Great Earth's Sustainability Report - 2022

"2,300 jars saved from being discarded," "only take what you need," and "a major move for both our production and our office." These are three of the incredibly exciting achievements we're reporting in our 2022 sustainability report.

Read about why we work with sustainability and the improvements we made during 2022.

Every year, we publish a sustainability report. We actually dedicate a great deal of time and energy to it, precisely because it's so important to us. To be honest, the report itself isn't the main point; it's a summary of all the hard work we put in each year to do better. To be better.

Somewhere along the path to helping you, our customers, feel a little better, we realised we need to do the same for the planet. For us, these two goals have become synonymous. We believe that every person who has the strength, energy, and general well-being will ensure their surroundings thrive too. We believe that as long as we work to reduce our impact on the planet, we can inspire others to do the same.

To move beyond visionary talk and actually show you what we do, here is a summary of our best improvements from the past year.

From 2.5 to 0.3 laps around the Earth in transport distance

During 2021, a large part of our production was still based in the USA. This was because we have complex products with high technical functionality. Simply put, we work to an incredibly high standard when it comes to manufacturing and various technologies, because we want our food supplements to be the most effective. Previously, these technologies were only available in the USA. However, during 2022, we conducted a thorough evaluation of partners closer to home. And no one was happier than us when it turned out we could move 95% of our production to within Scandinavia instead, without compromising on either quality or technology.
We compared the CO2 emissions and transport distances of our previous production setup with the current one. Our choices in 2022 meant we reduced our transport distance from 2.5 laps around the Earth to 1.3. And in 2023, we will reduce this even further to just 0.3 laps.

Save A Pill - Innovative thinking to reduce waste = 2,300 jars saved

All product companies experience some level of product write-offs due to crooked labels or packaging damaged during transport. We are no exception. With the contents still in perfect condition, we wanted to find a solution to avoid discarding these products. From this, the sustainability innovation ”Save A Pill” was born. We noticed that many consumers appreciate the opportunity to choose products with cosmetic flaws or short expiry dates. This initiative led to us saving a total of 2,300 jars from being discarded in 2022.

Needs Test - 185,000 completed tests

In April 2021, we launched the first version of our Needs Test. We knew from the number of enquiries to our customer service team that one of the most common questions was which food supplements are needed for a specific lifestyle. From a sustainability perspective, it's important to us that you only take what you need. This is both for your personal finances, so you don't spend money on things you don't need, and to reduce the load on production, so we don't produce things unnecessarily. During 2022, we continued to optimise and improve the test to give you even better recommendations.

As we summarise 2022, we can report 185,000 completed Needs Tests. We think that's fantastic!

Improved fill level in our jars

Have you noticed that our jars sometimes change size? The contents are the same, but the jars get smaller. This is part of our work to improve our fill level. We can all relate to buying a bag of crisps and opening it only to find it's barely half full, with the rest being air...

We feel this is unnecessary for our type of product. That's why we are constantly trying to optimise the fill level of our jars. In 2022, we improved to a 69% fill level. This is an improvement from 2021 when we were at 65%. It's a process that happens in stages. Unfortunately, it's not as simple as just creating new jar sizes all the time.

95% produced in Scandinavia = from 2.5 laps around the Earth to 0.3

Great Earth has complex products with high technical functionality. Time Release, Portamins & TRAACS are some of the technologies that make our products unique. For this reason, we previously had our production in the USA, where this high technical capability was available.
During 2021, we evaluated 14 production units and were delighted to find that this technical capability had now been developed closer to home. In 2022, we moved 95% of our production from the USA to Scandinavia.
When we now compare both the CO2 emissions and the transport distance for our New York-based production unit and the Scandinavian ones, we are pleased to see that the transport distance has shrunk drastically. In 2022, this meant we reduced transport from 2.5 laps to 1.3 laps around the Earth. Looking ahead, with a full year of shorter transport, we will get down to 0.3 laps. In Sweden, we call this 'närproducerat' (locally produced), but our Norwegian neighbours have a better word, we think. They call it 'Kortreist' (short-travelled).

During 2022, we also reduced our CO2 emissions by 85.3%. This was a result of closer production, better shipping to customers, and several improvements throughout the entire production and logistics chain.

Good life - great workspace

We see being a great place to work as part of our sustainability efforts. Motivated employees who enjoy coming to work are our company's greatest asset. Over the years, we have implemented a range of improvements for our employees, and we continuously work to reduce things like sick leave. In 2022, our number of sick days decreased from 100 to 73.

In our quest to be a Great Work Place, the well-being of our employees is paramount. With decisiveness, openness, and integrity, we aim to elevate all aspects of health through all stages of life. For us, equality means young, old, man, woman, and coming from different cultural backgrounds. Here, cultural background doesn't mean where you were born, but what experiences you bring with you. Of course, we also strive for an even distribution of women and men among our employees, in leadership positions, and on the board. Here's how we summarise it in numbers: On our board, 34% are women and 66% are men. Leadership positions in the business are held by 84% women and 16% men. In total, the distribution among all employees is 85% women and 14% men.

A new home

Our logistics team was playing 'warehouse Tetris' with the pallets far too often. This was detrimental to both the working environment and our finances, as everything took much longer than necessary. So, something had to be done. In 2022, a major project was underway with architects, LEAN experts (to analyse workflows), and all employees to design our new premises. The construction took all of 2022, and the move itself happened right after New Year 2023. We chose a location for the new premises that places us centrally in the logistics hub of Gävle. We are now just 100 metres from our main shipping provider, which has many advantages. The location also means our partners can easily reach us, whether they come from the north or south, by car or train. Public transport is a given, and a safe cycle path from Gävle city centre makes it easier for those of us who want to cycle to work. From a sustainability perspective, we see a significant improvement in the working environment, faster and simpler workflows, and more efficient transport.

The future is ours, yours, and the planet's!

How can we at Great Earth create the conditions for people to feel well now, in 2030, and beyond? It's a known fact that the food we eat contains progressively less nutrition. It's difficult to get everything you need from your diet, even if you try. And it's neither reasonable nor sustainable for us to eat enormous quantities of fish or broccoli to meet our needs. Most of us need – and will continue to need – a little support to enjoy life to the fullest and feel energised in our daily lives. Energy that will be needed to drive change in our professional lives, take care of our families, or whatever life throws at you.
Here are some of the areas we are focusing extra energy on going forward – to continue contributing to people's well-being while reducing our impact on the planet.

Personalised vitamins - The era of choosing food supplements by the letter is over. Now, we want supplements tailored to our individual needs and the results we're aiming for. Our Needs Test is the first step in meeting this evolution. By personalising our recommendations, our customers receive only the supplements they need, which also puts less strain on our planet.

Less waste, more vitamins - Shipping, contents, format, and packaging. The future needs to contain more – absolutely not fewer – vitamins, but it must also involve less waste, spillage, and emissions. That is our ambition and vision. It's why we've taken initiatives like a new refill system, shipping in bulk, and eliminating unnecessary packaging and certain products.

Dig where you stand - As new production techniques develop, it will soon be possible to 'dig where we stand' to a greater extent. We know there is enormous power in our local Nordic nature. We absolutely want to use this in our products, when we can get the same high quality of ingredients from closer raw materials.
For example, would you consider eating the by-products of mussel production, like the shells that are currently discarded? They are filled with important vitamins and minerals and are a great example of how we can utilise a 'forgotten' resource from the sea. Making use of what would otherwise be thrown away is an excellent way to minimise humanity's impact on the climate, across all industries. We’re on it!

Read the full report here