BIC - 2020 Universal Registration Document

OUR ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL, AND SOCIETAL RESPONSIBILITY

Our products [NFPS]

In the Shaver category, the BIC ® Hybrid shaver is sold as a handle with four-to-six heads. The underside of the handle is also ribbed to reduce the use of plastic without altering the shaver’s ergonomic characteristics, which are the same as those of a conventional handle. Because it comes with four-to-ten heads, the product’s performance life is at least four times that of a standard non-refillable shaver. Over its entire life cycle and for one year of shaving, the environmental impact of the BIC ® Hybrid shaver is 28% less than that of a similar non-refillable BIC ® model, like the BIC ® Comfort 3 ® Action ® . In late 2020 the BIC Group acquired Rocketbook, the number one brand in the United States for reusable smart notebooks. Its products meet the needs of a great many consumers, allowing them to store and share handwritten notes quickly and efficiently in an environmentally-friendly way. Rocketbook’s line of affordable, innovative products expands and enriches BIC’s range of writing instruments, offering consumers a complete and sustainable ecosystem for writing and creating. Going even further with the functional economy In 2019 the BIC Group set out to further develop the refill model by experimenting with a new circular economy model ‒ the functional economy ‒ through a partnership with LOOP, a circular economy e-commerce platform created by Terracycle, the world leader in the recycling of wastes that are considered difficult to recycle. LOOP offers a practical, affordable circular economy e-commerce solution based on sustainable and refillable products and containers. It reduces dependency on packaging through home delivery, returnable packaging and supply based on actual consumption. Three BIC ® products are carried by LOOP, all three listed as approved school supplies: the BIC ® Gel-ocity ® Illusion™ erasable gel pen and its cartridges, the BIC ® Criterium™ refillable mechanical pencil and its six-lead refill case, and a box of 10 woodless colored pencils, for which consumers can reorder single pencils of a specific color. The “4 Rs” ‒ Design and manufacture Recyclable products and explore new recycling channels In keeping with its “4 Rs” philosophy, the BIC Group constantly strives to make its products more recyclable by improving their design and by exploring all available recycling channels in order to gain an understanding of its products’ end-of-life phase. Since 2011, BIC has been exploring the development of channels for the recycling of its products, thus becoming active in the field of waste management, a completely new activity for the Group in relation to its core business. Taking part in a collaborative effort with different stakeholders, BIC is the initiator of an independent recycling industry, which offers a circular economy model unique in France. This circular economy sector relies on two major partnerships: BIC’s partnership with TerraCycle for the collection of used ● writing instruments: since 2011, the BIC-TerraCycle program has been offering the collection and recycling of used writing instruments in Europe. A pioneer in this field, the program allows users of these products to organize at their consumption sites the collection of all types of writing instruments, whether BIC ® branded or not, to be recycled. For each instrument collected, one euro cent is donated to a charity or non-profit association of the organizer’s choice or, in the case of schools, directly to the school to finance an educational project. As of the end of 2020, more than 54 million pens had been collected and 680,000 euros in

donations made. This program, funded entirely by BIC, enables the Group to gain a better understanding of the mechanisms of selective collection, to encourage responsible consumption (using products until the very end of their service life) and to promote the habit of waste sorting at the site of consumption. After its launch in Australia and New Zealand in 2019, the TerraCycle program was rolled out in the United States in 2020; a partnership with Govaplast and Plas Eco for the design, ● manufacture and distribution of “Ubicuity™, the ‘write’ kind of bench™” furniture. Used pens are collected, sorted and shredded by a recycler. The plastic materials are shipped to Govaplast, which converts them into recycled plastic boards. The boards are in turn used by Plas Eco, which designs, manufactures, distributes and markets the products in the Ubicuity™ line. This range comprises seven models. Made entirely from recycled plastic, these products are themselves recyclable, resistant to rot, ultraviolet radiation and graffiti as well as very durable (guaranteed 10 years). Long-lasting and easy to maintain ‒ qualities in keeping with the Values of BIC ® products ‒ they have a smaller environmental footprint than outdoor furniture made from farmed wood. At the end of 2020 Ubicuity™ posted strong sales in France, showing steady growth since 2017 (with more than 500 pieces of outdoor furniture sold in three years). Buoyed by this success, Plas Eco and BIC have expanded the product range with the launch in 2020 of a new line for nursery and grade schools. BIC hopes that this product line and the circular economy channel that spawned it will grow rapidly in the years to come, as exemplified by the program’s extension to Australia and New Zealand in 2019. Furthermore, several years ago, the Lighters category has launched a test phase of several collection and recycling loops. The objective is to understand consumer behavior with regard to collection and recycling, and to define the most effective models for implementing the collection of used lighters. The “4 R’s” in the product teams’ everyday operations The BIC Group wants to make responsible innovation and the improvement of its products’ environmental and societal footprint an integral part of its teams’ everyday operations. To aid in this effort, the Group has developed a tool for evaluating its products: the EMA (Environmentally & socially Measurable Advantage) Scorecard. EMA is based on eight criteria (service life, product weight, the materials’ environmental impact, the use of recycled and/or alternative materials, the materials’ recyclability, etc.). Conceived in keeping with the principles of the circular economy, EMA reflects the “4 Rs” philosophy while taking into account other environmental aspects (responsible chemistry, green chemistry, efficient manufacturing) and social considerations (benefits for society, affordability, etc.). The goal is to stimulate and facilitate sustainable innovation within the Group by adopting an objective, scientific approach in the design processes. Directly connected to the existing tools used for eco-design (e-DEA and SimaPro), EMA unites all of the R&D work conducted at BIC for the purpose of product improvement. The criteria defined for EMA are applied to all products (both new and updated existing products) and integrated into the innovation process. This tool makes the eco-design approach developed by the Group for many years now the focal point of product development at BIC, establishing its guidelines as unconditional principles.

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• BIC GROUP - 2020 UNIVERSAL REGISTRATION DOCUMENT •