100% Group PSS Journey

We asked 100% Group's, Will Williams about their journey to PSS accreditation and why they wanted to become accredited...

What attracted you to gain PSS accreditation?

We heard about the PSS when we attended one of POPAI’s sustainability webinars during the first lockdown. Sustainability has been at the core of a new business strategy we embarked on in 2019, and we saw the accreditation as a great way to bring more structure to our thinking and enhance the journey we are on.

What do you think of the PSS accreditation?

We believe that the PSS is the number 1 sustainability accreditation dedicated to our industry.

The modules analysed each part of our business with a clear focus on some of the most important issues in the sector, making it much more applicable to our industry. 

The PSS enabled us to look at sustainability from a broad business perspective and gave us a structured, holistic approach to managing sustainability as a business. It fitted with our strategic approach for each part of the business to be focussed on achieving the same goal.

How did you manage the PSS process?

Because of the size of our business (over 100 staff) we nominated two Sustainability Leaders and developed an internal team of twelve who became the driving force to implement the changes necessary across our business to gain the accreditation. 

We approached the PSS step-by-step by breaking down each module and setting short, medium and long term goals. We would then meet up as a team on a regular basis to discuss how we had progressed and what we needed to do to move forward. 

In the end we provided around 30 pieces of evidence, some of which we researched and developed specifically for the PSS and some others that already existed in our business.

When we were going through the process of getting accredited, the PSS helped us to focus us on things in our business that are important to us, such as developing our environmental policy, sustainable logistics, energy awareness and end-of-life processes for P-O-P so it was a great sustainability fit. 

How long did it take to get accredited?

We signed up in May and achieved accreditation in August, so around three months. 

What would you say to someone who was considering undertaking the PSS accreditation?

I would definitely recommend it. I know I’ve already said it, but the PSS is focussed on our industry, unlike any other accreditation we looked at. The PSS has helped to cement our sustainability strategy and provided us with a framework to set some important long-term goals.