Promoting the circular economy

We want to operate in line with the principles of the circular economy, meaning that we reduce the use of materials, and reuse and recycle them. By doing this, we operate within nature’s carrying capacity, keeping materials and products in circulation for as long as possible. Through reuse, completely new applications can be found for waste material. Materials recycling includes sorting and recycling materials from production, the reuse of
packaging materials and by-products and the recycling of end products.

Packages recycles

All our packaging is recyclable or refillable. We actively cooperate with local organisations to develop recycling systems for beverage packaging. The parent company Olvi is one of the owners of Palpa, a company founded for beverage container recycling in 2003. Palpa manages the beverage container deposit system in Finland.

Equivalent systems are in operation in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Denmark.

Packaging material matters

We strive to protect the environment by optimising the use of the material in packaging. We reduce the volume of plastic by shifting to the use of lighter bottles and plastic films whenever possible.

For example, we use a shortnecked plastic bottle, which saves more than 500,000 kg of plastic per year at Group level. We are also gradually shifting to the use of recycled or bio-based shrink wrap.

We are also exploring possibilities for replacing plastic with other materials in multipack products, for example, and reducing the amount of material in multipacks.

Sorting and reuse

We aim to recycle all material fractions and side streams generated in our production process and to improve the sorting of the fractions. The Group companies collect and sort various materials, such as paperboard, glass, plastic and hazardous substances.

Reusing side streams is important to us. Our by-products include spent grain and spent yeast, which we deliver for use as farm animal feed or for biogas production, for example.