Environmental responsibility

The choices we make help keep jobs in Finland, reduce product transportation distances and reduce transport-related emissions. We provide training to our staff to ensure that everyone can reduce environmental impacts through their own actions.

Berner’s environmental responsibility efforts are guided by the company’s environmental program. The key focus areas of environmental responsibility are minimizing negative environmental impacts, the energy and material efficiency of our operations and the development of new environmentally friendly products and services.

We continuously improve our operations and know-how in order to develop and manufacture high-quality products that put less of a burden on the environment. Through our choices of raw materials we ensure that our products and processes are safe for both the user and the environment. We monitor our energy consumption and save energy by developing our production methods and investing in energy efficient equipment.

Environmentally friendly Finnish production

We use life-cycle analyses in product development to manufacture safe products whose environmental impact is minimized. Our choices of packaging materials are aimed at reducing waste while facilitating the subsequent recycling and recovery of packaging materials. We manage the producer responsibility of our packaging via an agreement with Finnish Packaging Recycling RINKI Ltd.

In transportation, we use careful planning and load optimization in cooperation with our partners to reduce environmental impacts. We also encourage our customers and consumers to use our products in an environmentally friendly manner and provide instructions that support this.

Development areas related to quality and the environment in 2016

We obtained GLP certification from the Finnish Medicines Agency (FIMEA) for our laboratories in Herttoniemi and Heinävesi on May 13, 2016. Defined by the OECD, GLP (Good Laboratory Practice) is intended to produce reliable and sufficiently high-quality laboratory testing for purposes such as use by the public authorities. A total of 10 operators have obtained GLP certification in Finland.

We carried out an operating system renewal project during the year. We adopted new quality management tools and combined our quality manuals and environmental manuals to the extent that it was technically feasible.

Improvements to waste water treatment at the production facilities in Heinävesi

We started a project to improve the efficiency of waste water treatment at the production facilities in Heinävesi with the aim of reducing waste water volumes and having an even smaller quantity of washing water require treatment as hazardous waste.

The project is being carried out in cooperation with the Savonia University of Applied Sciences. The project is part of our environmental program. The operations of our production facilities are being continuously improved to ensure high production quality and reduce the impact on the environment. We pursue energy savings by developing production methods and investing in energy-efficient equipment.

Berner promotes green chemistry

We launched a new ongoing project in 2016 to promote responsibility in cosmetics product development. The aim is to obtain more detailed information on the safe use of new raw materials from natural sources and to make the development of cosmetics products even more environmentally friendly by taking advantage of new solutions.

Taking environmental issues into consideration has been part of our company’s DNA since the beginning. The development of our XZ hair care products, for example, began from the decision to use natural oils in hair care. As such, the focus area of this new project is nothing new for our company, but our goal is to further enhance our innovation activities related to green chemistry and seek new solutions in line with the circular economy approach.

Sustainable and environmentally friendly choices for consumers

A total of 43 of our products carry the Nordic Ecolabel, and over two hundred of our products have the Key Flag label. During the year, the number of our Key Flag products increased to 220 (compared to 207 in the previous year). In total, 77 (62) products are now approved by the Allergy and Asthma Federation. Three new organic products were developed by the company in 2016.

Key Flag products in total 220

Nordic Ecolabel products in total 43

Products approved by the Allergy and Asthma Federation in total 77

Own organic products 3

We strive to use suppliers with international certificates, such as ISO 9001 and ISO 14001.

Environmental program at our facilities

Starting from 2010, our units in Eteläranta and Herttoniemi have been part of Green Office, the WWF environmental program for business facilities, which aims at decreasing greenhouse emissions and the ecological footprint. During the year, we organized a Recycling Week at our operating locations and also participated in the Energy Saving Week and Food Waste Week.

Berner again participates in Food Waste Week

Berner participated in the Food Waste Week organized by the Consumers’ Union of Finland for the second time by communicating content on reducing food waste and responsible consumption on social media as well as other platforms, including the Rajamäen and GreenCare websites. We also encouraged our staff to reduce food waste.