Introduction
This Modern Slavery Statement is made pursuant to the requirements of section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 (the “2015 Act”) for the Puragen group of companies, covering the period of 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2025. Puragen Group Limited is the holding company for the Puragen group of companies engaged in the processing, supply and reactivation of activated carbons. The active trading companies in which Puragen Group Limited has a direct or indirect majority shareholding are:
- Puragen Holdings Limited*
- Puragen UK Holdings Limited*
- Puragen Inc
- Puragen LLC
- Puragen S.A.R.L.
- Puragen B.V.
- Puragen Limited*
- Puragen Engineering Limited*
- Puragen S.L.
(together the “Puragen Group”).
Puragen Group has a turnover of over £70 million and employs over 70 employees within the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, Spain and the USA.
This is the first Modern Slavery Transparency Statement for the Puragen Group as required by the 2015 Act.
This statement outlines the modern slavery risks faced in the business of the Puragen Group, along with Puragen Group’s current strategies to mitigate and prevent these risks, while developing new strategies to ensure continuous improvement is achieved to further mitigate and prevent modern slavery risks occurring in internal business operations and the supply chain. This statement shall only specifically address modern slavery risks within the companies marked with an asterisk above, which are subject to the 2015 Act.
About Puragen Group
Puragen Group exists to deliver cleaner air, water and support renewable energy growth through filtration solutions. We provide a range of products and services for air treatment, water treatment and renewable energy by utilising the adsorption properties of activated carbon.
Puragen Group and Modern Slavery Risks
Puragen Group recognizes that modern slavery is a significant worldwide problem, and therefore commits to the International Labor Organization’s (“ILO”) International Labor Standards, particularly:
- Forced Labor Convention (No.29);
- Abolition of Forced Labor Convention (No. 105);
- Protocol to the Forced Labor Convention (P029);
- Forced Labor Recommendation (No. 203).
Policies of Puragen Group
Puragen Group has in place the following group policies, to which it holds itself, its employees and (where applicable) its suppliers subject to:
- Anti-Bribery Policy;
- Asylum and Immigration Policy;
- Corporate Responsibility Policy;
- Dignity at Work Policy;
- Diversity Policy;
- Employee Absence Policy;
- Environmental Policy;
- Ethical Trading Policy;
- Grievance Procedure;
- Health and Safety Policy;
- Right to Work Policy;
- Safeguarding Policy; and
- Whistleblowing Procedure;
These policies are regularly reviewed and updated to ensure that they reflect the latest legislation and the values of Puragen Group.
Supply Chain
Puragen Group maintains a focus on continually improving the quality of its activated carbons products to ensure that our customers are thoroughly satisfied with our service. Our continual improvement is bolstered by Puragen Group’s vast supply chain, with the majority of our supply being sourced from the People’s Republic of China and India. We subject all our suppliers to rigorous assessments before engaging them as a supplier.
How Puragen Addresses Modern Slavery Risks
Assessing Modern Slavery Risks Internally
At Puragen Group, our employees are our immediate priority and as such, we ensure that none of our employees are subject to conditions that would constitute modern slavery and promote a positive, healthy working environment.
We engage in ethical recruitment practices which are in line with the current employment legislation and maintain a commitment to promoting diversity, equality and inclusion in our recruitment process. Puragen Group utilises a flat organizational structure with a small, hands-on leadership team, aiming to promote a culture of transparency, inclusivity, honesty and collaboration.
We ensure that Right To Work checks are carried out and finalised prior to the beginning of employment in accordance with UK government guidance. Furthermore, none of our contracts for employment are offered to employees on a zero hour basis, our offers for employment are offered on a guaranteed hours basis only.
All of our employees at Puragen Group are offered a competitive remuneration package with many benefits, including a healthcare plan, employee assistance program, company sick pay, enhanced family friendly policies, hybrid working in consideration of individual job requirements, yearly salary review, bonus schemes, wellbeing initiatives, social events and continued opportunities for learning, development and training,
Puragen Group makes use of the Navex Speak-Up reporting system, which allows our employees to anonymously report instances of issues such as modern slavery, harassment, discrimination and health and safety concerns.
Assessing Modern Slavery Risks in the Supply Chain
We subject all suppliers to a full assessment before engaging them in any capacity.
These assessments address the following areas: (a) Company Details, (b) Quality Standards, (c) Health and Safety, (d) Environmental Standards, (e) Integrity and Ethics and (f) Modern Slavery. Each of these areas are then scored individually to generate a final score which determines whether they will become or remain a supplier of Puragen Group and provide necessary improvements to the supplier where necessary.
Each of our suppliers are then monitored on an ongoing basis, being re-assessed regularly to ensure that they are maintaining their great standards identified by our assessment or improving on their standards where our assessment has identified unsatisfactory performance.
Puragen Group will not trade with any supplier which it has good reason to believe exploits people. Puragen Group’s Ethical Trading Policy states clearly that suppliers must comply with local laws and regulations and that its suppliers should abide by the following principles (amongst others):
- Employment is to be freely chosen – so that there is no forced or bonded labor;
- There should be no use of child labor;
- Working hours should not be excessive;
- There should be no harsh or inhumane treatment of workers;
- Workers should have the right of association and be able to join or form trade unions of their own choosing and to bargain collectively.
Where appropriate, the policy is incorporated as a schedule into supply contracts or is otherwise reflected in the wording of supply agreements. Puragen Group’s activated carbon sourcing contracts include these ethical trading requirements.
Puragen’s Next Steps
We take pride in our ongoing efforts to effectively address modern slavery concerns, however we acknowledge that there is always room for improvement and we feel a responsibility to anticipate any future developments in tackling modern slavery risk.
Therefore, during the course of 2025 financial year, Puragen Group are committing to the following improvements:
- Developing key performance indicators which specifically measure our effectiveness in complying with modern slavery governance;
- Developing a Modern Slavery Policy which specifically addresses our efforts to eradicate modern slavery and encourages transparency in the supply chain;
- Developing training exercises for higher risk suppliers on our requirements of them in regard to modern slavery and acknowledgement of our policies;
- Improving risk identification in our procurement process and proactively addressing newly identified risks.
This statement has been signed on behalf of Puragen Group Limited for itself and on behalf of its subsidiaries.
This statement made pursuant to section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 was approved by the board on 30 June 2025