BelOrta berry packaging

Belgian cooperative BelOrta has this week been honoured as an ‘SDG Pioneer' on the occasion of the third Voka Sustainable Business Day, which took place online this year.

Unitar, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research, has rewarded companies for their actions over the past three years in implementing the 17 sustainable development goals.

BelOrta said the award showed the paramount importance of sustainable entrepreneurship and listed multiple actions that the cooperative has undertaken.

“Numerous matters have been discussed in recent years, including the replacement of traditional lighting in all sheds with LED lighting, the collection and use of rainwater, less individual packaging in plastic, contribution to research and development for the benefit of producers, sponsorship of charities for first-time sales, campaigns to promote employee satisfaction and well-being,” the group stated.

“Sustainable entrepreneurship at BelOrta is more than just a few large, highly visible actions,” added sustainability coordinator Wim Hubrechts. “It is in our DNA as a cooperative company and is an important value for each of the 400 BelOrta employees. We apply it in every action, in every process. We are of course very happy to be recognised, but this is certainly no end point. It is motivation to continue to evolve and become more sustainable.”