Important milestones in sustainability work 2023
The environment lies at the core of Kiilto’s sustainability actions. As a chemical industry company, Kiilto is in a prime position to have an impact on environmental responsibility issues in particular. Our Promise to the Environment, which we launched in 2018, has been guiding our sustainability work and communications ever since. 2023 included successes, innovations and lessons we learned from.
Advancing in Our Promise to the Environment targets
Our Promise to the Environment consists of four areas that cover all our operations.
Energy and Climate:
Kiilto’s goal is to reach carbon neutrality regarding its own operations by 2028, and to reduce indirect (Scope 3) emissions. We are moving towards this goal with determined steps.
During 2023, we focused on the development of emissions calculations to support decision-making better and to enable us to consider various emission factors already, for example, in purchasing raw materials.
Kiilto and the energy company Lempäälän Lämpö began a two-way energy partnership. During the cold season, Kiilto buys district heating produced by means of biobased energy from Lempäälän Lämpö to heat our premises when our heat pumps do not produce enough. During the warm season, the shower water of district heating customers will be heated using waste heat from the plant. Thanks to the new system, the Kiilto plant has been able to reduce its natural gas consumption considerably, taking Kiilto closer to its carbon neutrality targets.
Materials:
Raw materials are the biggest source of indirect (Scope 3) emissions for Kiilto. In the early part of 2023, we did significant amount of calculations and research on where our most significant emission reduction potential lay and what options we have to reduce our carbon footprint.
We also conducted a comprehensive survey on the washing of reusable containers and decided to outsource the washing. This change supports our goal to reduce the consumption of process water by 20 % for each tonne produced.
Our goal, by 2025, double the use of recycled and renewable raw materials in our chemical factories compared to the level of 2018 level was reached and exceeded at our Turku plant. The share of these materials at our Turku plant is now 29 %. The plant produces professional hygiene and consumer products.
We also carried out plenty of research and surveys to ensure more sustainable material flows. As a result of our work, our ability to use for example mass balance materials improved considerably.
Packaging and logistics:
We continued our work in 2023 with determination to reduce the use of fossil and virgin packaging material every year.
In 2019, we took our first steps towards a closed loop with packaging and launched a pilot run to recover professional hygiene packaging. In 2023 in cooperation with our customers we recovered a total of 5,000 kilograms of packaging that will be made into new packaging this spring.
We also surveyed whether consumers were ready for package reuse. Kiilto piloted the refill of Serto laundry detergent in a consumer outlet. With the pilot, we wanted to spark a discussion about new approaches to reduce the environmental impact of packaging, and to find out the interest of consumers and the trade in such solutions.
Partnership:
The most important milestones in terms of partnerships had to do with our goal to reduce our customers’ environmental footprint.
The number of Kiilto products that have the Nordic Swan Ecolabel, requiring adherence to strict environmental criteria, rose during the year. For example, Kiilto’s household cleaning products with the ecolabel actually doubled. This was also reflected in customer choices, as the sales of products having the ecolabel increasing by 24 %. In addition to this, more and more customers chose their professional hygiene products from the Natura product series that are made of biodegradable and renewable materials.
By optimising cleaning in place (CIP) in industrial processes saved one of Kiilto’s dairy customers more than six million litres of water.
The use of virgin plastic was reduced, thanks to the packaging change, by almost 38,000 kilograms. Kiilto home cleaning spray bottles that used to be made of virgin plastic (HDPE) are now made of 100% recycled plastic (R-PET).
Read the article: From 50% to 100%: The most used household cleaning brand in Finland doubles products with environmental label in a year – Kiilto Fi
Read more about the Nordic Swan Ecolabel and its environmental criteria: Welcome – Nordic Swan Ecolabel
A promise to people alongside environmental work
2023 was a major step forward in terms of Kiilto’s social responsibility. We identified the need to view social responsibilities more comprehensively and we launched Our Promise to the People. The operating model we have found to work in our environmental work was adopted also for the development of social responsibility. The promise is divided into four project groups open to all Kiilto employees: health and safety, inspiration and competence, human rights, and partnership. With goals set for each area, we want to ensure that Kiilto remains and develops as a responsible place of work.
The way we operate must meet the requirements of not only our staff and customers but also the legislation. In 2023, we especially developed our operating model to take social responsibility aspects into account in our supply chain. Around 200 active Kiilto residents from different operating countries also participated in extensive cultural work, the aim of which is to strengthen the experience of one unified company.
Sustainable governance
Kiilto received its thirteenth consecutive Achiever certificate in 2023. Less than 1 per cent of companies are awarded the certificate for more than 10 years in a row. This achievement is down to hard work by everyone at Kiilto. To be awarded the certificate, the company’s financial status is measured at six levels: growth, profitability, financial result, liquidity, risk tolerance and solvency. The Achiever certificate is granted by the Kauppalehti financial newspaper.
Read more about our Sustainability work from the Sustainability report 2023.
Further information:
Laura Heinovaara
Sustainability Communications Manager
laura.heinovaara@kiilto.com
+358 50 5969 424
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