green chemistry, responsible chemistry, efficient manufacturing, affordability, benefits for society) have been defined. For each criterion, each product’s performance is evaluated according to two, three or four indicators. This tool makes the eco-design approach developed by the Group many years ago (described below) the focal point of product development at BIC, establishing its guidelines as unconditional principles. 2019 will be devoted to the evaluation of all products with the Sustainable Scorecard, constituting the second milestone in the fulfillment of this commitment. The implementation of the resulting improvement plans for all three categories of BIC ® products is scheduled to begin in 2020. Its progress will be monitored using as an indicator the percentage of BIC ® products that have been improved in comparison with the baseline year of 2019. To minimize the consumption of non-renewable raw materials, BIC has developed an eco-design approach based on three points: minimizing the quantity of materials used in the ● manufacturing of each product, while ensuring long-lasting performance; using alternative materials of either vegetable or recycled ● origin; developing refillable products. ● The three eco-design solutions 3.2.1.3. developed by BIC

BIC’S THREE ECO-DESIGN SOLUTIONS

Economy of materials Integrating alternative materials Developing refillable products

Economy of materials BIC has always sought to optimize its use of raw materials as much as possible. As an expert in the processing of plastics, BIC exercises its responsibility above all by minimizing its use of these materials. In the Stationery category , the BIC ® Cristal ® ball pen, one of the Group’s flagship products, exemplifies this approach. Even though its design already optimized the use of materials in 1950, the BIC ® Cristal ® ball pen continues to benefit from ongoing research to minimize the quantity of material used: it has a minimum writing length of more than 2 km; ● it uses only 2.9 grams of material per kilometer of writing, ● compared with 6.6 grams for a competing product with comparable characteristics. In the Shavers category , BIC achieves very good performance on its markets due to its highly competitive price/quality ratio. For each product range, this price/quality ratio is made possible by the development of simple products that require an optimal quantity of materials. For example, the BIC ® Simply Soleil ® shaver is designed to weigh as little as possible. Although it is hollow, its handle nonetheless ensures a high level of performance, quality and comfort in shaving. Progress made in 2018 ❯ In January 2018, production was launched in Europe of an optimized version of one of the Group’s flagship products, the BIC ® Flex 3, launched in Latin America in 2017. Without affecting its ease of use, the shaver’s hollow handle was further lightened by reducing the quantity of rubber. This modification also makes the production lines more efficient, resulting in a 34% reduction in material and a 22% reduction in weight in comparison with the previous BIC ® Flex 3 shaver. The first products with this new BIC ® Flex 3 handle were packaged for Europe in July 2018 and will be rolled out to the Middle East-Africa markets in 2019.

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• BIC GROUP - 2018 REGISTRATION DOCUMENT •