Sofidel awards its most sustainable suppliers
The third edition of the Sofidel Suppliers Sustainability Award, held yesterday in Columbus, Ohio, rewarded the most virtuous supply chain partners of the tissue Group for the environmental and social commitment that they have shown.
Porcari (LU), Italy. 5 October 2018 – The awards ceremony of the third edition of the Sofidel Suppliers Sustainability Award (3SAward) took place yesterday in Columbus, Ohio (USA). The 3SAward is an accolade awarded each year by the tissue manufacturer, led by the Stefani and Lazzareschi families, to the suppliers who have distinguished themselves through their environmental and social sustainability activities.
The Sofidel Suppliers Sustainability Award was set up to drive, disseminate, value and reward the best practices and improvement actions taken by the Group’s suppliers in terms of environmental and social sustainability. Almost 300 suppliers took part in the 2018 edition of the 3SAward.
The decision to host the 2018 edition of the award in the United States, after the first one held in Lucca (Group HQ) and the second one in London, demonstrates Sofidel’s growing commitment to promote its sustainable development mission, even overseas. Keynote speaker at the event was Patrick Dixon, who has been studying social scenarios and mega trends for years, and is considered to be a global authority on the matter.
The event took place just one day after the inauguration of an integrated plant in Circleville, again in Ohio, which is the Group’s biggest, most modern and sustainable plant to date.
“The inauguration of our new plant in Circleville, in Ohio, was an opportunity for us to take the 3SAward to the United States and present our idea of sustainable development to our US suppliers directly,” stated Luigi Lazzareschi, CEO of Sofidel. “We consider developing relations that are fully collaborative with our partners to be strategic, and we work to this end by identifying common objectives to be achieved together. The modernity and efficiency of our new plant, as well as our commitment towards continuous improvement, is also the result of their collaboration.”
The award is based on the “TenP – Sustainable Supply Chain Self-Assessment Platform” conceived and promoted by the Global Compact Network Italia Foundation (GCNI Foundation), of which Sofidel Group is a “Founding Promoter Member”. A performance self-assessment tool based on the Ten Principles (“TenP”) of the United Nations Global Compact which, according to the most significant and up-to-date standards and agreements on the subject of sustainability, takes into consideration areas related to human rights, working conditions, environmental protection and the fight against corruption, with the aim of identifying common challenges and solutions to improve sustainability within the supply chain.
Sofidel set up two awards categories:
Best Supplier, for companies with the highest scores based on the TenP platform. The companies awarded are:
- Pulp Producer Category: Södra
- Procurement & Purchasing Category: International Paper
- Logistics Services Category: Arcese Trasporti S.p.A.
- Marketing & Sales Category: Ecoverde S.p.A.
Best Sustainable Project, an acknowledgment that goes to the companies that implemented a particularly significant environmental and social sustainability initiative. The companies awarded are:
- Environment Category: Henkel AG & Co. KGaA
- Environment Category: Semo Packaging
- Social Category: Södra
The Sofidel Supplier Sustainability Award 2018 has been held in partnership with: Columbus2020, Elettric80, Fabio Perini, Gray, Solenis, Suzano Pulp and Paper, Valmet (Main Partners); ACelli, Convermat, International Paper, Pulsar Engineering, Toscotec (Partners); Tissue World Magazine (Media Partner).
Sofidel has made sustainability a strategic lever for development and growth, with the clear aim in sight of reducing the impact its business has on the environment and of boosting the benefits it produces for society. To date, the Group has reduced its direct emissions of CO2 into the atmosphere by 20.6% (measured as the reduction of carbon intensity between 2009 and 2017 per kg of paper manufactured), has limited the consumption of water in its manufacturing processes (7.1 l/kg compared to an industry benchmark of 15-25 l/kg) and sources all the pulp it uses in production from independent suppliers that are officially certified (FSC®, FSC Controlled Wood, SFI®, PEFC™).