our 4 pillars
of sustainability

We strive to bring a smile to everyone's face: our cocoa farmers, our employees and future generations.

Sustainable Sourcing

We go beyond Fairtrade with Route de Cacao, our own sustainable and socially responsible cocoa sourcing program.
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Sustainable Packaging

We are making great efforts to make our packaging more sustainable. It’s an ongoing process of continious improvement.
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Sustainable Production

Our business strategy is focused on increasing value for society, the environment and the company. It’s our moral duty to take every necessary measure to combat climate change and its impacts.
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Empowering our People

Belfine values the happiness and wellbeing of everybody in its chocolate journey. Our motto 'Let’s Make People Happy' applies to everybody involved in this journey: cocoa farmers, suppliers, customers, consumers, employees
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Our efforts toward a better future follow the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations
1. Sustainable Sourcing

Route de Cacao

All Belfine lollipops are Fairtrade cocoa certified. Our farmers are paid a Fairtrade Minimum Price for their goods, which acts as a safeguard when market prices drop. On top of this, farmer organizations also receive a Fairtrade Premium which they invest in projects of their choice. Many farmers have used the Premium to improve their businesses and production, replacing old trees and investing in better facilities for crop collection, storage, transport, or processing.
But with Route De Cacao, we go beyond Fairtrade. We created our own sustainable cocoa sourcing program supporting 148 cocoa farmers in the village Tigorikro in Ivory Coast. In our post-harvest center located close to our cocoa farmers, expert fermenters monitor and improve the fermentation process. This ensures a consistent superior taste for chocolate lovers, and more income for farmers.

Training and premium pricing for cocoa farmers are part of our program but we are always looking for new ways to improve their lives. With the Chocolate Bonus, we share the value of a higher quality chocolate, directly back with the cocoa farming communities we work with.
How do we do this? By building school infrastructure, providing school kits to kids and teachers, all with a focus to ensure equal access to quality education in Tigorikro.

By constructing sanitary facilities and dry toilets at the school and by building health centers and offering drinkable water equipment. Every month we check-up with a community head and two local families to see how our social projects are advancing and if we need to adjust our approach.
2. Sustainable Packaging

going fully recyclable

The following actions have been taken towards less and fully recyclable packaging:
We switched to biodegradable paper lollipop sticks text inside of a div block.
The transparent bag & ingredient label is 100% mono material (PP) making it 100% recyclable
We changed to cardboard trays instead of plastic
We use paper tape instead of plastic to close our boxes
We changed from synthetic foam to paper cushions to protect our lollipops
All cardboard is FSC certified
But we keep on researching more eco-friendly packaging solutions. Recently we switched to flap around displays. This means we use 30% less cardboard and by doing this we can ship 30% more packages per pallet reducing CO2 in our entire supply chain. Our goal is to have all packaging 100% recyclable by 2025.
3. Sustainable Production

Reducing CO2 emissions

We invest a lot in sustainable energy to keep our ecological footprint as small as possible. Our CO2 reducing efforts follow the system of the Science Based Targets initiative.
C02 footprint mapping and approved emission reduction targets by SBTi
Solar panels on all of our company buildings
Promoting biodiversity by planting a flower meadow,
Maximum usage of rainwater instead of tap water in our production plant
Optimisation of compressed air production, and leak detection.
Full change to led lights with light sensors where possible
Converting gas consumers to electricity consumers
We ordered a feasability study on installing a wind turbine, with a negative outcome due to legal and economic restraints
We also encourage our employees for making greener choices in our workplace and their every day lives:
By 2025 all company cars will be electric
Company bikes (electric or not) for people who work for the company for more than 4 years
We promote working from the home office
We actively inform and promote correct waste sorting
We do an annual litter cleaning campaign
We replace single-use items with reusable items and replacing plastic items with paper/cardboard, wood or other renewable raw material: sustainable drinking bottle & lunch box
4. EMpowering our people

Let's Make People Happy!

Empowered people can reach their full potential. They feel connected, are engaged and are more committed to long-term collaborations. That’s why we invest a lot in both our employees and in our cocoa farmers.
Every week we bring a sport coach to work
We offer language courses for non-native Dutch speakers during working hours
We have our own company psychologist – Every employee has the right to 5 one-hour sessions
1 extra day of holliday for all employees – The Lucky Day
Annual Satisfaction survey
Regular training and workshops
Fresh fruit every week
We offer free flue vaccines
We promote a healthy work/life balance (Flexible Work Shedule, Working from Home)
We are a certified 'Great Place to Work'
We are committed to making the lives of our cocoa farmers better by training them in order to get higher quality cocoa and paying them a chocolate bonus and quality premium for the better quality cocoa, thereby increasing their income . We also improve the environment and living conditions of our farmers' communities. Check out our Route de Cacao programme for more info.
Belfine's impact

our SDG focus

We cover many Sustainable Development Goals in this section. Belfine's overall efforts, focus mainly on impacting these 5 Sustainable Development Goals:
OUR CERTIFICATION

proud to be certified!

Our latest SDG-Certificate for Sustainable Entrepreneurship, certified by our local SDG-auditor Voka.

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