BIC - 2019 Universal Registration Document

OUR ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL, AND SOCIETAL RESPONSIBILITY

Responsibility concerning our products [NFPS]

For many years, long before the current growing concern about plastic pollution, the Group has been committed to combating this form of pollution: by minimizing the quantity of plastic materials it uses and ● offering products with long-lasting performance (see page 79); by using alternative materials (recycled and bio-sourced ● plastics) (see page 79). For BIC, the challenges related to plastic waste and resource depletion also offer opportunities, such as: differentiation on the markets by offering products with ● environmental benefits; innovation in materials and products, backed up by the close ● monitoring of technical and regulatory developments concerning plastics; the implementation of a recycling channel, paving the way ● toward the circular economy, and making use of feedback on this experience to initiate other similar systems adapted to each country;

communication to inform customers and consumers of the ● products’ environmental benefits in order to help them make more responsible choices.

3.2.1.2

Policies: BIC’s three eco-design

solutions  [NFPS] 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. ●

TOOLS TO FACILITATE THE ECO-DESIGN PROCESS

Measuring products’ environmental performance Starting in 1994, BIC launched product life cycle studies in order to determine how its products impact the environment and to implement an effective policy to limit their impact. To evaluate its products’ environmental performances, BIC focuses on life cycle phases where it can take action. For shavers, an approach incorporating the usage phase shows that this step – involving water consumption, water heating and the disposal of shaving cream packaging – plays a key role (78% of the total environmental impact, according to certain estimations), underlining the importance of consumer awareness. From 2008 to 2014, BIC monitored measurement of the environmental performances of its products. This measurement is now completely integrated in the processes for designing or modifying a product. In Stationery, 100% of new products are thus subject to eco-measurement. LCA The practice of measuring the products’ environmental performance has been extended by the Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) approach, a method for assessing a product’s total environmental impact in each successive phase in its life. BIC often uses the simplified method of the life cycle approach, which is similar to Life Cycle Analysis except that it does not include the final independent verification phase. From the very beginning of its Sustainable Development Program, BIC Group has been committed to the life cycle approach to verify that it is making steady progress in all pertinent areas. The product design teams are equipped with an array of tools (software, design interfaces, product environmental profiles, eco-design and LCA guides) that allow them to carry out comprehensive, detailed environmental assessments as well as rapid analyses to facilitate decision-making during the design process.

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• BIC GROUP - 2019 UNIVERSAL REGISTRATION DOCUMENT •