Our relationship with sustainability is not a short-term affair, but a lifelong commitment. And as in all long-term partnerships, every now and then we need to take stock and see if we are still on the path that will lead us to our goals. Sustainability has long been fundamental to GOJO, and rather than plod on with outdated habits, we have updated our sustainability goals. Our new Journey To Green is based on our fundamental values, milestones already achieved and new challenges that we are happy to take on - for a better future!
Our sustainability milestones
In 2006, we really started our sustainability journey with the launch of the first green hand cleaner. Since then, we have already achieved wonderful milestones:
- Publication of our first sustainability report and our sustainability policy in 2011.
- Award of the Ecovadis Silver Medal in 2023, for a sustainable supply chain
- Certification of our PURELL® Hand Sanitiser and PURELL® HEALTHY SOAP® with CLEAN RELEASE® Technology according to the cradle-to-cradle principle
- EU Ecolabel certification on a significant proportion of our products.
Sustainability is not a foreign concept
In 2010, we introduced our first sustainability goals, which were updated 5 years later. We were able to achieve many of the targets announced in 2015 even before the target date of 2020. So we are pleased, and proud, to introduce our latest set of sustainability goals, which are designed to transform our business to fulfil the GOJO purpose in the long term and innovate for a better world over the long term.
"Our GOJO purpose and values challenge and inspire us to think holistically and deliver what we call GOJO Sustainable Value," said Marcella Kanfer Rolnick, GOJO Industries Executive Chair. "GOJO Sustainable Value strives to create social, environmental and economic value for all our stakeholders and holds us accountable for the impacts of our actions and inactions. Each part of our Sustainable Value strategy connects with the others and brings us closer to achieving our goal of saving lives and improving lives through wellbeing solutions."
Choosing the right focus areas
To find out which issues are most important to us, GOJO conducted a materiality analysis under the guidance of an external consultancy. This process gathered feedback from customers, suppliers, relevant NGOs and our team members, resulting in a list of issues that are of increasing importance to us and that we need to address. Combined with benchmarking and trend analysis, this helped us to focus on the right issues.
Journey To Green - 4 principles
This new phase of the GOJO Sustainable Value Strategy focuses on four priorities:
1. Clean Chemistry:
The presence of ecotoxic chemicals in the natural environment is harmful to plants and animals alike. By reducing the environmental impact of our formulas through targeted innovation and improving their biodegradability, we ensure they are as safe as possible for humans while making our chemistry cleaner.
2. Plastics and recyclability
The accumulation of plastic waste in our oceans and on land harms ecosystems and their inhabitants. That's why we're working to make our packaging fully recyclable and replace virgin plastic with recycled plastic.
3. Flourishing Team GOJO
Team GOJO is one of our outstanding strengths. Working on this priority strengthens the GOJO culture by boldly driving diversity, equality, inclusion and belonging, growing and developing team members and increasing team member wellbeing.
4. Resilience and Climate Responsibility
Reckless energy consumption as well as unnecessary waste production leads to higher emissions and more solid waste going to landfill. We have set carbon neutrality as a goal and are actively reducing solid as well as liquid waste produced by our operations.
Specific targets and additional details on our new Journey To Green, can be found at https://www.purell.eu/en/know-how/sustainability-journey-to-green.
