Sustainability - Metos EE
Sustainability is our common cause
Responsibility is a key part of our business strategy – we offer our customers high-quality, durable and life-cycle-encompassing products and services, which are supported by continuous development to achieve a more sustainable future. We develop our operations and our life-cycle services so that our own and our customers' environmental impacts are as small as possible. Our goal is also to ensure an equal and fair working community, taking into account all stakeholders. In addition, we constantly strive to improve our knowledge of the responsibility activities of our suppliers and partners, so that we can ensure our shared values – responsibility, quality and customer orientation.
Responsibility and ensuring sustainable development include a wide variety of topics to consider. Below, we have collected some things that influence us and that we influence in our environment. We strive to be dynamic and take into account changes in the environment so that we can react to them in the future.
Environmental responsibility
We are committed to reducing the environmental impact of our operations. Our environmental management system has been continuously certified for more than 20 years. In accordance with its requirements, we have evaluated the environmental aspects of our operations, set goals and implemented environmental programs. For example, we have reduced the energy consumption of our Kerava factory by more than a quarter, while our turnover has increased by more than 40%.
At the company level, our most significant environmental aspects are emissions caused by traffic, energy use and waste management. Considering these, the reduction of emissions in traffic and energy use and the improvement of waste sorting have been set as environmental goals. At the same time, our goal is to develop our other environmental impacts, such as waste management and the reduction of food waste.
Waste sorting
Our production, equipment and packaging materials generate waste, which we continuously reduce through effective recycling methods. In our factory we cooperate with a company recycling waste from our packaging, and with a company which recycles waste from electrical and electronic equipment. We guarantee that the equipment and packaging materials are recycled in the best possible way, at the end of the product's life cycle, in compliance with the legislation. We were able to reuse almost 100% of the generated waste in 2022, of which approximately 62% was used as material and 38% as energy.
Food waste
Every year, around 1.6 billion tonnes of food are wasted or destroyed worldwide. This is just over a third of all food produced and equates to around 50 tonnes of food per second. Our solutions help with self-monitoring as well as monitoring the amount of food waste in kitchens and making it visible to customers. This is how we can reduce the excess food waste generated in the world – together.Our company's carbon footprint
We calculate the carbon footprint of our operations according to the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) protocol.
Our Scope 1 & 2 emissions have decreased by a total of 15% during the five-year monitoring period and amounted to 1,040.3 tons of CO2 in 2022. From the beginning of 2023, we have acquired only fossil-free energy, thanks to which our Scope 1 & 2 emissions will drop to less than half of the current level.
The determination and calculation of our Scope 3 emissions is underway. By far the biggest source of emissions is the production of the energy used by the equipment delivered to our customers. The best way for us to reduce this is by offering energy-efficient solutions and services to our customers. In terms of other Scope 3 emission sources, we receive information from our suppliers regarding, for example, transportation and waste management. In addition, we evaluate the emissions caused by business travel and work trips. In order to reduce these emissions, we work together with our suppliers.
The amount of carbon dioxide bound by the annual growth of the forest we own far exceeds our current Scope 1 and 2 emissions. However, since it is not the an increase of the forested area, but the growth of the existing forest, this cannot be counted as compensation for emissions.
The carbon footprint of our products
We have calculated the emissions generated during the manufacture and use of various dishwasher models. As a general rule, the share of emissions created during manufacturing is less than one percent of the emissions created during the entire life cycle of the product. We are expanding the carbon footprint calculation to other product families this year.
Social responsibility
Equality, equity and diversity are important values in our company’s culture. These values are emphasized even more since our industry is male-dominated. We strive to constantly improve our operations and we have an equality, equity and diversity working group, which includes a wide range of personnel from different departments and different jobs. The purpose of the working group is to review our current situation and assess how it could be improved. The working group develops plans and comes up with measures that help us develop in the direction we want – towards a more equal, fair and diverse working community. We also have an anonymous reporting channel, Whistleblow, which helps us ensure that we act in accordance with our ethical principles and that we are able to constantly develop our operations and address any grievances.
We constantly develop ways working more responsibly. Our personnel answer an annual personnel survey. With the help of the results of the survey, we are able to develop our work environment towards a better direction. A good employee experience results from a comprehensive orientation, meaningful work, a comfortable atmosphere at work, helping each other, good leadership and inclusion in the work community – exactly the things we all hope for in the workplace.
The professional kitchen equipment sector is developing at a fast pace and more and more skilled workers are needed, which is why we also encourage our own personnel to continue the development of their skills. We offer courses and training to our employees so that their expertise grows with the industry and they can serve our customers in the best possible way. A variety of trainings are organized for our personnel, covering topics such as new products and basic and advanced courses in electrical and refrigeration skills. In addition, we offer our customers equipment training through our training service. We also try to make it possible for our personnel to continue their studies alongside work through flexibility and special arrangements.
Ensuring occupational well-being and safety is very important to us, as our goal is a healthy and safe work environment, a well-functioning work community and the prevention of work-related illnesses. The purpose of wellbeing activities is to maintain and promote the personnel’s ability to work and function in cooperation with line management and occupational health and safety personnel. We offer our personnel comprehensive occupational health services and reliable occupational safety. To ensure occupational safety, we have appointed persons responsible for cold, gas and electrical work. It's also important to us to keep our personnel refreshed and take care of their mental well-being, so we listen to our employees and are flexible at different stages of their life. In addition to this, we offer the opportunity to participate in various hobby clubs offered by the company free of charge, which is a great way to relax and exercise outside of working hours.
Financial responsibility
We are an ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certified company in Estonia, Finland, Norway and Sweden. In accordance with the requirements of the certificates, we are committed to understanding and designing the best possible operating environment and evaluating both performance and environmental aspects. Based on them, we have set goals and implemented environmental and operational programs. We have been continuously certified for 20 years. Our certificates are valid for three years at a time and remain valid through follow-up audits.
The design and manufacture of professional kitchen equipment and furniture, sales and marketing of solutions and provision of supporting services to customers locally, through international sales channels and the marine sector.
In terms of risk management, we assess risks on a country-by-country basis, and we do not, for example, operate in markets where we perceive risks such as corruption to be high. We also do not operate in markets where the country's political structure prevents the free market from functioning.
We are in close contact with our suppliers and have long-term cooperative relationships with many of them, created through shared values. Responsibility and quality are important to us, which means that our suppliers are thoroughly inspected before we start working together, after which we stay in close contact with the supplier and maintain precise quality control. In addition, we assess the responsibility of our suppliers using a responsibility survey, in which we ask extensively about issues related to different areas of responsibility.
Develop your own responsibility with our help
In accordance with our responsibility values, we strive to create products and life cycle services that help our customers develop their own responsibility activities. In the development process, we take into account the shortage of employees in the field, ergonomics, agility, durability and quality. For us, life cycle services mean that we offer our customers everything from design to the final recycling of the product. With our help, you can move your kitchen towards a more sustainable future. You can read more about our services in the Services section of our website.