5 Tons of Waste Batteries to Fund 10,000 Saplings

5 Tons of Waste Batteries to Support 10,000 Saplings In recent months, VARTA Consumer Batteries Turkey partnered with TEMA Foundation to launch an important campaign. Under the 'Transform Your Waste Batteries into Saplings with VARTA' initiative, waste battery collection points were established through major retailers. Consumers bringing their waste batteries to collection points will contribute to the VARTA Memorial Forest being created in Kırklareli. Kerem Acar, General Director of VARTA Consumer Batteries Turkey, provided information to press representatives regarding both the campaign and VARTA's sustainability policies. At VARTA, we place great importance on sustainability. We have a dedicated sustainability department to coordinate, implement and manage sustainability initiatives and report directly to the board of management. We have integrated our sustainability policies into our operations across all levels of the company. In this direction, we have established our development targets related to sustainability at VARTA. These targets comprise clean energy use, responsible production and consumption, people-focused activities, industry, innovation and infrastructure targets, and work on climate change. I would like to elaborate on these targets under separate headings.  

Investment in Green Energy, 92% of Electricity Needs Met from Renewable Energy Sources

  Clean Energy Use and Responsible Production-Consumption: We use green energy in all our production facilities in Europe. We source 92% of our factories' electricity needs from renewable energy sources. To increase green electricity production, we are investing in more solar panels at our production facilities. With our new photovoltaic systems coming into operation, we aim to increase our renewable energy production and by 2030 to meet all our energy needs from renewable energy sources not only in Europe but in all our production facilities. We have certified our production facilities according to environmental management standard ISO 14001 and monitor our water consumption and waste generation according to this standard. We have optimized all our processes to minimize waste, reduce materials in production processes and reuse them. In 2022, we made significant progress in minimizing environmental impact and improving sustainability performance. In 2022, we successfully recycled 3,000 tons out of a total of 4,648 tons of waste. We produce our packaging from FSC-certified, 100% recyclable cardboard and recycled content of up to 95%. Through our plastic-free packaging, we achieve 2 kg plastic savings and 4.4 kg CO2 emissions savings per 1,000 batteries. Our target is to achieve CO2-neutral production according to PAS-2060. For enhanced performance, we improved the performance of our products across all product categories using innovative and premium-quality materials, and our products became more sustainable through their longer useful life. In addition to new materials, every alkaline battery and rechargeable battery packaging now features an intelligent open/close mechanism that allows the package to be reclosed after a battery is removed. At the same time, we provide consumers with the convenience of storing spent batteries in their original packaging until they are sent for recycling.