The fight against food waste involves communities all over the world. Also the UN has added to its Sustainable Development Objectives – in the Sustainable Change section – the target of halving food waste worldwide, both at retail and consumer level, as well as of reducing food losses along the production chain, including the post-harvest phases.

Every small action can make a difference!

Gruppo Montenegro has decided to join the Pact against Food Waste, launched by the association Too Good To Go on the occasion of the nationwide Day against Food Waste, on the 5^th of February.

Too Good To Go, with which we are already partnered through our Atelier della Natura Bonomelli, which donates its leftovers every day to be used as Magic Boxes, was established in 2015 in Denmark for the purpose of counteracting food waste.

Their app is present in 15 countries (Europe and United States), it has more than 50 million users, and allows shops and companies to collect and sell online their food leftovers (“too good to go”!) to make Magic Boxes, i.e. “doggy bags” with a surprise selection of fresh products and dishes which cannot be sold the next day.

The Pact will be launched on the occasion of the Day for Prevention of Food Waste, scheduled for the 5^th of February this year; it is a virtuous alliance between companies, supermarkets and consumers, with a view to bringing down food wastage rates over the next three years through concrete actions and initiatives at all levels of the agri-food chain.

Read the news: here.

Read more about the pact: https://toogoodtogo.it/it/campaign/commitment

For Gruppo Montenegro sustainability is a fundamental value, and also in this case any route to success consists of many steps!

During the lockdown period, four teenagers from Milan decided to set up PC4U.tech, a non-profit project whose purpose is to help deal with this problem. PC4U.tech is a web platform designed to connect students who need a device (PC or Tablet) for online learning with individuals or companies wishing to donate functioning second-hand devices.

… and Gruppo Montenegro has chosen to support this project by donating its stock of unused laptops.

Online learning is everyone’s right!

For more information, follow the link https://pc4u.tech/

Together we can fight food waste: check out our Atelier on the Too Good To Go app!

Compared to the past, the use of “Multycopy Zero” Carbon Neutral certified paper will lead to us saving  4,515 Kg of CO2, that is to say 34,700 Km travelled in a car.

The issue of sustainability is one of the main pillars at Gruppo Montenegro: choosing “Multicopy Zero” as paper for all our printers we help protect our planet, page by page.

This will happen, of course, in compliance with specific guidelines and safety and health protection protocols.

Over the last few months, the health emergency has severely limited the possibilities for children and teenagers to enjoy new experiences away from their families and homes. This edition will surely be remembered for the extraordinary circumstances during which it took place and for the renewed commitment to reach out to the neediest families and youth in the local community.

The certification process had a very positive outcome -all the requirements were met- but that is not all: the certifying body CSQA also made positive comments about Olio Cuore production handling during the COVID-19 emergency.

This is further confirmation of the great importance Montenegro Group places on its products’ quality and safety, two key elements for all our brands.

As it had happened with the Group Headquarters, also in this case we feel particularly satisfied and proud of this result as well as of the renewed appreciation received from CSQA Auditors who, referring to the plants in Teramo and Foggia, pointed out that over the years Montenegro Group has strengthened its presence even at the ‘more peripheral’ sites.

Like for all other goals achieved in the past, also this further big result was possible thanks to all our collaborators -who use their know-how every day to support the HSE System and make it develop- and to anybody who made their personal contribution just by complying with all the System requirements.

“Our vision ‘Quality of life anytime of the day’ means making sustainable decisions and choosing behaviours which reflect this vision every day”, says Marco Ferrari, CEO at Gruppo Montenegro. “This is why we have started to pave the way for a new path which will lead us to becoming more and more a ‘Green Company’, by starting the first projects within our workspaces. They include basic and concrete actions because we believe that what we do every day can truly make a difference”.

More specifically, the goal of the first project, called #PlasticFreeCompany, is to get rid of all the plastic which is used for beverages on the Group’s premises, thanks to the installation of machines for pipeline water filtering: in this way you have quality drinking water, free of charge and available for everyone, using paper cups or stainless steel flasks which we provide for our staff. Moreover, the cups and plastic spoons for coffee vending machines will be replaced with paper cups, wooden spoons and ceramic mugs for herb teas and infusions.

#100%Recycle, on the other hand, is an initiative aimed at encouraging separate waste collection, by placing new branded containers in all common spaces in offices and factories, thus getting rid of all litter bins on the premises. This is also expected to allow for more efficient collection operations, as well as to encourage greater use of recycled materials to protect the environment.

It is sustainability path in respect of which all the employees at Gruppo Montenegro are involved. 

The project stems from the partnership between Cannamela and Fairtrade Italia; its aim is to enhance the role of individuals, helping small farmers in developing countries to build a better future, through fairer trade conditions.

This non-profit organisation is committed to guaranteeing a minimum price for small-scale spice producers, calculated to cover sustainable production costs, independent of market fluctuations; this helps improve their living conditions, as well as supporting their growth and progress.

In addition, producer organisations are awarded the Fairtrade Prize, to be invested in products of their choice, for example implementing best practices in farming and funding for schools, or the development of businesses to support household incomes: one of the initiatives, for example, is a seamstress school where women from producer cooperatives can learn a trade and earn a living.

Cannamela Fairtrade: one more chance for the consumer to make a difference, without giving up on the taste and quality of Cannamela spices. 

With “Seminiamo per l’Africa” Cannamela chose to increase its commitment and get involved in a major charity project for long-term agricultural development in Africa, and in 2015 it supported and cooperated with an important and respected non-profit organisation, CEFA.

> Find out more at www.seminiamoperlafrica.it/ 

The environmental management systems are subject to an annual certification audit pursuant to standard ISO 14001, carried out by a third party, in order to check continuing compliance with the voluntary certification regulations and the achievement of improvement objectives.