Vilnius bakery awarded sustainability rating – Lantmännen Unibake Green Site certificate
Vilniaus Duona's Vilnius bakery has been awarded the Lantmännen Unibake Green Site sustainability certificate. It is earned by the companies of our group that resolutely pursue the set sustainability goals – in the areas of environmental protection, working environment and health-friendly products.
"This certificate is a sign that we are sustainably expanding our activities by reducing waste and CO2 emissions, creating a safe healthy working environment for our employees and increasing the production of health-friendly products. Certification is based on employee involvement, surveys, managers' evaluations and sustainability team inspections," said Jurga Staniukėnienė, the organization's development specialist who is in charge of the certification project at Vilniaus Duona.
According to Jurga, we are proud of the progress achieved and at the same time we understand that the path of sustainability is a continuous process.
"The progress of the certification will be evaluated every two years. We aim for our other locations in Lithuania – the Vilnius office and the Panevėžys bakery – to become certified by the Green Site program in the future. Thank you to all colleagues for their involvement!"
The Green site initiative involves all employees
She emphasized that no matter what position we work in, we can all incorporate more sustainable solutions into our daily tasks.
"Everyone can contribute with their contribution: for example, by using paper towels less (cloth disinfectant towels are already used in many places in our departments), assessing the need for printing more carefully, avoiding disposable items. Also, saving energy by turning off equipment that is not in use after work, quickly reporting faults or leaks, keeping windows and doors closed when heating or cooling is on – every step is important," said Jurga.
Certification involves several stages
How the certification process works in the group's offices and bakeries:
Self-assessment of managers: A team of local managers works together to assess the sustainability situation in the company and the areas for improvement.
Employee survey: All employees are invited to share their thoughts on sustainability in the company and ideas on how to improve.
Inspection: Unibake's sustainability team reviews the assessments. Locations that meet the required standards are recommended to be certified by Green site.
Certification is carried out every two years
The goal of the Lantmannen Unibake group is to achieve that all locations are certified with an internal Green site certificate by 2030.
The full list of currently certified group bakeries or offices can be found here.
Last year, Vilniaus Duona also allocated a quarter of all investments to sustainability initiatives, including reducing CO₂ emissions and energy consumption. Recently, the company has implemented such significant projects as the heat recovery project, fixing energy consumption by 60 points. The company reviews the working environment every two years by conducting detailed employee surveys, as well as regular proposals from colleagues on improving the safety and quality of workplaces. Vilniaus Duona is committed to increasing the basket of health-friendly products by reducing the amount of sugar and salt in them and increasing the supply and assortment of whole-grain products.
