Vikan goes green

Good news on the progress Vikan is already making!

At Vikan, we are re-thinking the way we do business and embedding sustainability into every decision we take. However, we realise we cannot minimise the environmental impact of our business in isolation. We recognise the need to work with all the partners in our supply chain, from sourcing materials to serving the end customer.

Gaining from Green Management

Our overall strategy, which we are calling 'Green Management', is focusing on delivering sustainable development from an aligned set of environmental and business objectives. We aim to achieve a strong social and environmental impact as well as boost our competitiveness to deliver a positive economic outcome too.
Our environmental approach is based on one of our core values, credibility. Honouring our responsibilities and striving for quality will continue to be embedded in everything we do.
While we have yet to complete work on our full corporate environmental strategy, we are losing no time in implementing the opportunities that have already come to light. We now have some early action plans in place for greening our products, our production and even our communications.

Green Products

Action 1: Better packaging for a better environment
In conjunction with the launch of our new Vikan One Brand, we are implementing a new environmentally friendly packaging initiative that will:

• Reduce the weight of poly bags by over 30% while still retaining their current strength. This will slash our annual polyethylene use from over 15 tons to less than 10 tons.
• Use 100% recycled materials for our carton and box packaging. This means all 150 tons of cardboard that we use annually will come from sustainable sources and, as a result, the colour of some of our packaging materials will change from white to a natural brown.

Action 2: More environmentally friendly packaging on pallets
By the beginning of December 2011 we have changed the way we pack our finished items on pallets to a more environmentally friendly solution. Although it is more environmentally friendly, it is not less secure, e.g. specific exposed edges on the pallet will be reinforced. This action supports Vikan's corporate environmental strategy comprising an initiative about "better packaging for a better environment".

Green Communication

Action 1: Even marketing can be gr een 

Our new One Brand website has many functions, not least to be incredibly user friendly and very informative, but the website also has a major role to play in drastically reducing the need for printed product catalogues. We estimate that we will cut our annual use of printed materials by a massive 75% - from eight tons to just two tons. And, there's more good news; any hardcopy material that Vikan does make available will be printed on Nordic Eco-label certified paper.

If you have any questions about Vikan's Green Management initiative, or green supply chain ideas of your own, please contact: Marketing Manager Shane Duff, sduff@vikan.com, +45 96 14 26 28