As a company with growth ambitions, we invest across the board. We’re also taking major steps with respect to sustainability. Partly because we have to (because of the CSRD guidelines , for example), but mostly because we think we should. And it often pays off, too. Let’s take a look at the eleven sustainability themes, which Sustainability Advisor Job de Groot knows all about.
The eleven themes were chosen following a thorough selection. We conducted a double materiality analysis (DMA), examining both our company’s impact on people and the environment, as well as the risks and opportunities for our organization as a consequence of a changing world.
We also asked our employees, suppliers, clients, shareholders, and other key stakeholders to help us with this. “We need every one of them”, explains Job. “We’re addressing a lot of themes together rather than on our own, so we’re delighted to be joining forces.”
Greater impact
Steering group meetings, surveys, and interviews then followed. “We determined the sustainability themes together. What do we consider important? And what do we want to focus on? This enables us to create more support and increase the ultimate impact. We also determined the associated KPIs with specialist and experienced colleagues.”
The eleven themes
We divided the eleven themes into three main categories: environmental, social, and governance.
Environmental
1. Product and packaging innovation
Develop environmentally-friendly packaging, for instance by sourcing sustainable materials and using improved designs.
The focus in this theme is mainly on the partnership between us (service provider) and our client (product owner). We’re working together to investigate how we can make packaging more sustainable. For example by using less packaging material or by switching to more environmentally-friendly packaging materials.
2. Plastic pollution
Make an active contribution to reducing plastic or using more recyclable plastic throughout the chain (including consumer packaging).
Our goal is to ensure that all packaging materials that leave our sites are recyclable. To achieve this, we need to identify which packaging materials pass through our production plant. Measuring the inflows and outflows also provides insight into our waste. We can use this information to work with suppliers and clients to optimize the supply chain and reduce our waste.
3. Waste management
Manage waste strategically to minimize environmental impact, e.g. by recycling as much as possible and using circular materials.
We are mapping our waste streams, with the initial aim of reducing these streams. Where this is not possible we’ll investigate whether we can change the process (or the material use) so we can recycle our waste. As with the ‘plastic pollution’ theme, we’re aiming for a circular economy.
4. Energy consumption and carbon emissions in our activities
Reducing energy consumption during our own activities and increasing the use of renewable energy to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.
The energy source we use for our production process is electricity. Using this with increasing efficiency enables us to reduce our carbon emissions per consumer. We notice that our clients are not only working to reduce the carbon emissions of their own processes, but those of the entire chain. As Vetico, if we take steps to reduce our carbon emissions, this doesn’t only have a positive impact on climate change, it also creates added value.
Social
5. Employee training and development
Improve our employees’ knowledge and skills via training and development programs that promote literacy and numeracy.
We aim to offer our employees a wide range of courses and training. These can focus on improving individual skills or on creating awareness regarding specific sustainability themes.
6. Health, safety, and well-being
Prioritizing safety in the workplace and employee well-being.
This theme includes not only KPIs such as the number of hazardous situations and progressive sick leave, but also KPIs such as the gross pay gap between men and women, and the number of employees taking family-related leave. We expect these KPIs to provide insight into the general and safety culture within the organization.
7. Attracting and retaining staff
Roll out strategies to recruit and retain employees, and keep them engaged and satisfied.
In our aim for satisfied employees, we need to know what they think of us and which points we need to improve. If we succeed in improving employee satisfaction, employees are less likely to want to leave, and this will have a positive impact on attracting new employees. We then need to offer these employees continuous development opportunities. That’s why we’re linking the themes of attracting and retaining employees and training and development.
Governance
8. Product quality and safety
Guarantee end consumer safety by complying with safety standards and engaging in proactive risk management when packaging products.
Although we want to become more sustainable, this may not be at the expense of product quality and safety. This remains an important topic that demands our continued focus.
9. Innovation of production and packaging processes
Implementing sustainable and efficient technologies and techniques, such as 3D printing and automation. This enables us to improve our productivity and minimize our environmental impact.
This is an extremely broad topic. It’s also a promising theme that can help us really stand out in the market. The goal is to be a pioneer in trends and techniques. We have formulated three KPIs for this theme, which we will be monitoring: production process innovations (minor and major), Research & Development investments for more efficient/sustainable processes, and the number of FTEs in our innovation team.
10. Responsible purchasing
Taking environmental, social, and ethical aspects into account in our purchasing (materials, products, and services), with the emphasis on long-term partnerships in the region.
Value for money is not the only aspect we consider with respect to our work. The first step is to assess our suppliers. In the future, we particularly want to work with suppliers that have ambitious sustainability targets that are in line with our goals.
11. Sustainable supply chain
Prioritize a sustainable supply chain by reducing transport movements, making packaging materials and components more sustainable, and using less.
One of the key pillars within this topic is efficient pallet design. We’ll also be measuring how much weight we receive per packaging material. Eventually, we aim to switch to more sustainable packaging materials. We’ll measure our progress and communicate the results to our stakeholders.
We’re acting early
We’re acting early with respect to these eleven themes, as we’re actually only obliged to produce CSRD reports starting from 2026. Why act now? Job has the answer. “For us as a company, must is an empty concept. We don’t just want to meet our obligations, we want to give real substance to this. We want to embed the themes in our organization, which is why we started early. This also gives us time to make adjustments where necessary.”
Ready for 2026
The first reports will probably be published after Q1 of 2025. “Until that point, we’ll be working hard to set the right data flows in motion”, states Job. “Some data are easy to obtain, but we’ll need to adapt our systems to obtain other data. That’s yet another reason to start in time. This year is a kind of test phase and we’ll report on this in 2025 so that we’ll be completely prepared for 2026.”
