World Environment Day: Sarantis Group and its contribution to a sustainable future

Athens, June 4^th 2021

World Environment Day is a day of celebration dedicated to the environment’s protection, encouraging efforts that will lead to a green future. Τhis day, set by the United Nations, is celebrated annually on June 5^th and encourages awareness and action towards environmental sensitive issues at national, corporate and personal level.

Through its responsible operational activity and its high-quality products, Sarantis Group aspires to actively contribute to this change. Sustainability is the core of the Group's business model and guides its business decisions throughout its activity circle, from the designing and production process of a product until the final use from the consumer.

Within this context, the Group further strengthens its green initiatives, both in terms of production and branding, with the aim to mitigate its environmental footprint and introduce consumers to a more ecological philosophy.

Sustainable production and consumption are at the heart of the Group's sustainability strategy and significantly affect its production facilities and its product approach. Thus, special emphasis is placed on actions aimed at minimizing packaging and adopting circular economy waste practices, safeguarding sustainable and circular sourcing of raw and packaging materials, improving energy efficiency, using renewable energy sources and reducing GHG emissions.

Regarding the production, the Group aims at implementing environmentally friendly practices. Setting its focus on reducing energy consumption levels during its production process, the Group invests in new automated machinery equipment in all its plants in Greece, Poland, and Ukraine. At the same time, the Group continues to invest with consistency in energy management systems certification ISO 50001 in Greece and in environmental management systems certification ISO 14001 in Ukraine, which ensure its green approach in production and further support monitoring its environmental performance. The Group’s future plans include the installation of photovoltaic systems in its production facilities and acquiring environmental certifications at a group level. Finally, the investment in the Group’s subsidiary in Poland, Polipak, is in progress, and will lead to a new production facility that will have fully modernized and automated machinery equipment and will utilize advanced and environmentally responsible technologies.

Moreover, at a product level, the Group aims to use raw and packaging materials that are eco- friendly, increasing the percentage of recycled, biodegradable, and natural materials used, developing formulas with an improved environmental footprint. Sarantis Group is oriented towards further reduction of the plastic used in its packaging, while at the same time supports collaborations with suppliers having a similar philosophy.

For instance, product formulas of bioten, a personal care brand of the Group, contain high percentage of natural ingredients with extracts from sustainable sources, its packaging is fully recyclable, and the cream boxes are certified by the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council), ensuring that they come from responsible sources. Also, by the end of 2021, the plastic cellophane wrap will be removed from all face creams.

Respectively, the Group has developed a home care product line (food packaging items, garbage bags, cleaning tools) under an ecological concept.

Specifically, the "Green Life" product line launched by the home care brands FINO, JAN and HEWA in the Group's countries, uses 90% - 100% recycled plastic in the garbage bags and FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) paper label packaging. This FSC-certified paper is also used by SANITAS brand in aluminum foil and cling film packaging. Furthermore, under the same Green Life line, disposable plastic products (plates, cups, etc.) were replaced with sustainable alternative sources, such as bagasse and wheat.

The Group’s aim is to create a positive impact on people’s everyday lives through its responsible operational activity and the unique impact of its brands, focusing on strategic choices and initiatives that provide a better tomorrow.

Sarantis Group

Headquartered in Athens and boasting a history of over 50 years, Sarantis Group is a multinational consumer products company having leading presence in Eastern Europe and an expanding geographical footprint through own subsidiaries and strong export activity worldwide. Our mission is to uplift the mood of consumers, with beautiful simplicity that makes everyday life better, by being always nearby, working closely with our stakeholders to create value sustainably. From Personal Care, Home Care and Health Care Products as well as Luxury Cosmetics, we offer well recognized brands that have a positive impact on people’s everyday lives. With strong activity in 13 countries, and in particular in Greece, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Northern Macedonia, Bosnia, Portugal, Ukraine and Russia, we maintain a dynamic international presence and a powerful distribution network of more than 50 countries around the world.

World Environment Day: Sarantis Group and its contribution to a sustainable future (405.5KB)