Repair sewing, computer recycling and waste cooking – Finland's most sustainable products have been selected

Voglia, Taitonetti, Kesko and Halti were successful in the Finland's Most Sustainable Product competition.

Voglia's repair and maintenance services extend the lifespan of textiles. The service was successful in the clothing and well-being category in the Finland's Most Sustainable Product competition.

Taitonet's refurbished computers did well in the home & leisure category.

The winner of the Food & Drink category was Kesko's HYVIS paprika and lentil soup, which is partly made from waste peppers from the central warehouse.

The public vote was won by Halti. Halti's Cyclus Unisex Parka is produced using Spinnova fiber made from wood fiber, which consumes 99,5% less water and produces 72% fewer CO2 emissions than the average production of cotton fiber.

The sustainability panel selected the winners

The competition, now held for the second time, is organized by the sustainability technology startup Infine.

The winners of the competition were selected by a panel of leading sustainability experts. Responsibility panel. Its members include Professor Minna Halme (Econ.), Professor Jyri Seppälä (Technology), Project Manager Markus Terho (Di), doctoral candidate Antti Beaver (KuM), and professor Mikko Mönkkönen (FT).

For this year's competition, the Sustainability Panel accepted nearly 200 products and services from over 95 companies from all applicants. All of these are considered to fulfill some need related to consumers' everyday lives in a more sustainable way than their peers.

Part of everyday life

Repair sewing, computer recycling and waste cooking

Voglia Marketing Manager Reetta Nikkinen According to the study, up to 45 percent of emissions could be saved globally by doubling the lifespan of textiles.

“With the repair and maintenance service, we want to ensure that Voglia products bring joy for as long as possible. Quality is at the core of everything we do, and we wanted to highlight our commitment to responsible operations. Our goal is to make the use of repair and maintenance services more common and make them a part of people's everyday lives.”

Taitonetti sells refurbished computers for home use, schools and businesses.

"We want to make used computers accessible to everyone and make buying them as safe and easy as buying new computers. We hope that with this win, responsible consumption patterns will receive more attention and more people will consider refurbished computers as an alternative to new machines," Taitonet's Marketing Manager Inga Heikkilä says.

He considers the transition to a circular economy important when purchasing electronics.

“Buying one refurbished computer instead of a new one saves hundreds of kilograms of solid natural resources and carbon dioxide.”

Hyvis paprika and lentil soup uses waste peppers from Kesko's central warehouse, which cannot be sent to the store for sale, for example due to bruising, but which are still excellent as an ingredient in the soup.

Kesko's director of purchasing and sales Janne Vuorinen According to the reviewer, reviewing the information needed to judge a product was useful for future product development, as the evaluation comprehensively examined the product's sustainability from different perspectives.

"Winning the category in the competition is an important recognition for us, as developing a waste-utilizing product like Hyvis paprika lentil soup always requires a separate project in which we work closely with a partner. The award encourages us to continue working on similar projects with even greater ambition."

Halti won the audience favorite category after a tight vote.

“We are really excited and proud that the public chose our product as the most sustainable in Finland. Sustainability is a core value for both Halti and Spinnova and is at the core of both organizations’ strategies. We do a lot of work on sustainability issues every day, and it is great that that work has been noticed,” say Halti’s Marketing Manager. Sari Swede and Spinnova's marketing coordinator Edith Kankkunen.

Solutions to tough problems

In its selection of finalists this year, the sustainability panel wants to highlight products or services whose core idea is to offer new perspectives alongside prevailing practices.

Minna Halme, Professor of Responsible Business at Aalto University and Chair of the Responsibility Panel, says that many of the products selected for the finals are based on the circular economy.

“Many products aim to solve the thorny issues of sustainability, for example by offering alternative raw materials or extending the product's life cycle.”

The responsibility panel drew attention to how the winning products, for their part, offer more ecologically and socially sustainable alternatives to consumption than products traditionally on the market.

Repair and maintenance are important ways to extend the lifespan of clothing and also contribute to the ecological and social responsibility of fashion. The foundation for this is quality.

The responsibility for repairs has long been pushed onto consumers, but many have already lost these skills. All companies and brands should be obligated to offer repair services for the clothes they sell.

Extending the lifespan of computers saves the natural resources needed to produce new materials, the procurement of which typically involves significant environmental and social responsibility risks in electronics. Purchasing used computers is not yet mainstream, so services are needed that make this easy and natural for the consumer.

Food waste is a problem that should not exist. Food production takes up a lot of land and poses challenges to biodiversity, so it is unsustainable for it to end up as waste. Much has been said about waste in households, but industrially produced food waste underlines the responsibility of trade and industry in combating waste.

The competition is a conversation starter

“Competition is above all a discussion starter and an important part of a broader discussion to promote sustainable production and consumption,” emphasizes the CEO of sustainability technology startup Infine. Tiina Otter.

He emphasizes how important it is to understand business responsibility based on researched information.

Food product evaluations were now conducted for the first time using software containing Infine's intelligent technology.

A sign for responsible consumption

To make consumer choices easier, a new Buy Responsibly label has now been developed and will be released later this year. Only products that have passed the sustainability panel's curation will be eligible to use it.

According to Sauko, the Ostavastuullisset.fi website will in future collect responsible products sold in Finland, as well as information that facilitates responsible purchasing, together with consumers and companies.

The Finland's Most Sustainable Product competition is supported by JCDecaux Finland.

Photo: Infine. Winners of Finland's Most Responsible Product competition 2024. Pictured from left to right are Voglia's Katriina Virtanen, Taitonet's Inga Heikkilä and Mikko Veijola, Spinnova's Aaro Koski, Halti's Satu Kinnunen and Kesko's Janne Vuorinen.