HL continues to dedicate our efforts in this area, by consistently incorporating sustainability into our business practices and values, to help retailers and brand suppliers meet stakeholders’ expectations.
During the year we welcomed the employees of three acquired companies to HL, who will benefit from being part of a larger team and more development opportunities. Through these acquisitions, we have also gained new capabilities, better utilization and improved efficiency in our factories and logistical processes.
We have successfully closed the loop on datastrips with selected customers in the UK and in Finland, allowing us to retrieve our own products at the end of their lifecycle and recycle them into new products. We have also industrialised the process, allowing us to expand our offer further across Europe in the future.
As in 2020, we delivered on our target to grow sales on the HL Sustainable Choice range of more sustainable merchandising solutions made from recycled plastic, and expanded the assortment to cover more products.
93 percent of our important suppliers signed the Code of Conduct during the past year, committing to the same level of sustainability as HL, and exceeding our goal of 90 percent of our important suppliers.
In 2021, we set our targets and action plan to ensure the reduction of our climate footprint in-line with the Science Based Targets initiative’s ambition, and are currently awaiting approval.
The carbon footprint study plays a large role in setting the baseline for improving HL's operations and guiding our efforts to reduce our environmental impact.
We have successfully closed the loop on plastic, by recycling old datastrips to avoid end-of-life incineration. Our ambition is to extend the value chain to include more retailers.
Let’s join forces to reduce carbon footprint!
More recycled plastic used
To be able to increase the percentage of recycled plastic in production, we recycle our own production waste in the production of new products as much as possible, and continuously increase our ability to source recycled plastic externally.
Increased green energy usage by 50%
The HL factory in Gliwice has switched its full energy supply to renewable sources, increasing the usage of green energy by 50% and decreasing our emissions significantly.
Reduced municipal water usage by 85%
Overall water consumption has decreased by 6%, and since building its own well in 2020, the factory in Sundsvall has reduced the usage of water from municipal sources by 85%.
Based on the nature of our business, we have identified four focus areas for our sustainability work. In 2021, we have reached our targets for most of our four focus areas:
O We (over-) delivered on our target O Good result but we can do better O We have missed our target O Not applicable
O We increased sales of the HL Sustainable Choice range by 12%, 2ppts ahead of
target.
O Our circular offer was expanded to include a new customer.
O We registered eight accidents leading to absence.
O Our overall engagement index is 70.*
O Our score for ‘Everyone at HL has an equal opportunity to succeed’ to succeed is 70.
*Due to the introduction of a new employee engagement survey tool, results cannot
be directly compared to targets set initially for 2021.
O We have defined our emission reduction target and action plan for the Science
Based Target initiative and are currently awaiting approval.
O We have increased the usage of recycled material by 12%.
O 93% of our important suppliers have signed the Code of Conduct for Suppliers.
O 92% of our important suppliers have completed the self-assessment.
Full report
Corporate Responsibility Report 2021