NEWS

Carrying on sustainability works as a ‘no-waste company’ model since its foundation, Türkiye’s leading food company Ülker, has published 6th Sustainability Report which includes its economic, social and environmental activities in 2020. 

Ülker’s CEO Mete Buyurgan, who mentioned that they continue to work in order to take Ülker’s sustainability performance forward, said that they would accelerate the steps to be taken in this journey by determining new targets.

Buyurgan, who mentioned that they continued to produce continuously and meet the demand in the pandemic period, said that “This process, during which our resilience has been tested, also highlighted the measures that should be taken against foreseeable major risks such as climate change and environmental issues. We also created projects in many fields from water and energy saving to human resources and from waste management and food protection to production quality in our company. We saved 21.5 million TRY through operational excellence practices and approximately 2,000 technical improvements and 26.6 million TRY via 69 R&D and innovation projects we have implemented in 2020. Our environmental investments and expenditures have reached 3.4 million TRY by increasing approximately 30% on a year-on-year basis”.  

Buyurgan, who explained that they prioritized local producers in the sustainability projects, also said that they harvested for the first time local and national, high-yield and high-quality Aliağa Biscuit Wheat variety which is resilient to climate change, diseases and drought.  

100% recycling is aimed for the packaging until 2025

Buyurgan, who told that as part of their 10 year-long sustainability targets, which they set in 2014, they succeeded at increasing waste recycling ratio up to 91% at Ülker, said “As part of our zero waste works, we focus on using less and recyclable materials to reduce environmental impact of the packaging and packets that we use. Last year, we used 660 tons less paper and 536 tons less plastic. We keep working non-stop in order to reach our goal to make 100% of our product packaging recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025.”  

Buyurgan, who reminded that they continued to grow their business without increasing carbon emissions since 2014, also added that they provided 7,967 MWh energy saving in total in 2020 thanks to the energy saving projects they carried out and by this means, they saved 3.2 million TRY. 

Ülker has been selected as “Good Life Brand” for the third year in a row

Ülker’s CEO Mete Buyurgan, who told that they supported the “10x20x30” initiative, which had been started by World Resource Institute (WRI) to reduce global food loss and waste by 50% by 2030, said that they took their sustainability performance further every passing year. 

Buyurgan continued his words as follows: “The recognition of our sustainability efforts on both national and international platforms is the most significant indicator that we progress to the right direction. We have been listed in the Borsa Istanbul Sustainability Index since 2015. We have been selected as “Good Life Brand” for the third year in a row in the 2020 Good Life Brands Survey which was carried out jointly by Nielsen and Sustainable Brands Istanbul. Thanks to our outstanding performance in environmental, social and governance fields, we have become the first and only Turkish company to take place in The Sustainability Yearbook 2021 list in the food industry as a result of S&P Corporate Sustainability Assessment. We brought our Occupational Safety performance to the levels in the global comparisons with the behaviour-oriented safety culture projects we have started. Thanks to our Occupational Health and Safety projects, we were among the winners at 2020 International Safety Awards organized by British Safety Council every year.” 

BOX 

 Ülker’s 2020 Sustainability Works In Numbers 

• Ülker’s water reduction ratio has been 35.4%. 
• 9.8 million litres of water has been recycled through rain water recycling systems in Topkapı and Gebze factories. 
• Carbon emissions caused by logistics have been reduced by 15% in the last 5 years by transporting the products with larger vehicles and less fuel. 
• Thanks to zero waste works that have been performed in Silivri factory, the waste amount which was used in waste burning and energy recycling operations, exceeded 320 tons in the last 2 years. This number is equal to the daily domestic waste of a city with an approximate population of 210,000.
• All the activities at R&D centres and factories have been made available to be performed on a digital platform. By this means, experiences and technical knowledge can be stored on a digital media, the works are managed quickly, more efficiently and in a sustainable way.
• The video series, covering the subjects on protecting natural sources, water saving, energy efficiency, waste management, reducing carbon footprint and preventing food waste, have been featured under the title of “Ülker My Beautiful Country, Nature is Entrusted to Us”. Until today, the ratings of 5 episodes have reached 55 millions on Facebook and Instagram accounts of Ülker and 12 millions on Youtube. 
• As a part of Ülker My Beautiful Country Forest, we have planted 31,000 saplings.
• Training hours have increased approximately by 20% in the last 2 years by providing 25-hour trainings per employee averagely.