Suzano, Valmet, LKW WALTER and Fibria are amongst the winners of Sofidel’s second Suppliers Sustainability Award. Some 330 participants from 17 countries attended the event, held on 9 November at the magnificent East Wintergarden venue in Canary Wharf in the financial heart of London.
It awarded eco-friendly partners from across the group’s global tissue supply chain that have distinguished themselves through their efforts towards environmental and social sustainability. Supported by the Italian Ministry for the Environment and Protection of Land and Sea, the award was created to encourage, spread and capitalise on best practice and improvement activity carried out by the group’s suppliers each year.
Luigi Lazzareschi, chief executive of the Sofidel Group, said: “Promoting sustainable and responsible growth also means, within our vision, raising awareness and promoting the involvement of our partners so we can do more and do it better.
“We’re convinced that building a sustainable future involves a widespread, common commitment, and a need to assume, each within their area and according to their role, new and broader responsibilities.”
Sofidel’s chief purchasing officer, Andrea Piazzolla, added: “The Sofidel Suppliers Sustainability Award is also designed to reduce risks, this includes the impact on Sofidel’s, our product brands’ and our stakeholders’ reputations.
“Of course, the award is also a tool that aims to increase the competitive advantage for Sofidel and our suppliers.”
The award is based on the Ten Principles (“TenP”) – a Sustainable Supply Chain Self-Assessment Platform conceived and promoted by the Global Compact Network Italy (GCNI) Foundation, of which Sofidel is a founding promoter member. A tool to support self-evaluation of performance built on the TenP of the UN Global Compact, which, following the most relevant and up-to-date standards and conventions on sustainability, takes the areas of human rights, labour conditions, environmental protection and the fight against corruption into account, with the aim of identifying common challenges and solutions for improving the sustainability within the supply chain.
The winners were:
THE BEST SUPPLIER AWARD: companies that have achieved the highest score according to the TenP platform. The award was given to Sofidel Group’s top four supply channels.
• Pulp Producers winner: Suzano Pulp and Paper Europe;
• Procurement & Purchasing winner: Valmet;
• Logistics Services winner: Kuehne + Nagel;
• Marketing & Sales winner: Vizeum Deutschland.
THE BEST IMPROVER AWARD: companies that have made the greatest improvement to their results by undertaking new environmental and social sustainability procedures. Assigned to companies whose score on the TenP platform has increased significantly throughout 2017 after adopting specific procedures and/or measures in the area of social and/or environmental sustainability.
• Pulp Producers winner: Zellstoff- und Papierfabrik Rosenthal;
• Procurement & Purchasing Category winner: Windsor Engineering (Hull);
• Logistics Services Category: LKW WALTER Internationale Transportorganisation.
THE BEST SUSTAINABLE PROJECT: accolade for a company that has implemented a particularly important environmental and social responsibility initiative.
Large Enterprises Category (Social)
Winner: Fibria International Trade for the project: “Fibria’s key social project”. The project stood out for its commitment and efficiency in supporting the development of local community, contributing to reduce poverty and economically and socially improving living conditions of people.
Large Enterprises Category (Environmental)
Winner: Skymark Packaging International for the project: “CLIPP+ Closed Loop Recycling System for Industrial Printed and Laminated Plastic Films using sc-CO2 technologies”. The project is an example of innovation, connected to circular economy for recycling and plastic reuse, introducing new technologies able to reduce the environmental impacts and to increase the production process efficiency.
Finalists: Semoflex and H.B. Fuller Company.
Medium/Small Enterprises Category (Environmental)
Dasara trasporti for the project: “Dasara Eco Power”. The project improves the environmental impact of transport through the vehicle fleet renovation and by adopting particularly advanced standards such as liquefied natural gas fuel LNG.
Medium/Small Enterprises Category (Social)
Groupe SGP for the project: “The SGP Group: a liberated company or the redefinition of the functioning and rules of the company by its pairs”. The project is based on an innovative model of organisation, which aims to develop people, valuing their skills and their capability to proactively contribute to the achievement of business development objectives.
The evaluating Technical Committee is composed of the Global Compact Network Italy Foundation, the Sodalitas Foundation, SGS and WWF Italy.
Guest speakers at the event
• Yachtswoman Ellen MacArthur, who has used her experiences sailing solo around the world to launch a foundation that inspires generations to re-think, re-design and build a positive future circular economy.
• Luciano Canova, a teacher of behavioural economics, who spoke about Nudge Theory and gave insights into how Sofidel is changing behaviour and influencing the sustainability habits of the tissue supply chain;
• Andrea Piazzolla, Sofidel chief purchasing officer, who described the method used to access suppliers and help them understand why they will be rewarded;
• Kirstin Akan-Brown, corporate partnerships manager at UK-headquartered NGO WaterAid, who underlined the importance of clean water.
The Sofidel Supplier Sustainability Award was held in collaboration with: Elettric 80, Fabio Perini, Södra, Henkel, A.Celli, Kemira (global partner); Industria Cartaria Pieretti, Pulsar (premium partner); Fondazione Ecosistemi (official partner); Touchwa.re (digital partner); Tissue World Magazine (media partner).
Sofidel’s end goal is to end up with a ISO 20121-certified Awards event, or at least for it to be a Carbon Neutral event, with the 200 tonnes of CO2 emitted compensated by Treedom trees.
The company said it is a key employer of sustainability as a strategic lever for development and growth, setting itself the goal of reducing its environmental impact to a minimum and maximising benefits for society.
To date, the group has reduced its direct CO2 emissions by 19.1% (reduction in carbon intensity, 2009-2016) and limited its use of water within production processes (7.0 l/kg against a benchmark of 15–25 l/kg) and procures 100% cellulose certified by independent third parties certified with forest certification schemes.
The group is committed to achieving the 6th Sustainable Development Goal of the United Nations (ensuring access to water and sanitation for all) through collaboration with headquartered NGO WaterAid.
WaterAid’s mission is to bring drinking water and acceptable levels of sanitation to everyone, everywhere, by 2030. The Sofidel Group is a leading manufacturer of paper for hygienic and domestic use worldwide.
Its first awards event was held last year in Lucca, Italy, when some 340 suppliers attended.
Established in 1966, Sofidel now has subsidiaries in 13 countries – Italy, Spain, the UK, France, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Poland, Hungary, Greece, Romania, Turkey and the USA – with more than 5,800 employees.
Regin is its most well-known brand and other brands include: Softis, Le Trèfle, Sopalin, Nouvelle, Thirst Pockets, KittenSoft, Nalys, Cosynel, Yumy, Soft & Easy, Volare, Onda, Lycke, Forest, Nicky, Papernet.
The Sofidel Group is a member of the UN Global Compact and the international WWF Climate Savers programmes. As announced at the 3SAWARD 2017, 330 trees have been planted, meaning the company received the ISO 20121 certification for the event.
