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Eco-responsible

Eco-
Responsible

Creating a product, no matter what it is, requires resources and has an impact on nature. We fully appreciate our responsibilities and duties as citizens, and for several years we have been striving to minimise this impact using an overall eco-design approach.
Creativity and quality have more meaning when they are combined with true social commitment.

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No gesture too small
No gesture is too small when there are millions of us doing it. Because, in fact, there are millions of consumers like you buying our GAUTIER products every year, and we continually strive to make you more satisfied. In this spirit, we are certain that only by walking hand in hand with our customers can we both be happy.

You are becoming more concerned about a clean future, WE ARE TOO.

You want to meet your needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs, WE DO TOO.

You also want to be able to enjoy a product without feeling guilty about its environmental impact, WE DO TOO.

We share the same values.

We found that a product's environmental impact is one of your main concerns when buying, so we have taken this on board.
- 60% of consumers have changed their behaviour towards sustainable development in the last 12 months. (Ethnicity Surveys, March 2010)
- 85% of French people say they "want information on the environmental impact of products they buy." (Ethnicity Surveys, March 2010)
- Pollution is the number two subject of concern for the French. (ADEME, March 2011)
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Gautier is more than just a great human adventure, it is a daring challenge taken up each day: to create the necessary conditions for the expression and synergy of a whole succession of trades. From design to manufacturing, from logistics to marketing, everyone brings and checks their vision of the company's range of skills and knowledge in order to offer you products and services which meet your demands in a responsible way.

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Dominique SOULARD
GAUTIER CEO
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A long term approach
NWe were able to anticipate this trend. For over 90 years, Gautier has been a responsible manufacturer. Furthermore, this approach has been rewarded over the years with a triple certification (QSE approach).

Gautier was the first French furniture company to achieve the triple certification :
- ISO 9001 certification (for its quality approach management),
- ISO 14001 for its commitment to the environment,
- and OHSAS 18001 for respecting safety in the workplace.
After receiving ISO 9001 certification in 1994 for its quality approach management, Gautier continued its efforts and obtained ISO 14001 certification in December 2006 for its commitment to the environment. It then received OHSAS 18001 certification in August 2007 for its Safety Management system implemented at its three furniture manufacturing sites (Le Boupère, Chantonnay and Saint Prouant). If you would like more technical details about the ISO 14001 standard, please visit the International Organisation for Standardization official website.

In 2006, GAUTIER also undertook a Carbon Footprint report in order to evaluate and limit the greenhouse gas emissions generated by the company.

From this, we became aware of our weaknesses and consequently took steps to reduce our impact.
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Eco-design measures in place to limit our environmental impact
- Design
- Raw materials
- Manufacture
- Packaging
- Transport
- Sustainability
- Recycling
Starting at the furniture design phase, our designers take into account numerous criteria to limit the impact of our production on the environment.
- Our suppliers and materials undergo a rigorous selection with the aim of minimising the effect on the environment.
- Our panels are made of wood from sustainably managed forests or recycled wood scraps. Our research and development centre was one of the first in Europe to manufacture very low emission panels. These panels create emissions two times lower than the ideal rate stated by the EN 13986 European standard. Our panel manufacturing plant has just obtained the CARB Phase 2 American certification which is among one of the most demanding in the world.
- Since 2006, we have been using water-based UV varnishes with low solvent levels.
- We recover 95% of production waste. Sawdust, a waste product of manufacturing, is used as heating energy in order to reduce consumption of non-renewable resources. And our boiler room is equipped with an electrofilter to limit dust emissions.
- Some of these wood scraps are recycled as part of manufacturing panels.
- Using surface treatment products which are water or total dry extract based has enabled us to considerably reduce our solvent atmospheric emissions - to a level two times lower than regulated requirements.
Our packaging is carefully selected.
- Our cardboard contains at least 50% recycled cardboard.
- All our packaging meets European requirements.
- We manufacture our own wood-based panels at our production site, considerably minimising the transport of this primary raw material.
- We optimise our rounds and load trucks without pallets to minimise journeys.
- We also sign contracts with our transporters to minimise empty return trips.
Say NO to disposable furniture! Say YES to Gautier quality.
Our furniture, with its five year guarantee, has a long life-span. Using the assembly instructions, you can always reassemble it without damage, allowing it to follow you on every move.
When we design a piece of furniture, we are already thinking about how to make it easy to recycle the components.
- Moreover, 100% of our manufacturing business heating is achieved without consuming any fossil fuel.
- We make everyone at Gautier aware of basic gestures: sorting rubbish (plastic, cardboard etc), avoiding waste (turning off lights) and more.
- The various materials used in our furniture are easy to separate in order to make sorting easier when they reach the end of their life.
- Whenever technically possible, we mark plastic components in anticipation of them being recycled.
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Preserve our natural resource: forests

Deforestation is worrying for the balance of nature (floods, landslides, endangered species etc). Moreover, forests contribute to effectively fighting global warming. We contribute to protecting forests by manufacturing our furniture using wood from sustainably managed regional forests or recycled wood scraps.

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At GAUTIER, environmental responsibility is not a fashion trend. Since the start of the 90s, actions have been taken at our installations in the areas of rubbish sorting and complying with environmental standards in order to keep pace with regulatory developments. This is in keeping with our decision to set up "factories in the countryside". Over the years, innovative investments have enabled us to further reduce our impact, and we have expanded this to cover the full life cycle of a product. Ultimately, as with Quality and Safety, our watchwords remain: Ongoing Improvement.

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Pierre-Emmanuel BERTHAULT
QSE Manager - GAUTIER France