Adel Kalemcilik Publishes Its Second Sustainability Report
Foreks - Oğuz Uçanlar, CEO of Adel/Faber-Castell, provided information regarding their Sustainability Report, the second issued this year, stating that they will continue to release this pioneering report annually. Uçanlar commented, “We aim to reduce waste by 50% by 2050, achieve the same rate of recycling, and completely eliminate the use of petroleum-derived plastics by 2050, thereby achieving carbon neutrality.”
Adel Kalemcilik published its second Sustainability Report, transparently presenting its environmental, social, and governance activities and performance for 2023. The report states Adel Kalemcilik's goals of reducing waste by 50% and achieving the same rate of recycling by 2050, alongside their goal to completely eliminate petroleum-derived plastics by 2050.
The report, prepared in compliance with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards, shares Adel Kalemcilik's efforts toward carbon neutrality and highlights their contributions to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, particularly in Quality Education and Climate Crisis.
The second Sustainability Report, following the first one released last year, comprehensively covers the production processes for wooden-cased pencils, colored pencils, and other stationery products manufactured at Adel Kalemcilik's factory in Kocaeli, Çayırova.
In his evaluation of the report, Oğuz Uçanlar stated that Adel Kalemcilik embraces its commitment to sustainability as a fundamental part of its corporate culture within the framework of its Sustainability Policy. He also emphasized their determination to regularly enhance their activities in this area.
Uçanlar highlighted that they view sustainability not merely as a target, but as an integral component of business ethics and corporate identity, stating that they drive their R&D activities with a vision centered on sustainable development and creativity. He mentioned that through collaborations with universities and designed projects, they continuously enhance their sustainable product portfolio. “With our sustainable packaging initiatives launched this year, we ensured the separate recycling of paper and plastic materials. This work significantly reduced our use of raw plastics and resulted in significant savings through cost improvement efforts,” he noted. Uçanlar also discussed their production facility and R&D center, renewed through technological advancements, stating that they developed patented machines, took significant steps regarding production capacities, and achieved an innovative position in the stationery sector.
Expressing that they will continue to publish their Sustainability Reports annually, Oğuz Uçanlar shared the following information: “With our 55 years of experience and our successful partnership with Faber-Castell, we are the first company that comes to mind when it comes to stationery in Turkey. We contribute to the development of future generations with our core values of ‘Quality, Innovation, Passion for Success, and Goodness.’ Adel Kalemcilik is an important component of the Anadolu Group’s operations across various sectors worldwide. With our high production capacity and diverse product range, we are one of the leading manufacturers in the stationery sector in Turkey and its surrounding regions. Our experience of over half a century, commitment to ethical values, and quality, reliable product range maintain our leadership in the industry. We continue our marketing and sales activities with nearly 3,800 product varieties. Our vision is to be a part of everyone's life who wants to shape, color, and leave a mark on their dreams. We shape our production approach on the principle of ‘We do not bring any product to market that we would not allow our own children to use.’ With this sensitivity, we conduct an average of 10,000 product safety tests and 30,000 product quality tests each year. We continue to add value to both our country and the world with our sustainability-focused efforts. We prepared our 2023 Sustainability Report within the framework of the fundamental principles of sustainability, namely environmental, social, and governance criteria, and presented it to the public.”
COLLABORATING FOR GOODNESS AND QUALITY EDUCATION Regarding their collaborations for social responsibility projects and the goal of “quality education,” Uçanlar stated: “We realize our social responsibility projects under the ‘Tree of Goodness’ platform, which is nourished by our core value of goodness. We develop our projects in the field of Quality Education with the aim of providing all children in our country, especially those in need and deprived regions, with access to better quality and equal educational opportunities. In addition to being the main sponsor of the Creative Children Festival, we collaborate with leading museums in our country. We continue to work with many NGOs, including the Teacher Academy Foundation and the Turkish Education Association, on projects that will benefit society and create value, thereby growing our Tree of Goodness. Again under the Tree of Goodness platform, we continue to meet the educational and stationery material needs of hundreds of thousands of underprivileged children. In 2023, we organized our efforts to support citizens affected by the earthquake that saddened us all as a nation and to deliver our aid to the earthquake region in coordination with the Anadolu Group.”
WE CARRY OUT OUR R&D ACTIVITIES WITH A VISION CENTERED ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND CREATIVITY Oğuz Uçanlar summarized the details of their sustainability efforts at Adel Kalemcilik as follows: “In line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of Climate Action, we are developing integrated strategies to combat climate change. While implementing environmental sustainability-focused projects according to our sustainability objectives and Environmental, Energy, and Climate Policy, we prioritize water management, biodiversity conservation, and contributing to the circular economy. We produce our wood-based products solely from FSC® (C130058) certified trees that are grown for industrial use. In our efforts to achieve net-zero goals, we continue our work aimed at reducing carbon footprints while utilizing rainwater for garden irrigation at our production facility located in Kocaeli Çayırova instead of using treated and clean water. We recycle all production and office waste generated in our factory according to the principles of a circular economy and allocate 20% of our total R&D budget to environmental projects.
Our national and international collaborations within the scope of R&D and innovation not only contribute to economic growth but also focus on strengthening the local economy by utilizing local resources.
We are also taking significant steps in the field of sustainable governance practices; continually improving our employees' ergonomic working conditions in adherence to policies related to energy management, occupational health and safety, and business ethics.”