Ethical sourcing 

We’re committed to making sure that everything we sell is made in a fair, responsible and sustainable way. We’ve set out clear guidelines for our factories and suppliers, to make sure that every person in the supply chain is safe, protected and properly represented. Each of our suppliers must sign and comply with our Corporate Social Responsibility Policy, which outlines eight important standards:

Freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining

Every worker has the right to join trade unions and to bargain collectively, without the fear of discrimination. In countries where this is prevented by law, employers must help to find alternative methods of association and bargaining.

Choice of employment

Every person working for our suppliers and factories does so out of choice - with no forced, bonded or involuntary labour, human trafficking or slavery. Every employee is free to leave their employer after a reasonable notice period.

Safety & hygiene

Our suppliers and factories have to provide a safe and hygienic working environment, preventing accidents and injuries, and providing access to clean toilets and safe drinking water. Physical abuse or discipline, sexual, or other harassment and verbal abuse must be prohibited.

Child labour

The suppliers and factories that we work with have to agree not to use child labour, and to ensure that employees under the age of 18 don’t work at night or in dangerous conditions. All policies and procedures have to comply with the relevant ILO (International Labour Organisation) standards.

Living wages

Every person working for our suppliers and factories is paid a wage that meets national legal standards, and is high enough to meet their basic needs. Employees are always provided with clear information before accepting employment, as well as regular information about how their wages have been calculated. Deductions are never used as disciplinary measures.

Working hours

Working hours have to comply with national legal standards, and workers can’t be made to work more than 48 hours per week, with one day off in every 7 day period. Overtime has to be voluntary and paid at a premium rate.

Discrimination

We ensure that our suppliers and factories don’t discriminate in hiring, compensation, access to training, promotion, termination or retirement for any reason.

Environmental standards

We care about the outdoors, and we ensure that our suppliers and factories uphold the same sustainable standards as we do to protect the environment. This includes minimising waste, encouraging recycling, using recycled materials, promoting conservation, avoid pollutants, and never testing any products on animals or treating animals with undue cruelty.

Carrier bag charge  

The ‘Single Use Carrier Bag Charge Regulation’ came into force on the 5th October 2015, affecting all Runners Need stores in England. The law means that single use carrier bags can no longer be given away free to our customers. It’s been introduced to reduce the number of carrier bags used in the UK, which will help to lessen environmental impact and improve sustainability.

Website accessibility

At Runners Need, we want to help everyone enjoy the outdoors, including those with visual, auditory or other impairments. That’s why we aim to conform to World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). By following these standards, we can vastly improve the shopping experience of those with impairments.

We value your feedback

We will continue to work on improving accessibility. If you have any on-going or new concerns, or other website related queries or questions about accessibility, please don’t hesitate to contact us. If you have a general query, please check our Frequently Asked Questions section, which may be able to provide your answer.

Waste electrical and electronic equipment regulations

The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive is a UK law introduced in July 2007 with the aim to reduce the amount of waste created by electronic equipment. The amount of WEEE we throw away is increasing by around 5% every year, making it the fastest growing waste stream in the UK.

Much of the UK’s WEEE ends up in landfill, where the lead and other toxins it contains can cause soil and water contamination. This can have a harmful effect on natural habitat, wildlife and human health. Many electrical items that we throw away can be repaired or recycled. Recycling items helps to save our natural finite resources, and also reduces the environmental and health risks associated with sending electrical goods to landfill.

The introduction of these regulations means that manufacturers of electrical equipment now need to pay for the collection, treatment and recovery of waste electrical equipment, and that the suppliers of equipment, like high street shops and internet retailers, are now able to allow customers to return their waste equipment free of charge.

So, as an example, if a customer bought a new GPS from us, we would accept their old GPS and prevent it from going into a landfill site by disposing of it safely.

Waste battery and accumulator regulations

The majority of batteries in the UK are thrown away and end up in landfill where they can leak harmful chemicals into the soil. 22,000 tonnes of batteries ended up in landfill last year - which equates to the weight of over 3,000 elephants!

Recycling facilities for batteries are available at all of our stores. We dispose of returned batteries via the Battery Compliance Scheme.

Find out more

If you have any questions about sending us your old WEEE items, or disposing of batteries in our stores, please contact us.