Orakel Works Green!
Our Guideline: the SDGs
SDGs? These are 'Sustainable Development Goals' drawn up by the United Nations in September 2015. By 2030, the UN wants to work on these 17 goals for sustainable development worldwide. As a sustainable company, Orakel is happy to cooperate with this. Renewable energy, sustainable consumption and production, climate actions and a focus on life on land and in the sea are some of the goals set. How does Orakel try to do their bit? Read on!
Recycled and biobased materials
In the production of our tokens, we work with recycled and biobased materials such as recycled fishing nets, potato peels and wood. We are also constantly looking for eco-friendly alternatives for our other products.
When we send packages, we fill the boxes with recycled paper and no longer with plastic. Samples are sent in paper envelopes instead of plastic bags. We are also continuing this plastic-free trend in the workplace. For example, we only use glass refillable water bottles.
CO₂ Neutral
‘Orakel's goal is to be a carbon-neutral company and as of 2022, we have already achieved this goal in scope 1 and 2! This means that we reduce our direct emissions to an absolute minimum, among other things by sharply reducing our energy consumption and closely monitoring it. Our roof is full of solar panels and we supplement with green electricity. And we have barely used any gas or air conditioning since we switched to a heat pump to cool and heat our building in 2019. We offset the remaining direct emissions through our financial support to the Bosgroep Kempen Noord, which supports local forest owners to sustainably manage their forests. More specifically, they deploy the funds in 2 local forest projects to increase carbon capture.
Scope 3 deals with our indirect emissions and this is more challenging, but we are working on it. To achieve this target, we have already taken several steps such as encouraging our colleagues to take a bike to work by offering bike leasing and a bike allowance on a daily basis. Furthermore, we ship our parcels with couriers as carbon-neutral as possible. We take into account the final emissions of our products and limit our use of raw materials. Where possible, we work with recycled materials that can also be recycled after use. We coordinate our sustainable course with our partners so that in time we will work and cooperate more sustainably with our entire value chain.
Biodiversity
As a company we make lots of efforts to create biodiversity in various ways. One of the SDG’s that we maintain is focused on putting a halt to the loss of biodiversity.
Orakel created an eco-garden and placed a beehive with 30 000 bees with the help of a local beekeeper. Bees need a rich habitat and sources such as nectar and pollen in order to survive, so our ecological garden is their perfect home! Why an eco-garden with bees? These tiny insects make a big contribution to our world and society. Without them, many of the fruits and vegetables we consume daily will become more expensive, difficult to produce and would eventually disappear.
To help nature even more, Orakel has also sown 2 hectares of flower meadow to guarantee the biodiversity in our region.
Our accreditations
At Orakel, we want to assure the quality of our products and the sustainability of our production process. That's why we can proudly say we are ISO-9001 standard (quality) and ISO-14001 standard (environment) certified.
In addition, our woven fabric wristbands are Öko-Tex certified. The Öko-Tex 100-norm has become the international safety norm recognised by the textile industry. This certification ensures that standards are observed in the production of textile products.
Corporate social responsibility
Did you know we have different labels? We love to explain them to you. Orakel is a member of the UN Global Compact Network. This means we agree as a company to align our strategy and activities with 10 principles of sustainability and corporate social responsibility. The intention is to take into account human rights, labour rights, the environment and anti-corruption within our company. The goal of this network is to encourage companies to contribute to a more sustainable and global economy that benefits society.
In addition, we also have the Fairtrade@Work label. In 2016, we decided to offer as many Fairtrade products as possible at work. For example: our coffee, chocolate milk, tea, sugar, ... only come from Fairtrade brands. Once a year, we organise a Fairtrade breakfast for our team.
A Sustainable Building
In 2019 it was time for Orakel to expand and an additional 3-storey building was built. When designing this building, one item was paramount: sustainability.
The building is heated and cooled by geothermal energy: wells deep in the ground ensure that groundwater circulates in pipes and thus cools or warms the building. This system was also extended to the other building, so that we no longer need air conditioning.
There are solar panels on every possible free spot on the roof to provide our electricity. In the corridors there is LED lighting with sensors, the taps of the sinks have a lower flow rate and an extra rainwater well has been created for the flushing of the toilets.