Biogas powering board production

Food store customers are putting increasing value on sustainability: according to the 'Suomi Syö' survey by Taloustutkimus, 46% of people under 25 consider the reduction of food waste an important factor in food chain sustainability, and 44% an important factor in food chain eco-friendliness. Similar results were obtained in K Group's survey on food trends in 2017: 30% of Finns want to choose the more environmentally friendly product in a store, and as many as 47% of Finns strive to reduce food waste.

Energy from waste

K-food stores are striving to reduce waste and they are constantly working towards developing solutions to prevent waste. One innovative solution is to recycle inedible biodegradable waste to produce biogas. Biowaste is currently collected from some 200 K-food stores and the Kesko logistics central warehouse, and taken to biogas plants. The biogas produced is transmitted to Gasum's gas network. The solution reduces K Group's annual carbon dioxide emissions by 540 tonnes per year, which equals to the emissions of driving a car for 4.5 million kilometres. The biogas produced is then used to power the manufacture of new Pirkka products.

Gasum and K Group are now joined in the collaboration by the Turenki ice cream plant, as renewable energy in the form of Finnish biogas will be used in the making of Pirkka ice creams. Also the packaging board, produced by Stora Enso in Imatra for packaging the Pirkka ice cream, is produced by biogas.