Community Updates

BillerudKorsnäs now reporting on ethics to its customers

More and more customers are asking BillerudKorsnäs to report on ethics with regard to Employment Conditions, Occupational Health and Safety, Business Ethics and the Environment. By accessing information from us, they can ensure and demonstrate that they are working to high ethical standards in all areas of their respective supply chains.

Published 7 years ago | About a 2 minute read

“An increasing number of our customers have chosen to use the international, web-based system Sedex rather than prepare their own questionnaires. We actually prefer this approach, because it’s more efficient for us to work with fewer different forms and charts. At the same time, customers appreciate our transparent reporting and our lofty ambitions regarding these issues,” relates Bengt Brunberg, Sustainability Manager at BillerudKorsnäs. He continues:

"We’ve been asked to report using this system by customers active in all three of our business areas. Our sales staff therefore have the opportunity – on a broad scope – to give interested customers access to our answers as one of the means to reinforce business relationships.”

The BillerudKorsnäs plants in Gävle and Karlsborg have been members of Sedex for many years, and another four facilities signed up as from 2016. This means that all the Swedish mills and Pietarsaari are now involved in the scheme. Beetham has not received any requests from customers concerning Sedex to date, so no decision has yet been made in this regard.

Sedex (Supplier Ethical Data Exchange) is a non-profit, members’ organisation based in the UK. The organisation has members in 150 countries and encompasses a wide range of sectors. The purpose of the system is to support communication between suppliers and customers in the context of ethical issues. Those BillerudKorsnäs customers who have joined the scheme can – after submitting an application and receiving our consent – follow a simple procedure to access our answers. It is a comprehensive system, based on almost 200 multiple choice questions on a wide range of topics including freedom of association, child labour, working hours, discrimination, human rights, safety training, contingency plans, hygiene conditions, anti-corruption, water utilisation, emissions and energy.

To find out more about Sedex, click here.