At Oxwash we are immensely proud to have achieved B Corp accreditation; joining an incredible, international community of like-minded B Corp Certified businesses. It’s been a long and rigorous journey but one that we would recommend to any company that wants to make a positive impact in the world.
Certified B Corporations are companies that have undergone specific, high-standard assessments measuring their corporate social and environmental impact.
It is a globally renowned certification awarded to the leaders in the global movement for an inclusive, equitable, and regenerative economy. Unlike other certifications, B Lab assesses the entire impact of the company; It is a recognition of not just a good product, but of a holistically good business which truly drives a more equitable and regenerative future.
Each business applying for B Corp status must demonstrate certain values. The company is assessed across five categories; governance, workers, community, the environment, and customers. Assessment includes a series of questions addressing their impact. For example, what percentage of the management is from underrepresented populations? Or how the company monitors its waste production? The process also requires the company to mobilise all of its employees. Educating and engaging the team about the environmental mission can also bring a lot of satisfaction to the employees.
Oxwash has been assessed with very high performance across the five categories - achieving a B Impact Assessment score of 94.8. The assessment not only allows us to see where our biggest impacts are but also the areas Oxwash can do better. This in turn helps us to identify, track, and understand opportunities to improve and determine better practices.
Becoming a Certified B Corp means that we are now legally bound to follow specific environmental and labour policies. All Certified B Corp companies are held to account through continual monitoring and assessment of their impacts. It is further confirmation that Oxwash's commitment is at the core of its mission as B Lab requires reassessment and recertification every 3 years.
We are in the midst of changing our corporate governance structure to be accountable to all stakeholders, not just shareholders. What we mean by a stakeholder, is everyone who is directly or indirectly affected by our business, including our customers, employees and suppliers.
Saying this, we also pledge to exhibit transparency by publishing information about Oxwash's performance and allowing it to be measured against B Lab’s standards. This documentation will be publicly available on our B Corp profile on the B Lab’s website.
B Corp movement leads the way for us but also for other businesses to start to reduce their impact on the environment and communities. All of the B Corps and their successes show that by collaborating as businesses we can do more!
B Corp Certification assures that companies are held accountable to the highest standards. Transparency is prevalent throughout the supply chain, effectively preventing greenwashing. The B Corp community have access to the B Hive platform where they can ask questions, share best practices, and hold discussions. Sharing knowledge and resources fosters a common objective, creating shared value.
This month, B Lab is celebrating the mark of 1000 companies joining the B Corp movement. 1000 companies worldwide that have been assessed on their impact and are willing to share their knowledge with each other. This is only the beginning! Oxwash is honoured to be 1/1000 companies to have joined the B Corp movement. Especially as we are the only laundry and wet cleaning service in the world to be a Certified B Corporation. However, 1000 may be a small number in comparison to the scale of the problem we face. Together with others in the B Corp community, we can inspire others to join us on this journey in the hope of creating a significant impact on the planet. With each business that becomes a B Corp, our community gets bigger, better, bolder and more impactful. Every new B Corp certification demonstrates that businesses thrive when they act for people and the planet.
You may be wondering why B Corp should matter to you or your business. Working with a Certified B Corporation is truly the only way to guarantee that greenwashing isn't taking place. You can safely be assured that sustainability, whether environmental or social is at its core. You can trust that at Oxwash, we are transparent throughout our operations and practices. You do not have to take our word for that - you can see all the certificates and data on our B Corp profile.
With consumer awareness and conscious consumption on the rise, there is a demand to create a positive impact by changing their habits. However, many are discouraged by ever-prevalent greenwashing and PR stunts. Too often we see fast fashion brands claim to be using ‘recycled materials’ but still release 200+ new garments per month or an oil company that encourages you to 'reduce YOUR carbon footprint'... well, you feel like you don’t know what to do or who to trust anymore. Contrarily, all Certified B Corporations are legally obliged to obey the high environmental and labour standards set out by B Corp. By doing so they are also expected to be fully transparent. This allows you to make an informed purchasing decision and feel like you are consuming true to your values, without being lied to.
We are so proud to be able to call ourselves the world’s only B-Corp laundry and wet cleaning platform! We continue to hold Oxwash accountable to the highest standards as we continue to scale. We, like all Certified B Corporations, will be assessed by B Lab regularly to renew the certification every 3 years. You can monitor our progress and assessments on our B Corp profile.
This is not the end of the story and our efforts will not be stopping with our B Corp certification. As we continually strive to improve our environmental credentials, we have recently announced two other ambitious projects we've been working on. At Oxwash have published our Carbon removal certificate alongside our Net Zero Targets. At Oxwash we have now fully removed all the carbon we emitted in 2021 through innovative carbon removal technologies. We have also set rigorous science-based net zero goals, with an ambitious yet realistic plan to be net zero in our direct use by 2025, and in our value chain emissions by 2028. Read more about these initiatives here.
.png)
