Our first requirement involves the substances used in making our products. In 2003, the Groupe drafted a list of harmful substances and banned them from its products. This move went beyond the regulatory demands of many countries. In 2005, Groupe SEB rounded out the list with substances listed in the European ROHS directive on the limitation of hazardous materials, which came into force on 1 July 2006. The list of banned substances applies to the Groupe’s sites and to all the suppliers having signed an eco-declaration.

In addition, with the “Nutritious and Delicious” line, we offer products which make it possible to combine pleasure and healthy eating. For example, the Actifry deep fryer makes it possible to produce crispy fries with almost no oil (just one tablespoon), and the steamers and steam ovens offer a natural and healthy way of cooking all kinds of foods.

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Our way of reducing a product’s environmental impact is to design it to be as recyclable as possible. That means being able to salvage as many of its components as possible in order to process and re-use them or to turn them into something else, such as energy, for example. The group has created an indicator of its products’ potential recyclability – potential, because recycling facilities are operational in only a few countries, although the situation is gradually improving. The goal was to achieve a 70% potential recyclability rate (in mass and arithmetic average) by 2007, and it has been surpassed in 2005. To achieve the objective, the design office focuses on potentially recyclable materials, in particular metals and polypropylene, limits the number of plastic materials in a single product to five in order to facilitate sorting, and designs appliances that are easy to take apart.

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For several years, Groupe SEB has been committed to boosting its environmental performance. Since 2003, it has implemented a global environmental management system based on the international ISO 14001 standard, with the goal to reach 100% by late 2007. Recently acquired entities have a three-year grace period. This is a continuous process: it is never over. That’s why we have set up a standardised data-gathering system to keep track of trends in the key indicators of the group’s environmental performance and limit the risk of pollution.

Groupe SEB, then, acts on every level of the manufacturing process: recycling waste, cutting greenhouse gas emissions, reducing consumption (water, gas, electricity, etc.) and increasing the reparability, homogeneity and especially, recyclability of sold products.

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Groupe SEB has listed the certifications that its suppliers have obtained for their European plants in materials directly used in production and urges the main ones to be ISO 9002 and ISO 14001 certified.
In particular, Groupe SEB has performed a cost/benefit analysis of some of its suppliers’ ISO certifications in order to encourage others to do the same.

In an approach similar to that of the SA 8000 standard, Groupe SEB has broadened the number of suppliers questioned about their social practices (especially in Asia). Among other things, the process involves having suppliers fill out a social declaration in which they clarify their social policies and make commitments. More advanced audits are performed of suppliers whose answers are vague or who are reluctant to respond.