Responsible sourcing at Verive: What it means and why it matters

Verive’s responsible sourcing: From supplier to customer

Every Verive product is sourced ethically and responsibly, providing quality and value you can trust from a supply chain you can be proud of.

Across our global supply base, every supplier is held to the same internationally recognised human rights, environmental, and quality standards that we apply to our own business.

In practice, this means meeting both local legislative requirements and international requirements for workers’ welfare and conditions of employment, including those set by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Ethical Trading Initiative.

A formal requirement for responsible sourcing

Customers in retail, grocery, and foodservice increasingly demand transparency in sourcing practices, no longer just as a values statement, but now as a formal requirement in procurement and ESG reporting. At the same time, modern slavery, labour rights, and worker safety remain the most significant risks in global supply chains, particularly in higher-risk manufacturing regions. At Verive, backed by Bunzl’s group-wide programme, responsible sourcing is how we protect both people and our customers’ reputations.

Supplier code of conduct and audit programme

As a condition of doing business with Verive, all suppliers must adhere to our supplier code of conduct. Available in multiple languages, it is actively communicated to all suppliers, with particular focus on countries where the risk of modern slavery and other social risks is highest.

Our in-house quality assurance team based in Shanghai conducts regular audits of direct suppliers across Asia, ensuring they meet our standards on human rights, working conditions, and hygiene management systems.

We have zero tolerance for unacceptable practices. These include:

• Child, forced, or bonded labour
• Illegal discrimination
• Sub-minimum wages
• Inadequate rest periods
• Any breach of local or international requirements for workers’ welfare and employment conditions

Suppliers that fail to meet these standards will have their relationship with Verive terminated.

Responsible sourcing in numbers

Behind our sourcing commitments is a programme built on measurable results. As part of the Bunzl Group, Verive benefits from a responsible sourcing programme with more than 16 years of operation and over 7,000 supplier assessments completed to date. In 2025 alone, 1,430 suppliers were assessed. 98 required remediation, and 4 were terminated for failing to meet the required standards. Since 2021, the corrective action rate stands at 89%, and by the end of 2025, over 90% of high-risk spending was covered by the programme — meaning 97% of total purchasing is either in low-risk regions or with assessed and compliant suppliers.

Source: Bunzl 2025 Sustainability Report, pp. 48–49

Sourcing you can stand behind

James Pitcher

Sustainability isn’t about choosing to do the right thing OR grow your business, we can help you to do both

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