From sustainable thinking to doing

General October 26, 2021

Tekst door Tamara Brouwers Fotografie door Fagerhult BV

Lighting manufacturer Fagerhult originated in the 1940s in a small Swedish town. Since then, the company has grown into a leading player in the EU. The company also wants to lead the way in sustainability, explains Benno Dijkhuis, managing director Fagerhult Benelux.

"When you think of Sweden, you quickly think of nature, light and sustainability. These characteristics also translate into Fagerhult's strategy. The established sustainability pledge is proof of this: consciously dealing with products, quality, the people and the environment. One of these goals is that from 2030 our products will consist of at least 80% of renewable or recycled materials."

3x greener - No steel, no packaging and less waste

"Our R&D department is constantly asking what the impact of our products is and how we can improve it." A great example of this is Multilume Re:Think.

"We took our most successful fixture - in order to make the biggest impact - and did life cycle analysis. Most of the CO2 (73%) occurs during the use of the luminaire. Our contribution to reducing this is to provide a high quality LED complemented by sensors for efficiency and energy efficiency. Of course, the user can further improve this by using green power. But we have looked beyond just the light; also the materials we use. For example, we chose to use solid board instead of steel. Also, the fixture no longer has any packaging, but the user only has to remove a piece of solid board to make the light visible. We print the instructions for use on the back of the product itself and in this way we avoid even more waste."

Not a marketing story

Dijkhuis says Fagerhult has applied this policy not only to its products but to its entire operations. "We are exploring all possibilities to make our locations carbon neutral. This is not a marketing story for us, we don't want to talk green, we want to do green."

Fagerhult develops its products at its headquarters in Habo, Sweden. To explain the company's sustainability story and showcase its products, there is the Fagerhult showroom in Houten.