Sustainability and environmental focus is something that permeates Polar Bread's operations at all levels. Polarbröd has high sustainability goals, including becoming self-sufficient in renewable electricity and having 100% fossil-free transport. A natural building block in the sustainability work is that the IT equipment should not contribute to unnecessary use of resources.
The family business Polarbröd was founded in Älvsbyn back in 1879 and is now in its fifth generation of ownership. A focus on sustainability has long existed within the company, and in 2012 an ambitious sustainability plan was set up that stretched over 10 years. The plan included strategic goals in the four areas where Polarbröd's operations have the greatest impact on the planet: transportation, packaging, energy and raw materials. After an unfortunate fire in 2020, the company took time to reflect on the eight years that had passed and set new strategic sustainability goals for 2030, when Polarbröd will be 100% circular throughout its value chain.
Polarbröd has been purchasing remanufactured IT equipment from Inrego for 15 years. A collaboration that started with the incentive of being able to buy good computers at a good price, but has evolved to be part of Polarbröd's sustainability goals to be resource efficient and think long-term.
- Buying refurbished IT equipment fits perfectly with what Polarbröd is as a company and how we should avoid depleting the earth's resources," says Hasse Karlström, IT Coordinator at Polarbröd. I found you 15 years ago when there was a very long delivery time for buying new. You had everything in the online shop and could deliver the next day. Since then, the cooperation has continued - it's easy to continue when it works well. We have frequent conversations with our contact who lets me know when there is something coming in that might be of interest to us.
Because sustainability thinking permeates the whole organisation, there is no resistance when it comes to buying refurbished IT equipment. In 2021, Polarbröd saved the climate 2,320 kg of CO2 just by purchasing refurbished IT.
- When it becomes so clear what resources you save by buying refurbished IT equipment, there is no resistance to overcome, quite the contrary, says Hasse Karlström. Over the years, we've had maybe two or three computers that we've contacted your service department about, which is very little.
In many organisations, it can feel like a big change to start buying refurbished IT. You may be unsure whether the quality is right for your business or worried that you are not being offered the same service or support as when you buy new. Hasse Karlström wants to dispel these myths and inspire more people to make the right investment.
- Why not buy reconditioned IT? Today's computers have enough capacity so that a computer model that is 1 or 2 years old often has sufficient performance and all the office applications that a business requires. If we can reduce the planet's resource use at the same time, there is no argument left for buying new.
