Modern Slavery Statement

Introduction

This statement is made pursuant to section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015. It constitutes Affinity’s slavery and human trafficking statement for the financial year ended 31 August 2020. This statement covers the activities of Affinity and it’s supply chain.

Our Organisation

Affinity is one of South East Asia’s largest suppliers of disposable food packaging products. We rely on material suppliers, manufacturers, and logistics companies to fulfill our proposition.

In our offices we have around 14 staff. These employees are largely directly employed and are generally not in any category which is seen to be vulnerable to modern slavery, so our main focus is to ensure there are policies and due diligence procedures in place for our suppliers.

Our Supply Chain

Affinity is committed to continuously improving its practices to identify and eliminate any slavery and human trafficking in its business and supply chains, and to acting ethically and with integrity in all its business relationships.

Affinity uses a wide range of suppliers who manufacture supply goods and support our operations.

Policies

Affinity has a number of policies which underpin our approach to tackling the risk of modern slavery in our supply chain. These include:

• Working with Suppliers and Partners Policy which sets out internal requirements for buying goods and services;
• Responsible Procurement Policy covering issues of human rights, child and forced labour and modern slavery; and
• Whistleblowing Policy which encourages staff and volunteers to report concerns including any related to modern slavery/trafficking and child or forced labour.

Due Diligence

We continue to monitor suppliers we believe present high modern slavery risks in our supply chain. This includes those who support the procurement of goods and materials for our fundraising and marketing activities and for sale in our network of charity shops, particularly where those goods and materials are acquired from suppliers in high risk countries.

For all factories in the supply chains we request that the operators of those factories:

• are members of either SEDEX or BSCI; and
• provide independent ethical audits through either SEDEX, BSCI or Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production (a certification programme which maintains similar standards to SEDEX and BSCI).

An Affinity team is responsible for assessing the information submitted by suppliers and factory operators. Should a supplier or factory fail to provide the information requested or to meet Affinity’s expectations, Affinity will take appropriate action. For example, this may include not entering into a relationship or suspending/terminating our relationship with a supplier or asking a supplier not to procure goods from a particular factory.

Training

During the year, we have continued to provide advice and guidance to those teams who have direct responsibility for relevant supply chains. Our Procurement team have participated in modern slavery training. We also maintain a Modern Slavery Act Guidance document which is available to staff.

Looking Ahead

Over the course of the next financial year we will continue to enhance our procedures to help us identify, prevent and mitigate any risks of modern slavery or human trafficking in relation to new and existing suppliers and in relation to our own operations.

Approval

This statement has been formally approved by Affinity Supply Co. and signed on their behalf.