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Company case: GPBM Nordic

GPBM Nordic sells and imports batteries and accumulators as well as devices containing them. The company’s Finnish Sales Manager Liisa Veisto-Etholén sees carrying out the corporate responsibility as an easy and important part of the company’s operations.

How can the producer responsibility be seen in your company’s everyday activities?

Carrying out the producer responsibility for portable batteries and accumulators is a natural part of sales operations. In practice, we report the amounts placed on the market to the producer organisation on a quarterly basis and remit the currently valid recycling fee for the kilograms of products placed on the market. Having registered and signed a producer responsibility transfer agreement with Recser Oy enables us to conveniently take care of our legally prescribed producer responsibility obligations. The reporting can hardly be seen in the company’s other everyday activities, as the quarterly reports only take around half an hour by using the reporting system. By carrying out our legal obligations as a producer, we also take responsibility for tomorrow and future generations.

How do you perceive the state of battery recycling in Finland?

Finland has done quite well in meeting the European collection goals, and we have reached an internationally good level within a relatively short period of time. The store collection system currently in place in Finland is a good and efficient way to collect used batteries and accumulators and deliver them for reprocessing. The producer organisation Recser Oy has played an important and active role in distributing information to various interest groups such as stores, importers and consumers in order for the legally prescribed obligations to be carried out jointly and severally. It’s great that schools have also brought up recycling and environmental matters with their students by organising various events and theme days. It seems that the younger generations are very environmentally aware and active.

What kind of environmental or other responsibility matters does your company take into account and how?

Portable battery sales form a large part of GPBM Nordic’s business activities, but we strive to also provide environmentally friendlier, reusable alternatives such as rechargeable batteries. Depending on the model, users can charge rechargeable batteries 300–1,500 times. By choosing rechargeable products, the amount of remaining waste can also be reduced significantly.