Our Sustainability Coordinator, Preeyanut, attended an interesting and intensive sustainability course held by our parent company, Addtech, in Stockholm.

There is no doubt that there is an increasing focus on industrial sustainability and therefore it was exciting to gain a better insight in how we actively can work with sustainability. We got new tools to how we can incorporate sustainability across work functions and in our collaboration with customers and suppliers. But we are also proud to say, that many of the initiatives and ideas that was presented on the course, we have already implemented and are working on.

For our work with sustainability, we in fact got a gold medal from EcoVadis last month. However, we have no intention to rest on our laurels, as we know that sustainability is challenging. It requires a continuous and dedicated work effort to integrate sustainability in a business, where it has not been a focus area to begin with.

We are glad to be a part of a group that challenges and supports us in working proactively with sustainability. We are excited to use our new knowledge to further develop our sustainability strategy and realise Bondy’s vision.

At Bondy we have for a period ‘monitored’ the traffic in our warehouse to find out where we can improve in regard to packaging. We have discovered that vi reuse 30% of the cardboard boxes that we get from our suppliers, and we reuse almost 100% of the box filling we get from suppliers. The cardboard filling that we can’t use, we send to external recycle companies.

These observations have given us a picture of where we can improve and that we need to set concrete targets to increase the percentage of the cardboard boxes we reuse and find greener alternatives, where possible. What we already have initiated is to replace bought plastic filling, that we use to send small packages, with biodegradable filling. It is a small amount of plastic that we are protecting the nature from, but even small steps can help us toward a more sustainable business.

So, if you as our customer receive an ‘old’ cardboard box from us, it is our attempt minimize packaging waste. Soon you will also receive small packages from Bondy with biodegradable filling, which is compostable and recyclable as well.

It is a beginning, and we hope that our initiatives will allow for more cooperation with customers and suppliers around packaging.

At Bondy we are in the process of assessing our suppliers based on our Supplier Code of Conduct (CoC) and in relation to the Sustainable Development Goals. This is because we have a target to assess 75-80 percent of our purchase volume based on our CoC by 2030.

How are CoC and the SDGs related?

Our suppliers are, amongst others, evaluated on whether they live up to our expectations and how they comply to various requirements and legislations according to:

• Work conditions, safety, discrimination etc. – which relates to SDG 8, Decent work and economic growth.
• Production processes, material handling, certificates etc. – which relates to SDG 12, Responsible consumption and production.
• Environment, handling of hazardous waste, pollution etc. – SDG 13, Climate action.

The purpose of assessing our suppliers based on CoC is to secure a transparent supply chain. Based on that, our customers can be assured that when they buy from us, the products are produced under responsible conditions and are ‘Bondy approved’ in advance.

Moreover, the purpose with these assessments is to find out whether and how our suppliers work with sustainability. We will in the future focus on more collaboration with both suppliers and customers, where the common target is to increase sustainability within our business, where possible.

We are certified and ensure that all approvals are in order – guaranteed

When you work with us you can be absolutely sure that all relevant certificates and approvals are in place and up to date – guaranteed. We are for instance approved by the Danish health authorities to handle components used in the food industry, and we are also FDA approved. We also keep ourselves constantly updated on whether our suppliers’ certificates are in place and have developed declarations on these.

Gitte and Preeyanut have for the last couple of months examined, analyzed, and followed up on tendencies around implementing UN’s Development Goals to create a more sustainable development.

There has been a great interest for dialogue, focus and learning from key customers, suppliers, and producers, which Gitte and Preeyanut have contacted in connection with the project for Bondy A/S.

We are not there yet, because theories, ideas and visions are one thing, but execution and implementation of these are quite another. It is both complex and complicated when you as a company are a part of a bigger supply chain of industrial companies.

But despite it being difficult and challenging, it makes sense to work continuously on making a difference. One of the areas that makes sense to work on at Bondy A/S, is reduction of carbon emissions in connection with freight and transportation of components across borders.