Sustainability is not a luxury. It is normal.

Leader in sustainability

As a family business, we are traditionally accustomed to looking beyond tomorrow. We are rooted in the region where we are located and feel it is our duty to leave the world we live in well for future generations. By consistently investing in sustainability on many levels over many years, we practice stewardship. As a nice result, we can conclude from the European mandatory EED energy audit that Meilink is a leader in the industry. Deputy Director HRM & Legal, Frederiek Rikken-Rengers: "Investing in sustainability is certainly normal as a family business because you look further ahead from a long history. The EED report states that sustainability is embedded in business operations and that Meilink has significantly lower energy consumption than industry peers!"

Some EED conclusions

The Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) audit shows that the set of investments and actions are producing results on our energy consumption:

Sustainability is embedded in the Meilink organization, gas and electricity are purchased from a green supplier and packaging materials meet strict sustainability labels.
Electricity and gas consumption is actively monitored monthly, which encourages control, further reduction and benchmarking.
The lighting completely switches to highly energy-efficient LED lighting.
The thermal envelope of all buildings is insulated as standard during renovations, not just the offices.
Passenger cars for business transportation are being replaced by electric cars and electric car charging points are available at all production sites.

Annual CO2 footprint inventory

As mentioned, Meilink started making structural changes early on. Since 2013, we have had measurements taken every year. The CO2 inventory is done in accordance with the ISO14064 standard but also according to the Greenhouse Gas protocol and the CO2 performance ladder. According to the latest CO2 inventory, Meilink currently has as much as 62% lower direct CO2 emissions than in the starting year. This is according to the measure Kg CO2 versus number of employees. This measure makes it possible to arrive at a comparable unit of effectiveness. Indirect emissions, that is, emissions from suppliers as a result of our purchasing, are 66% lower according to Scope 2 in the latest report. We are on the right track and we will continue this for the coming years.

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Control of residual flows

Regarding the waste streams within Meilink, we ensure that these are separated in the daily process. In doing so, we choose to have our wood waste streams reused as much as possible instead of being used as biofuel for energy generation. For the nationwide collection of waste from our sites, a minimum impact of transportation has been taken as a benchmark when outsourcing to a specialized carrier. Everything to keep the CO2 footprint as small as possible and to prevent waste.

"You can wait, but we just started doing it."

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Securing value

Securing Value means that Meilink looks beyond packaging alone. QHSE manager Jeroen Bos is working on a comprehensive program that focuses on the total chain. Jeroen Bos: "Sustainability only makes sense if you ensure that the entire chain is sustainable. In addition to PEFC and FSC, ISPM-15 also plays a role in the responsible sourcing of the wood and cardboard we process. In 2024, FSC corrugated cardboard is on the roll. To ensure that the wood lasts longer without harmful side effects, we apply a special heat treatment. This also allows us to issue Reach/RohS or a Conflict Minerals declaration. Since people are Meilink's most important value, Securing Value also means that we monitor optimal working conditions and thus comply with all national and international requirements. We have VCA certification for employees who do packing work."

A matter of doing

Frederiek Rikken-Rengers: "We switched to purchasing green Dutch power from windmills years ago. The green power is also used for the charging stations at our sites. The remainder of petrol and diesel cars will be electric. We are also making all our premises more sustainable with better insulation and we have a total of 1,316 solar panels on the roofs in Borculo, Boxmeer and Edam. These are good for 389,000 kWh per year, which is equal to the consumption of 114 households. In Raamsdonkveer, an adjustment in the control technology resulted in a whopping 27% reduction in gas consumption. We will keep going, because the possibilities are far from exhausted!"

Ecovadis and continuous improvement

Meilink has now also joined Ecovadis, the internationally recognized institute for sustainability assessments. The aim is to ensure that we can continue to improve in a targeted way. At Ecovadis, we currently have Bronze status with which we are preparing for the upcoming Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). ISO-9001 is also inextricably linked to continuous improvement. Therefore, Meilink is also ISO-9001 certified.