Cedo Reveals Roadmap for Sustainable Business Growth

Cedo, one of Europe's largest manufacturers of recycled plastic waste bags has today revealed its Roadmap for Sustainable Business Growth. The plan is built on three pillars: People, Planet and Products and comes with targets designed to protect the earth's resources while attracting and nurturing talent within the business.

"Our plan has been built with deep engagement from all the employees within our company," says Rik De Vos, CEO of Cedo. "The journey to circularity will not be easy, but I have seen an immediate shift in decision making, and prioritisation of actions now that we are a purpose-led business. We are actively contributing to European and UK legislative debate to accelerate this transformation, while articulating and communicating proactively and transparently. A dream has been turned into a great journey and it pleases me enormously to see the response from everybody on our ambition."

People

To better serve customers and employees, Cedo is committing to become positively involved in its communities in the seven countries in which it operates, investing in them both as an employer and community member while actively supporting local environmental, health and wellness projects.

With its industry-leading focus on sustainability and rewarding career and development opportunities, Cedo hopes to attract fresh and diverse talent to join its two thousand-strong workforce who are as committed to environmental sustainability as they are to innovation. "We recognise that our economic growth as a business can only be delivered by valued colleagues and communities, high quality products and a healthy planet. Our pillars are aligned to these beliefs. Real success can only come from delivering progress in all three areas," De Vos said.

Planet

For planet, the business has committed to achieving climate neutrality across its global operations by 2030, increasing its use of renewable energy and improving energy efficiency usage.

Cedo will also improve its stewardship of water, with clear monitoring and improvement plans while reducing the overall water consumption in its operations. The business aims to send zero waste to landfill and has already achieved this target this year in the UK.

Product

To achieve circularity, Cedo has pledged to use only recycled, recyclable or sustainable materials for both packaging and product design. "We will use the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's Circulytics measurement tool, transparently tracking its progress to become a circular business," says Ton Emans, Director of Recycling at Cedo and President of Plastics Recyclers Europe. "We've been members of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and participants of the New Plastics Economy initiative since its inception in 2016 and by working together we are confident that we can transition from a linear to a circular business model over the next few years."

Working with customers in 34 countries and listening to their needs, Cedo is aiming to dramatically reduce plastics in its products and focus better on the use of raw materials through its eco-design process, selecting the appropriate raw material for each product and its intended life cycle. Going forward, the business will only purchase from suppliers which meet its ethical, environmental and social standards.

All of these steps that Cedo is taking towards sustainable business growth will be measured and shared in a new, fully transparent Grow With Purpose report, released every year.

Supporting nine of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

As well as outlining its approach to doing business, Cedo's Roadmap for Sustainable Business Growth explains how it will work towards nine of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. These are Goal 3, Good Health and Well-Being; Goal 5, Gender Equality; Goal 8, Decent Work and Economic Growth; Goal 9, Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure; Goal 12, Responsible Consumption and Production; Goal 13, Climate Action; Goal 14, Life Below Water; Goal 15, Life On Land and Goal 16, Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions.

In July 2021, Cedo announced that it is one quarter of the way to achieving its 100 per cent renewable energy goal, which will see it becoming a climate neutral business by 2030.