Environmental report

Rieber & Søn is fully conscious of its responsibilities to its employees, customers and suppliers, and also to our shareholders and society around us.

Rieber & Søn’s guidelines on environmental policy are as follows:

• Our company shall be a clean company in relation to both the internal and the external environment.

• We shall employ production methods which use raw material and energy resources effectively.

• We shall regard pollution as the misuse of resources. The management of waste and the prevention of pollution shall be dealt with primarily through recycling and the reorganisation of processes.

• We require our leaders to promote environmental awareness and to inform our employees and the public about our environmental initiatives.

• We shall comply with public environmental requirements.

• We shall also set environmental standards for our suppliers and business partners.

Rieber & Søn has a constant focus to improve systems and procedures in order to achieve environmental benefits.

Our production plants are targeted on meeting international standards, where the EU’s ISO 14001 has to date been normative. The Group Management has stipulated that all production plants shall comply with the new ISO 22000 standard within a three-year period.

Value chain

Rieber & Søn has production units in seven countries with different regulations and legal frameworks.

The management in the various locations ensure that the production complies with current regulations and local government requirements.

Input in the value chain consists of raw materials from the agricultural and fisheries sectors, water and energy, as well as packaging. The value chain output consists of processed and portion packed food products, waste and water.

Environmental initiatives

In 2009 Rieber & Søn moved into a converted and refurbished administration building in Bergen. The head office is an environment-friendly building.

• The building uses waterborne heating and will be carbon-neutral in relation to emissions into the air as soon as installation of the distant heating supply line has been completed by Bergen Local Authority.

• 95 % of all waste is sorted at source.

• A heat recovery plant has been installed.

• Modern video conference equipment has been installed in all Norwegian locations which has led to reduced travel.

• An inter-disciplinary working group has been set up to optimise the use of packaging. We cooperate with our customers to reduce transportation of air and thus reduce the number of trailers on the roads.

• Car parking has been removed from the building and the number of parking spaces at the company’s disposal has been reduced.

• As a result of a major nationwide cycling campaign, 20% of the employees in Arna cycled in the 2009 season.

In Norway, Rieber & Søn has entered into an agreement with Enova which means that by the end of 2013 we can qualify for investment support of NOK 6m, provided we implement the energy-reducing projects that have been presented and achieve the related energy savings.

At the production plant in Arna the roof has been reinsulated and a new ventilation plant has been installed. In Elverum the entire building complex has been made more energy-efficient. This will provide a total saving of around 4 GWht. The Arna plant was recertified in accordance with ISO 14001 Environment in 2009

Preliminary energy saving analyses carried out at the King Oscar plant in Svolvær, Norway shows that there is scope for reducing energy costs.

In Sweden there is a constant aim to reduce the consumption of oil, electricity and water. This achieved by focusing on locally produced distant heating and optimising washing processes. At the plant in Sweden plastic and cardboard waste is sorted at source and sent for recycling.

In Poland a new water-cooling and recirculation plant was installed in Gniewino in 2009, giving savings of NOK 2 176 874 (PLN 970 000).

In the Netherlands a new energy saving plan has been implemented for the period 2009-2012 and all quality systems were renewed (ISO – HACCP A - BRC – GMP – SKAL – IFS – Kosher).

In the Czech Republic there has been a 33 % improvement in recirculation compared with 2008 and production waste has been reduced by 7%, in line with ISO 14001.