By taking care of the environment, we take care of our own home

Environmental Policy

At FORTE, we want to conduct our production and commercial activities in a way that enables our company to grow in harmony with and respectful of every element of the natural environment.

That is why, in both making our day-to-day decisions on new projects or investments and in strategic undertakings, we always take the ecological aspect into account.

We are conscious of the protection of climate and biodiversity, and our commitments in this regard are included in the FORTE Environmental Policy.

In the Policy, we have committed ourselves, among others, to:

  • Reduce the consumption of materials, fuels, energy and water;
  • Reduce pollution emissions during production, storage and transport;
  • Build a closed-loop waste management system.

Read our Environmental Policy

Eco-ethics

We have devoted an entire section in our Code of Ethics to describing what is particularly important to us in terms of environmental protection.

Redirecting to the Code of Ethics

Circular economy

We know how valuable natural resources are and how important it is to use them properly. That is why, we are implementing solutions in our factories that are consistent with the concept of a circular economy. We are currently focusing on closed-loop processes for wood waste, in which the waste generated is treated as raw material in subsequent production steps.

Since 2020, we have been using recycled raw materials to produce our board in the TANNE particle board factory, including wood waste from furniture manufacturing processes or damaged pallets, as well as sawmill residues. This type of approach minimises the use of natural resources. We are constantly developing technologies, which in the future, will let us use wood-based materials, such as old furniture, in the production process.

To make our operations even more efficient, we separate waste in our factories in much greater detail than is required by law. This enables us to recover and reuse the maximum amount of waste generated.

At FORTE, we believe that when it comes to ecology, we need to act in a multifaceted way. What else do we do?

We constantly monitor the legality of wood harvesting and sourcing of wood products, and only use raw materials originating from sustainably managed forests that protect biodiversity.

We make sure that the raw materials we use are certified to be of the highest quality and ethically sourced.

We do not use wood or wood products that originate from natural forests, forests that are in danger of extinction or are illegally logged, forest plantations resulting from the conversion of natural forests, or from habitats of endangered species.

We are constantly improving our production processes in order to minimise the consumption of raw materials. We reuse process rejects, such as board and cardboard, to reduce the amount of waste generated.

  • We optimise the consumption of materials in the production process.
  • We optimise packaging processes.
  • We apply adhesive bonding guidelines and optimise adhesive consumption.
  • We reduce the consumption of boards by planning their cutting in a way that minimises rejects.

We are also constantly striving to reduce transport emissions (particularly carbon dioxide).

To this end, we are improving logistics processes, which directly translates into the number of shipments sent.

We are constantly striving to make our packaging environmentally friendly.

In 2021, we reduced the use of polystyrene in new product packaging by 16.9%. By 2030, we plan to eliminate the use of polystyrene in the
packaging of all our products.

Our climate action includes partnerships with various organisations. In 2021, we participated in the second edition of Climate Leadership powered by the UN Environment programme organised by UNEP-GRID. During the programme, we worked on technological innovations that would lead to even better solutions for reducing waste, building a circular economy and aiming at the efficient and sustainable use of raw materials.
We also made commitments that we announced at the end of the second edition of the programme.

Our commitments are:

  • Educating customers on how to correctly separate waste generated from the packaging of our products and making better use of the raw materials purchased
  • By the end of 2025:
    • reduction in the share of packaging materials by an average of 10% per package in all products
    • 100% of packaging material is recyclable

Environmental education

We know that in order to change the world, we need to act together. That is why we also try to foster sensitivity to our surroundings and a sense of responsibility for the environment in others. We undertake actions through which we want to shape the environmental awareness of various social groups.

Employees

We conduct training on waste separation and on compliance with the principles of a comprehensive system of selective collection of waste generated in individual plants, we organise cyclical competitions devoted to ecological issues and we involve our employees in nationwide campaigns promoting ecology, such as World Environment Day or FSC Friday.

Employees’ children

In our company nursery schools, known as ‘Yellow Elephants’, we organise educational and ecological activities; children learn to grow and take care of plants in a mini-greenhouse located next to the nursery school; the facility’s menu contains healthy products only.

Suppliers and collaborators

We choose to work with responsible companies that are mindful of their commitments towards the environment in their daily work.

Our neighbours

We are keen to support local environmental initiatives, including, among others, the annual planting or clearing of forests by senior citizens from the University of the Third Age. Together with the AMF ‘Our Way’ [Nasza Droga] Foundation, we launched the ‘Passion for Ecology’ project, to which we invited local schools. All the participants came up with small changes and introduced them into their neighbourhoods to raise social awareness and encourage others to take care of our planet.

Bee FORTE

At FORTE, the principles of sustainable development guide us every day. At the same time, we are keen to involve others in our green activities and jointly promote the importance of biodiversity for the well-being of our planet.

This approach led us, together with a team of beekeeping enthusiasts from our company, to create the Bee FORTE project, which aims to protect bees and promote biodiversity. We are pleased that our beekeeping community is growing and the project is attracting more and more supporters.

Activities carried out as part of Bee FORTE:

  • We have sown flower meadows with a total area of 1.69 ha at all the factories; the melliferous plants (including herbs in danger of extinction) that grow there are home to pollinating insects and other animals.
  • We organise educational meetings with experts for beekeeping enthusiasts.
  • Our beekeepers record an educational vlog, in which they talk about how to set up a first apiary and how to take care of bees.
  • We run a blog on beekeeping and the benefits of honey in our internal media.
  • We have built a mini-apiary at one of our branches.
  • We organise workshops and competitions promoting biodiversity.