Progress 

0.064% of our feed ingredients come from novel ingredients. Far from target but due to our research and testings testings we are ready to implement novel ingredients as and when they become available (read details here).

Specific SDG sub-targets addressed

SDG sub-target 2.1/Business interpretation - Identifying new ways to feed the growing global population sustainably by transforming the global food system and agricultural production towards sustainable and environmentally sound practices.

Recognising the responsibility of business for significant social and environmental impacts of agricultural production within the supply chain.

Assessing social and environmental impacts of sourcing operations on farmers, workers, the marginalised/ underrepresented groups and the affected communities.

Progress

All innovations have been assessed with a sustainability filter.

Specific SDG sub-targts addressed

SDG sub-target 2.1/Business interpretation - Identifying new ways to feed the growing global population sustainably by transforming the global food system and agricultural production towards sustainable and environmentally sound practices.

Recognising the responsibility of business for significant social and environmental impacts of agricultural production within the supply chain.

Assessing social and environmental impacts of sourcing operations on farmers, workers, the marginalised/ underrepresented groups and the affected communities.

Progress

Nutreco’s investment in innovation was 42.9 million in 2021. Skretting contributed with 19.2 million.

Specific SDG sub-targets addressed

SDG sub-target 9.5/Business interpretation – Understanding that a transformative shift towards sustainable development requires a significant and equitable investment in education, training and lifelong learning.

Enhancing scientific research and technological capabilities through investing in technology innovation R&D in own operations, recruiting R&D workers and providing sustainability training to employees.

The project “The Feed of Today is The Food of Tomorrow” is designed to support sustainable fisheries, ensure the supply of sustainable raw materials and to protect the right of future generations to access nutritious and healthy seafood. The partnership between Metro Turkey, Skretting Turkey and Hatko Aquaculture has brought sustainable omega-3-rich fish to the market and created an opportunity for retailers to expand their nutritious and sustainable seafood offerings. Earlier in 2021 we communicated about this project on our website, and for this Sustainability Report we invited Metro to share their perspective.

Metro has been officially chosen as Turkey’s most reliable and trustworthy seafood retailer. While we are glad and proud of this privilege and recognition, we are also aware of the great responsibility put on our shoulders.

This responsibility is not only towards our customers to whom we are committed to provide quality, assortment and service beyond standards, but even more towards oceans and seas that provide us these unique sources for healthy protein in form of seafood products.

Sustainability, which is core to our business, is also a passion for us at Metro Turkey. All the projects from the resource to the shelves are developed with this passion and focus.

We see the future of seafood in aquaculture, but feeding fish in farms with fish from oceans is not sustainable at all. Even though this is a global concern, we wanted to act as a global industry player and started to work on different sustainability projects three years ago.

With “Metro Premium Fish Project”, we intended to use algae oil instead of fish oil for the first time in industrial scale, came to live basing on this passion, responsibility and concern. And of course, we would need partners who would share this passion and responsibility with us. So without hesitation we knocked at the doors of Skretting Turkey and with their great support, cooperation and devotion, we were able to make our first harvest and introduce this unique fish to the global markets.

We named our fish as “Happy Fish”. Because we know if the fish is happy, so will the customers. We will save almost 500 tonnes of wild fish stocks while we produce 400
tonnes of fish until the end of 2022.

Now we feel a bit more comfortable both towards the oceans and our future generations. And we believe that the real impact will come if all partners in the supply chain are dedicated and engaged for the same goal. Therefore, our collaboration with Skretting is very valuable in this journey.

Sinem Türüng, CEO, Metro Turkey

By 2025, our ambition is to make 100% of our packaging either recyclable, reusable or compostable. The first step in this journey has been to assess the current situation. To this end, we have created a database containing relevant aspects such as the materials, weight and composition of our packaging.

Feed bags are our main form of packaging. We separate these into three categories: paper bags, polyethylene bags and polypropylene woven bags. Each has its own set of unique challenges with regards to transitioning towards circularity.

The first aspect evaluated was recyclability. Packaging composed of a single material (“mono-material< packaging”), is preferred in the recycling waste stream as it requires the least amount of sorting and processing. Using protocols developed by industry experts, such as CEFLEX, we performed a selfassessment. CEFLEX is a collaboration of over 180 European companies, associations and organisations representing the entire value chain of flexible packaging.

Over the past three years, we have achieved a gradual increase in our recyclable packaging. The majority already has excellent value in the recycling waste stream. Our assessment also identified the most problematic segment, which is considered as not recyclable. Moving forward, we are looking to replace this segment with suitable alternatives and improve on this baseline.

Our database also allows us to make comparisons within Nutreco providing valuable insights into options and potential synergies.

To progress our ambitions for packaging circularity, Skretting Egypt has made a commitment to reusable packaging as an eco-friendly substitute to single-use packaging, collaborating with an award-winning design studio to craft fashionable bags using recycled Skretting packaging.

Skretting Egypt bags are manufactured from laminated woven polypropylene in Egypt, with high specifications of durability and water resistance. These elements make them easily reusable both in-house and by the community, both in Egypt and abroad.

The team from Skretting Egypt are currently in the R&D phase of a collaboration with the award-winning multinational Reform Studio to create fashionable high-end bags, woven from recycled bags into a special eco-friendly luxurious fabric embedded with Skretting’s Fish symbol.

Reform Studio is internationally recognised for their innovations in sustainable design and their positive impact, both environmentally by activating a circular economy that re-uses its products and thus optimises waste management and protects the planet, and their social impact of reviving traditional crafts, supporting craftspeople and underprivileged women with a steady income.

In addition to the fashion market, Skretting Egypt has manufactured sustainable grocery bags which were distributed to 160 families of our local community and employees, guaranteeing seven years of conscious use, saving a minimum of 80,000 plastic bags ending up in landfills.

The local community in Egypt has been adept at utilising the resilience of Skretting’s feed bags, turning them into truck covers, shed housing on farms, and both as a water-proof clothing layer to protect the farmers during fish harvest, and for the transport of crushed ice needed for fish display.

In January 2022 Skretting Chile made the first delivery of freshwater diets in sustainable bags to Mowi Chile. The move coincided with Mowi’s objective of reducing the use of plastics, proposed by the company worldwide in its Corporate Sustainability Strategy.

The initiative is evaluating technical parameters based on the objectives of both companies, with encouraging results for the project coordinators.

The bag material is a degradable biopolymer that breaks down in as little as four months under ideal composting conditions. The packaging has already been validated in the manufacturing plant for small feed bags and Skretting Chile is now scaling up the project to review additional parameters to evaluate longevity in storage, temperature sensitivity and safety.

“The reduction of the use of plastic in each of the stages of our production cycle is established as a priority in our Corporate Sustainability Strategy. That is why we are very happy with this compostable bag initiative that we are carrying out together with our food supplier, because it is undoubtedly consistent and adds to other efforts that we are making as a company to continue advancing in this line,” says Constanza Aguirrebeña, Communications and Community Manager at Mowi Chile. Skretting Chile is working to expand the offering to other customers during 2022.