ANTTILA OY – PIONEER IN ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS IN DEPARTMENT STORE TRADE

Anttila Oy has become the first Finnish department store chain to adopt an environmental system that meets the requirements of the ISO 14001 standard. Three Anttila department stores and three Kodin Ykkönen department stores for home goods and interior decoration have already received certificates.

In 2001 Anttila Oy started to build an environmental system for its operations that would meet the requirements of the ISO 14001 standard. Now the first operations have been certified.

The certification covers the Pitäjänmäki central unit in Helsinki, three Anttila and three Kodin Ykkönen department stores. These are Anttila department stores in Helsinki (City-Anttila), in Jyväskylä and Espoo (Espoonlahti), and Kodin Ykkönen department stores in Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa. By the end of 2005 the environmental system will cover all supporting operations and department stores owned by Anttila Oy.

Total management of environmental affairs as a target

Anttila Oy aims at managing environmental impacts of all operations (products, packaging, energy consumption, waste, emissions into air, water and soil) with the help of the environmental system. Everything is based on the awareness of the environmental impacts of corporate operations.

Good comprehensive management of environmental affairs helps Anttila Oy to act more efficiently, which decreases the ’ecological footprint’, the total environmental impact of various store operations, while achieving cost savings and reducing possible risks of environmental damage.

Anttila Oy is able to better respond to the tightening environmental legislation (e.g. packaging, products, waste management) and to react faster to customers’ increasing interest in environmental affairs. Anttila Oy makes long-standing work to improve the environmental and social quality of the products it sells. At the next stage the environmental system will also cover purchasing, and co-operation with suppliers on bearing the environmental responsibility will intensify. In the control of social conditions of production, Anttila Oy proceeds with the international SA 8000 standard in co-operation with BVQI. Our future target is that when a customer buys a product at Anttila or Kodin Ykkönen, he or she can be sure that the environmental and ethical aspects have been taken into account and the operations as a whole cause as small an environmental load as possible in practice.

An effective environmental management system combined with the controlled management of ethical questions is the best proof to our customers and shareholders of our willingness to build for a better tomorrow, says Juha Kortesalmi, Environmental Specialist of Anttila Oy.

Service with four concepts
Anttila Oy serves its customers with four service concepts: Anttila department stores (27), Kodin Ykkönen department stores (7), Anttila mail order business in Finland, Estonia and Latvia, and NetAnttila e-commerce.

Further information:
Matti Leminen, Managing Director of Anttila Oy, tel. +358 1053 40100
Juha Kortesalmi, about the EMS (Environmental Management System) project and environmental affairs, tel. +358 1053 40220
Email. juha.kortesalmi@kesko.fi