SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2022

Lowering
temperature washing

Delivering sustainability by lowering tray washing temperatures

Julio Lazaro, International Logistics Manager at EPS division

“At EPS, we have taken big steps to reduce our environmental impact by lowering the temperature of our washing process while maintaining the same quality. And the results speak for themselves: we have seen a significant reduction of between 47% and 52% in our gas consumption.” 

Julio-4456It has been a real challenge to ensure a high-quality antimicrobial wash at lower temperatures, but at EPS we have successfully demonstrated that it is achievable. We have conducted intensive testing via external laboratories to demonstrate that we meet our food safety standards. This project was initiated in 2019, and we have implemented both online and live monitoring to ensure the success and the safety of this process. The project also shows that sustainability and financial impact can go hand in hand.

By making this seemingly simple but meaningful change, we have also been able to reduce our CO2 emissions by 4.2 kt annually. We know that every little bit counts when it comes to combating climate change, and we are proud to be playing our part. But we are not stopping there. We are excited to share that we will be installing solar panels at selected EPS locations in 2023. This is all part of our ongoing commitment to sustainability.

We also strive to replace other energy-heavy equipment and significantly reduce our energy consumption. For example, we replaced the blowers with centrifuges in our drying process, switched to LED lights, purchased green energy contracts, and achieved smarter water management. In addition, in 2023, we are looking into the possibility of switching the plastic foil we use to wrap our trays to tape. It seems like a small step, but every step counts. 

Scherm­afbeelding 2023-05-10 om 11.02.17

 

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Read more on the sustainability report and its most important pillars: People, Planet, Partners.

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People

Our people are the key assets of our business. We are committed to providing training and development opportunities to strengthen our teams in all regions. We take measures across the organisation to contribute to the health and safety of our employees.


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Planet

We set the ambition to reduce the carbon footprint for each rotation of our trays and pallets by 20% by 2025, in comparison to the baseline in 2017. To achieve this goal, we are committed to strategic projects that focus on optimising logistics, green energy and our reusable carriers.


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Partners

Innovation and partnering with customers are key to driving circularity in the supply chain further. Together with our partners, we are constantly working on innovations and deploying new tools and technologies such as the Internet-of-Things (IoT) and other traceability tools.


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