Realizing A Decade of Transformative Growth and Sustainable Innovation
Why Reimagine 2030?
Our sustainability mission prioritizes the environment and our social impact to make everyday life more comfortable. We have thought about where we want to be in 10 years, and where we hope the world can be. This is the inspiration behind Reimagine 2030, a decade of transformative growth and sustainable innovation.
Our legacy of progress is important, but we recognize that we need to go farther, do better and make an even greater impact. Reimagine 2030 is a 10-year plan. This longer time horizon enable us to set our ambitions higher and undertake the investments needed to achieve success. Our strategy centres on four key sustainability pillars for our company – products, planet, people, and communities – and a broadened set of material issues covering our most significant environmental and social impacts. We have quantitative targets and qualitative objectives within each focus area and plan to develop new objectives as we continue along our path of transformative growth and sustainable innovation.
We are embedding sustainability in every decision we make and every action we take, so it becomes an even stronger part of our corporate DNA. Our decisions and actions today will shape the world of tomorrow.
How we’re reimagining 2030
Pillar 1: Products Empower
Through our products, we endeavor to inspire and empower people to live comfortably and sustainably. As we navigate through Reimagine 2030, we seek to enhance the sustainability of all of our products, while always ensuring high quality and comfort for our consumers and customers.
Through innovation, R&D and partnerships, we are minimizing our environmental footprint and enhancing our sustainability performance across our value chain, from the natural resources we use and our manufacturing processes to our product packaging and transportation and logistics.
Reimagine 2030 Target:
Utilize 100% third-party certified fibres
At Kruger Products, we know that our business depends on sustainable forests and our use of forest resources – our fibre supply – is the greatest area we can have a positive impact.
Healthy and sustainable forests are essential for our social and economic wellbeing and our ability to help mitigate the global climate and biodiversity crises. Millions of people rely on forests and forest products for their livelihood and forests also have high cultural significance and offer recreational opportunities for people around the world. We are committed to sourcing sustainable fibre and support sustainable forest ecosystem management so that future generations have the same opportunities to benefit from the world’s forests.
Reimagine 2030 Target:
Reduce virgin plastic packaging in branded products by 50%.†
Plastic reduction is a topic receiving global attention. We have been exploring alternative options for plastic packaging in our trademark products to do our part to reduce the amount of plastic waste and the amount of virgin plastic we use in our packaging. We’re committed to contributing and growing a more circular economy which is why we were the first tissue company to join the Canadian Plastics Pact.
† Intensity-based from 2020 baseline
As a leading North American tissue manufacturer, we believe it is our responsibility to lead by example. Many of our products are certified by the most respected and credible third-party certifications systems within our industry. Today, we offer nearly 250 third-party certified products, offering consumers and customers reassurance their products are responsibly sourced.
Our relentless pursuit for sustainability drives us to think differently, go deeper and find new alternatives. Through innovation, R&D and partnerships, we continue to minimize our environmental footprint and enhance our sustainability performance across our value chain, from the natural resources we use and our manufacturing processes to our product packaging, transportation and logistics.
Pillar 2: Planet Conscious
We recognize the urgency required to make the changes needed to reduce our impact on the natural world. It is the only planet we have, and we all have a responsibility to protect it.
Through Reimagine 2030, we are exploring how to infuse sustainability even deeper across our operations and value chain in the areas we can have the most impact – on addressing climate change, protecting water resources, and reducing waste by embracing circular economy principles in manufacturing. To reach these goals we’ll need to think bolder, act faster, and work with all of our stakeholders to create transformative change.
Reimagine 2030 Target:
Reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 35%.*
Addressing climate change is a global necessity and a strategic imperative for our business. We proactively identify and manage the risks and opportunities associated with climate change on our business.
Within our manufacturing operations, our climate change mitigation efforts focus on improving energy efficiency and deploying GHG mitigation technologies The majority of our operations are in regions with a high mix of renewable and low carbon electricity. We regularly make investments through a portfolio of capital projects and new technologies to shrink our environmental footprint.
Transporting our products from our manufacturing facilities in Canada and the U.S. to our end customers is vital to our business, and we know transportation is a significant contributor to GHG emissions. We are moving towards a low carbon and sustainable transportation system through improving the efficiency of our transportation network.
* Intensity based Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions from 2015 base year.
Reimagine 2030 Target:
Reduce our water consumption by 35%.^
Sustainable water resources are vital to our business, and we acknowledge the need for strong water stewardship. Pressure on water resources is increasing in many regions across the world, with increased concerns around water insecurity and water stress. While none of our manufacturing facilities are located in water-scarce regions, we are committed to ensuring the water resources near our operations continue to remain sustainable, healthy ecosystems.
