March 7th, 2023
MCC Verstraete team plants over 2.000 trees and shrubs in local forest
Last Saturday, 30 of our colleagues helped planting 2.240 trees and shrubs in Drongengoed, a large forest nearby our Ursel production plant.
The tree planting event was organized as part of our We Care well-being program, which encourages our employees to pursue a sustainable lifestyle.
We Care... about sustainability!
"Our We Care program consists of 4 pillars: Move, Food, Relax and Fun. We frequently organize events to get our associates to move, relax, have fun and cook in a healthy way. Each of those events carries a sustainable aspect, because this is our way of making sustainable progress as people and as a company," says HR Director Liesbeth De Croock.
"The idea for the tree planting event came from one of our colleagues. We thought it was a wonderful way to get our colleagues out into nature together and reflect on our impact on the environment. That it also gets us moving is a good side effect!"
CO2-neutral production
Sustainability is a key value for MCC Verstraete, which is reflected in our product range and production process.
For the Belgian facilities in Maldegem and Ursel, we reduced CO2 emissions from 5,000 tons of CO2 eq. to 0. It started with implementing optimizations such as 100% green electricity (part of which comes from our own solar panels), heat recovery, investments in monitoring systems, LED lighting, etc.
These actions resulted in a residual emissions of 528 tons of CO2, which is offset by investing in a forestry project in Guatemala.
"This makes it kind of symbolic that we are here today, planting trees in the Drongengoed forest. Our sustainability vision does not stop at our own front door, we also look at people and the environment surrounding us."
