Foreword
Our Environmental Responsibility: A Little More and a Little Better Every Day
At Eckes-Granini, we are convinced that a holistic way of thinking and doing while taking account of the different perspectives of responsibility is at the heart of our operations and the starting point for sustainable growth. Simultaneous assessment from both the economic and environmental points of view has become a fundamental part of our daily work.
Not long ago, environmental responsibility was perceived as something applicable to a company’s production processes and energy consumption only. Nowadays, our perspective is much wider and so assessing the environmental and responsibility aspects related to product packaging, recipes, raw materials, agricultural conditions, procurement and logistics has become routine for us.
Being the first food company in Finland to attain EMAS certification, we thoroughly and regularly review which environmental issues are of significance to us, how we can influence them and how we can further develop our operations and respond to future challenges.
We were also the first juice producer in Finland to utilize in our juice packaging Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified packaging laminates originating from responsible sources. The FSC is an international organization, whose mission is to promote sustainable development in the use of the world’s forest resources. Furthermore, we are committed to take into consideration the Finnish recycling systems in our packaging materials.
During the past two years, we have also made a considerable contribution to the development of the nutritional value of our products, making them healthier. The amount of added sugar in a number of our product series, such as Marli Juissi and Marli Vital has been reduced by 20–30 %. Last year, we put on the market the lighter, unsweetened Marli Wellbeing drinks. In the spring of 2018, we also launched the new, unsweetened, organic Mehukatti portion pack juices. Our product portfolio thus responds increasingly well to consumer needs amid the current sugar discussion.
After the completion of our previous environmental statement, there has been a definite structural change in Eckes-Granini Finland production. We transferred a significant part of our cold chain production to Turku and we are aware that growth in the share of these products, requiring more energy for their production, has also posed challenges to the targets set earlier for our energy consumption. In this respect, the optimization of our production process is in progress and we will continue to invest effort in whatever measures will reduce the energy consumption.
The electrical power we purchase is produced from completely renewable sources. One significant improvement from an environmental point of view is also a steam heating plant, which is situated in the immediate vicinity of our factory to provide bioenergy. After its completion, the steam energy used in our production processes will be produced in an environmentally friendly way, mainly fuelled by wood chips. In addition to this, our company entered into a voluntary energy efficiency agreement for the new period 2017–2025. Energy efficiency agreements are an important part of the Finnish energy and climate strategy and the primary way of advancing efficient energy consumption in Finland. Responsible and efficient energy consumption reduces the carbon dioxide emissions causing climate change.
Timo Laukkanen
General Manager
Eckes-Granini Finland Oy Ab
The following environmental statement applies to the whole organization of Eckes-Granini Finland Oy Ab.