^ Intensity based from 2015 baseline
We take a circular approach to waste management. This enhances efficiency across our operations and supports our shrinking environmental footprint. We use resources to their fullest extent and reuse materials to minimize sending waste to landfills. We also focus on waste reduction, and we strive to work with suppliers and partners who share our commitment to sustainability.
Pillar 3: Employee Impact
We are cultivating our workplace practices so that every employee feels inspired and even more supported to achieve their aspirations and make their desired impact.
We are committed to ensuring that Kruger Products is a place where everyone can be their best selves and let their greatness shine. Our people are our greatest strength, and we are focused on positively disrupting our culture to becomes even more progressive and purpose-driven. We continue to meet the needs of our evolving workforce, celebrate our differences and work to become stronger together.
Our people fuel the innovation that drives our business growth and sustainable development progress. Our workplace environment enables people to reach their full potential, encourages creative thinking and celebrates diversity of thought.
Providing the safest possible work environment to all our employees is in our DNA. We have a company-wide strategy that helps us maintain our high standards on health and safety, and all of our facilities work hard at ensuring a safe work environment, driven by our mantra “Safety for everyone, by everyone, in everything we do.”
Our Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) statement, “We See Greatness in You – your differences make us stronger” exemplifies our commitment to ensuring we have diverse teams that reflect the communities, customers and consumers we have the privilege of serving. It is our colleagues who bring this to life, not just in what we do, but also in how we do it.
The diversity of thought, experiences and perspectives our people bring contribute to the high performance of our teams. We truly believe that the variety of skills, backgrounds, perspectives and talent across our workforce makes our company a great place to work.
We are invested in the growth and development of our employees. We built a Talent Management Framework that defines our focus and the programs we deliver to support our employees. We prioritize employee development. Our learning programs and development offerings strike a connection between what each team member is personally motivated by and needs to work on, and what the organization needs from a skills or capabilities perspective.
As we continue to grow, we will continue to enhance and evolve the many employee-support initiatives to continue nurturing our people and teams. Our shared future is full of exciting possibilities.
Pillar 4: Community Embrace
We believe that we should always be making a difference in the lives of our employees, customers, and community members. We invest time in community-building activities to contribute to the health, welfare and social well-being of neighbours and community partners across Canada and in the U.S.
We align ourselves with the community and philanthropic endeavours that share an importance with our consumers, employees, and customers, particularly in the areas of cancer research, children’s health, environmental conservation, and women’s sports. Our community investments are strategically focussed, and we are committed to developing long-term relationships with the organizations and efforts we support.
We are partnering with One Tree Planted to plant 100,000 plus trees through our three year partnership and with 4ocean to remove 100,000 lbs of plastic from the oceans. Working with minor hockey associations across Canada, we have provided over $600,000 in financial assistance to hockey families in need through our Kruger Big Assist initiative; and through the Scotties Tournament of Hearts, we have supported Canadian Women’s Curling for over 40 years.
Some of our long-term national sponsorships and partnerships include:
We encourage our employees to act as positive stewards and volunteers in our communities through donating their time to charities or causes they are passionate about. Our employees have participated in activities from cooking, serving meals, tree planting or delivering products to local charities. We’ve also extended volunteer opportunities to the children of our employees – inspiring youth and the next generation to give back.
Our various facilities proudly also make a unique positive impact in their local communities by volunteering for causes they care about. Many of our facilities have a Community Involvement Committee that plans ways for our employees to be involved with and contribute to our local communities. Across our company, we support more than 30 local initiatives and organizations.
Leading with kindness is at the forefront of our community involvement. Our intention is to help our communities see their greatness. Cultivating long-term relationships within our communities is important to us. Our Community Involvement Committee is dedicated to organizing charity initiatives throughout the year and is entirely led by our employees. Drawing on our strengths, reach and partners, we hope to address some of the toughest social and environmental challenges facing our communities.
To maximize our charitable and volunteering efforts, we collaborate with local organizations and non-profits and prioritize building meaningful relationships. Through these relationships, we can gather greater insights into community issues and support solutions developed by the people who best understand the local needs.
Progress Tracking
We have completed two, five-year formal sustainable development programs – Sustainability 2015 and Sustainability 2020. Throughout this 10-year journey, we learned many lessons, shared knowledge and made considerable progress. Some of our proudest moments include:
-79%
Improved H&S by 79% (OSHA TIR)
vs. 2015 baseline
-26%
Reduced our GHG emissions by 26%
(CO2e/MDMT)
vs. 2015 baseline
-29%
Reduced our water consumption by 29%
(M3/MDMT)
vs. 2015 baseline
100%
100% of our fibre is third-party certified
2011 – First Canadian Tissue Manufacturer to Earn Forest Stewardship Council® Chain of Custody certification
Policies
The following policies guide our sustainability actions both internally as well as with our value chain partners.
Reports and Resources
We regularly report our progress towards achieving our sustainability targets. This transparent reporting holds us accountable while allowing our key stakeholders to monitor our progress.
