Sustainability

A VISION OF A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE

We want our company, the world around us and all future generations to have the chance to live and develop in a sustainable way, i.e. to create development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (Brundtland Commission). Our family business has a responsibility and we can make a difference. Sundlings is currently putting the pieces of the puzzle together to map out how we contribute to long-term sustainability and its development and how we can build a better tomorrow, every day.

Read more below about our work and initiatives.

DRIFT

We strive to conduct our business in an environmentally sustainable way, where products and processes are designed to use energy, natural resources and raw materials as efficiently as possible. We are constantly working to minimize waste and wastage and the small amount of waste that does occur is sorted accordingly so that as much as possible can be recycled. Reducing waste saves resources at all stages, from raw material production and energy use in processing to packaging materials and transportation.

Examples of initiatives for more sustainable operations

Electricity & energy

Sensor-controlled LED lighting in production facilities and warehouses, which has reduced electricity consumption by 94% compared to before. This corresponds to a reduction of 7 tons of^CO2/year.
New and more energy-efficient production equipment.
Ongoing projects to become more self-sufficient in electricity through solar panels.
Ongoing project on food waste to biogas.

RAW MATERIALS

Sustainability throughout the chain starts with the raw material. We work closely with our suppliers and therefore set high standards that we continuously monitor. This covers everything from how the raw material is produced and how it is packaged to how it is transported. We are proud of our suppliers and what they do to contribute to sustainable development.

Examples of initiatives for a more sustainable value chain

Maize

Grown primarily in the south of France, it uses modern cultivation methods that bind Co2 in the soil, 5 tons of Co2/hectare.
Drones are used to identify specific weeds that can be eliminated, reducing the need for pesticides.
Minimized water consumption through in-field water sensors that accurately measure water demand at the root of the corn plant.

Oil

Sunflower and coconut oil are important raw materials for us at Sundlings. We work with suppliers who take great CSR responsibility for the development of farmers and cultivation in a more sustainable way.

Popcorn seasoning

Among other things, we have chosen to move production of popcorn seasoning from the US to Sweden.

Purchasing

We have redirected over 90% of our popcorn purchases from the US to Europe to minimize transport impacts.

TRANSPORTER

Transportation is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. That’s why we work hard to optimize our transport to and from Sundlings while evaluating more environmentally friendly alternatives. We work with suppliers who are at the forefront of developments towards fossil-free transportation.

Examples of initiatives to minimize the impact of our transport

Purchasing

We optimize our sourcing to run as much FTL (full trailer load) as possible. 100% of all shipments of corn and snack raw materials from Europe and the US are optimized to FTL.

Transportation

We work with multimodal transport (train, boat, car) from Europe with the intention of minimizing emissions.

Using multimodal transport across Europe, we emit 30% less CO² per shipment.

Pallet

We have moved away from using disposable pallets to using only returnable EUR pallets. This saves 42 tons of wood raw material and 18.4 tons of CO²/year.

Lead time & order management

Changing lead times and order management processes allow us to optimize our shipments. As a result, we can run more full trucks with direct delivery.

Sundling's smaller packs like to share the piece on sustainability

PACKAGING

There is a lot to consider when designing a product and packaging. When working with food, it is therefore important that the packaging protects the product in order to minimize unnecessary food waste. Therefore, it is particularly important that the packaging is recyclable and that we do not have unnecessary air in it, partly to increase the filling rate and at the same time achieve optimal transport. The Plastics Initiative is driving us and the industry forward to find materials that are more recyclable.

We are constantly evaluating new materials and packaging solutions to find ways to use less plastic, cleaner materials to increase recycling rates and more efficient transportation. As a result, in 2022 we have made direct savings of 7 tons of plastic and 37 tons of CO²/year.

Today, 60% of all packaging is thrown in the bin instead of being recycled. As a company, we have a responsibility for the packaging we put on the market and thus we are proud of the collaboration with Bower that helps us to take responsibility all the way in the work to increase consumers’ recycling rate.

“Together, we are enabling a change in consumer behavior where used packaging that has long been called trash, finally gets a second-hand value. By actively incentivizing consumers to recycle correctly, we can together increase the recycling rate and demonstrate circularity for both consumers and producers. For the same reason, we are very excited about the collaboration with Sundlings, which will be an important building block in a significant change.”
Suwar Mert
CEO & Founder at Bower

Examples of initiatives for more sustainable packaging solutions

Consumer packaging

By using slimmer consumer packaging for our popcorn bags, we have been able to increase the fill rate by 50%, which means we transport significantly less air. Plus, they use less plastic!

Packaging

Pre-stretched plastic film around our pallets generates a plastic saving of 4 tons/year, which corresponds to about 10 tons of^CO2/year.

cotton candy

We save 3.3 tons of plastic per year as a result of reducing the plastic in our cotton candy packaging.

cardboard

Changing the carton size of our produced goods has resulted in us being able to increase the fill rate. It thus generates 6% more product on each snack and popcorn pallet sent to our customers.

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

For us, it is important to contribute to a society of equal value, rights and opportunities for all people. This is not only about taking responsibility for it within our own walls for our staff, but also with our suppliers and through our community engagement. In addition to checking our suppliers against our Code of Conduct, you can read below about examples of our community engagement initiatives:

We work for gender equality at Sundlings

40% of Sundling’s board are women.
Sundlings has a female CEO.

Sponsoring ring

We sponsor several local associations, including Villa Lidköping’s children’s and youth and elite initiatives for both women’s and men’s teams.

Godchild

Since 2017, we have been sponsoring an education program for our sponsored child in Cambodia through the Cambodian children’s fund. Among other things, this enables him to attend school and further education at university.