Environmentally Friendly Plastic Bags

As of September 2007, Omaré France is proud to announce that all Omaré branded plastic carrier bags (used in conjunction with purchases of the brand’s retail cosmetics products), will be manufactured using oxo-biodegradable plastics. This environmentally friendly commitment is made possible thanks to the incorporation of Totally Degradable Plastic Additives (“TDPA™”) technology into the bag production process. It is now widely known that traditional plastics are very stable and not readily degradable and biodegradable in the environment. For this reason, plastic waste represents a major environmental problem.

Developed in Canada by EPI Environmental Technologies Inc., TDPA™ based technology enables products made from various types of plastics (including the material used to make Omaré bags) to degrade into environmentally harmless products within months of having been discarded. The degradation process involves the reaction of the TDPA™ treated plastic with oxygen in the air and is initiated by sunlight exposure, high temperatures and/or mechanical stress.
EPI indicates that research demonstrates that composts made from TDPA™ treated plastics have no toxic effect on plant or animal life.

The move to use oxo-biodegradable plastic carrier bags is another example of Omaré’s commitment to the principles of the UN Global Compact and its 10 defining principles. MacLeay s.a.r.l., owner of the Omaré brand, has been a member of the UN Global Compact since 2001.

Reach Out to the Children Programme 2007

In 2007, MACLEAY SARL / NOGATEC INTERNATIONAL (NI), continued to expand the “Reach Out to the Children Programme” created in 2004 to accompany the global development of our Omaré brand of spa and thalassotherapy products & treatments. The programme is designed to provide support for non-profit organisations that seek to improve the daily well-being of children, particularly in the fields of health, education and the environment (including HIV/AIDS prevention, actions to abolish child labour, social work for orphaned or abandoned children, human rights questions related to children’s rights in general and educational work designed to make children aware of the importance of environmental protection. Both research work and action of a more practical nature is eligible for consideration.

The programme’s contributions are based directly on the annual sales of the Omaré professional products and treatments. Over the past three years, the programme has been put into place in collaboration with Omaré distributors in those countries where exclusive distribution agreements are in place and fully operational. In these countries, MACLEAY S.A.R.L. / NI, owners of the Omaré brand, make an annual contribution to selected organisations equal to 1% of annual export sales of the previous year. A single non-profit organisation is selected in each country in collaboration with the national Omaré distributor. Contributions to selected organisations are made in the name of Omaré, the local distributor and all of Omaré’s clients.

The first country to benefit from the programme was Singapore in 2005. In 2006 the programme continued in Singapore and got underway in Thailand, S. Korea and Lithuania. In 2007 was further expanded to include the USA and Kuwait.

Improving the quality of children’s daily lives the world implies addressing questions related not only to needs generated by urgent humanitarian situations as well as those related to the sustainability of improvements and their universal applicability, thereby assuring a better quality of life for future generations. The work of both small and large, local and international, charitable organisations is required allowing structures of differing sizes and points of view to offer very different approaches to common problems. The same is true of companies seeking to live productive and socially responsible corporate lives. The flexibility and reactivity of small corporate entities and their proximity to local problems is often a valuable addition to the financial power and international connectivity offered by larger multi-national structures. This diversity of approach can be further strengthened by a strong collaborative framework that permits and promotes co-operation between small and large companies, NGOs and charity organisations As a small company, we are devoted to making our specificity count in the fight for improved child welfare and to promoting the importance of Global Compact in building collaborative bridges worldwide fro the promotion of the principles it defends.

In 2007, MACLEAY S.A.R.L. / NI hopes to enlist the support of new distributors in Russia, Europe and Asia to allow the Programme to expand its horizons worldwide. We will continue working hard to inspire our distributors to make matching contributions annually and will continue speaking out in favour of small business participation in Global Compact.