Corporate Social Responsibility
As any progressive company we deeply care about the environment and sustainability. So we try to reduce our carbon footprint as much as we can. All our packaging materials are made from 100% recyclable materials and we re-use as much of it as we can. The lights in our warehouse are sustainable LED which automatically switch off after not registering any activity for a short time. Our management drives in electric cars and we try not to print any documents unless it is absolutely necessary.
As part of our Corporate Social Responsibility we donate yearly to both the American and the Dutch Cancer Societies.
The Circular Economy
As of 2022 Freightways has dedicated itself to achieving a circular economy. We believe that this can be achieved by 2050 and are willing to do everything in our power to help. What does this exactly mean though? The image below illustrates this perfectly.
Instead of continually producing new, raw materials that eventually end up in the bin, all materials should be re-used and recycled indefinitely. This strongly decreases polluting production that very strictly speaking isn’t necessary and does not aid sustainability.
So this year we are going to have a very strong and critical look at the packaging materials we use and ask ourselves if that fits in the Circular Economy. Updates on this subject will be posted here and of course on our LinkedIn.
Mono materials and other new regulations
Luckily it’s not just us striving for this Circular Economy utopia. The European Union has introduced new regulations with regards to packaging materials. First of all they have banned the use of single-use plastics. A great start, but one that does not affect Freightways at all as we do not use single-use plastics. Even the cups we drink our coffee and tea out of are reusable.
Something relevant to us though, is the rise of so-called “mono materials”. To give you a practical example of something that does not fit this label; think of a carton of milk that is laced with plastic on the inside to improve the taste. The plastic and carton are intertwined with each other making the packaging virtually impossible to properly recycle. The European Union wants to change this and we are willing to cooperate. Before the end of 2022 we will only use mono materials to ship products, ensuring the packaging is fully recyclable. That means paper tape to seal off cardboard boxes and bubble envelopes completely made of paper in stead of paper and plastic.
Coast Busters
Freightways is proud sponsor of local charitable organization Coast Busters. It is the noble goal of the Coast Busters to clean up local rivers and beaches from all plastic and other waste to ensure none of it ends up in the ocean. In Freightways’ home town of Katwijk the river Rhine, one of the largest rivers in Europe, flows into the North Sea. To achieve their goal they gathered funds to have what is called a “bubble barrier” installed at the point where the river flows into the sea. This bubble barrier uses modern technology to filter out even tiny microplastics.
A clean ocean and a healthy environment is something we whole-heartedly support and so we decided to help out the Coast Busters by arranging their logistics for them. This way we try to pitch in and help to clean up the planet.
