Sustainability

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Social Responsibility

Environmental Responsibility

Social Responsibility

Metalfrio believes that every company has obligations towards society that are not limited to the governmental ones, and it seeks to comply with these obligations as best it can. The Company is committed to ethics and to the quality of life of its employees, their families, the community and society as a whole. In Brazil, Metalfrio has several social initiatives, and encourages its employees to participate in those and other social initiatives aiming at improving people’s lives. The Company also seeks to establish its beliefs and social concerns in other countries where it has recently started operating, and hopes that such initiatives are as beneficial to society in those countries as they have been in Brazil.

The Company looks for the best relationship with the communities where it operates, with the purpose of fostering development and improvement of the quality of life, through caring for the environment and respecting the social, human and consumers’ rights.

Thus, Metalfrio’s goal is to contribute to the continuous improvement of the educational and cultural quality offered to young students, besides providing assistance to childhood, aiming at building a more harmonious world.

Other periodic material and financial assistance to the social projects is provided by the company and its employees based on the community’s needs. Among the initiatives in Brazil, the following are worth mention:

  • Partnership with GRAAC (A Non-Governmental Organization assisting children with cancer): support to GRAAC’s actions.
  • Partnership with Associação Cruz Verde (which assists people suffering from severe cerebral palsy): Annual provisions collection campaign.
  • Educar Project – Education at New Level: an educational program focused on employees at the São Paulo unit, Educar Metalfrio Solutions offers the Corporate Management MBA program for its professionals.
  • Metalfrio Benefit Christmas: consists of donation of clothes, shoes and toys to institutions supporting needy children.
  • Metalfrio fights AIDS: promoting activities of AIDS awareness and prevention and supports institutions.
  • Metalfrio + Saúde: The Metalfrio + Saúde program, conducted at Metalfrio’s unit in Mato Grosso do Sul, is a monthly program to provide assistance to employees and their direct dependents in medical procedures.
  • Carreta da Saúde: Every year, Metalfrio takes the Carreta da Saúde, a vehicle equipped with high-tech equipment and a specialized medical team, to the city of Três Lagos to serve the local community.
  • Sports Incentives: Through SESI, Metalfrio provides its employees with incentives to participate in interstate championships.
  • Alto de Natal: Annually, Metalfrio sponsors the “Teatro de Tábuas,” an open-air theater for the population of Três Lagos.
  • Benefit Bazaar: Once a month, Metalfrio collects donations of clothing, shoes and utensils to support charitable institutions.

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Environmental Responsibility

The Company gives special attention to environment, health and safety issues, with a sustainable development approach to its activities, products and services, establishing environmental preservation as one of its top priorities. Metalfrio’s conduct towards the environment involves taking all the necessary measures to prevent damage to the environment, including a previous assessment of the potential effects within that scope as from the initial stage of product and process planning. The Company considers it a continuous management task to cultivate and foster a sense of responsibility for environmental preservation, both among employees and among hired partners.

In 1998, Metalfrio invested approximately US$3.0 million to completely eliminate CFC gases (gases that destroy the ozone layer) from its products and facilities, thus becoming the first totally ecological refrigerator manufacturer in Latin America.

As of 1999, the acquisition of pre-painted plates has eliminated the painting sector, reducing pollutant emission and water and electric energy consumption. In that same year, the Company launched the selective collection on its premises, allowing the recycling of a great part of its industrial waste.

In 2011, Metalfrio was the first to launch the low energy consumption “Economizer” refrigerators in the market.

Since 2002, Metalfrio has participated in the Procel Energy Saving Seal, a Brazilian program to tag refrigerators and freezers for developing products that reduce energy consumption.

In 2010, Metalfrio implemented the “3R – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle” system for sustainability, to reduce the number of raw materials and products that harm the environment, re-make products instead of disposing them off, and initiatives to recycle products, through solutions provided to customers for the correct disposal of solid, liquid and gaseous waste.

With the objective of saving energy and reducing the usage and disposal of fluorescent lamps in the environment, in 2011, Metalfrio started using LED technology lighting in all of its products. LED lamps consume one third of the energy as fluorescent lamps but last seven times longer.

In line with its environmental responsibility policy, Metalfrio constantly checks that all the environmental rules that it and its subsidiaries are bound by are complied with and, whenever it deems necessary, hires technical and legal consultants for assistance. All the projects and industrial units of Metalfrio and its subsidiaries have all the required environmental licenses.

The Company believes to be complying with all the environmental rules established by the local governments where its plants are located.

 

Click here to access the 2022 Sustainability Report*.

 

Last Update on October 03, 2023