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Helsinki, Finland – September 25, 2008: Leading Internet and mobile phone security provider F-Secure Corporation is committed to protecting the environment, as well as protecting its customers against online threats around the world.
As a result of a comprehensive environmental impact assessment and an analysis of the production chain, F-Secure has now opted for an eco-friendly packaging solution for the newly launched 2009 consumer products which are sold through retail outlets. The production chain of the new box features many improvements in terms of material and energy efficiency.
Only plant-based inks have been used in the new box and the use of glue and plastic required for keeping the box sturdy and secure have been kept to the minimum. The box is made of cardboard printed using cutting edge digital technology whereby the material and energy use are also minimized. Digital printing makes it possible to produce the boxes according to demand and avoids holding large stocks in storage. The raw materials for the box are now purchased from a company near the printing facility, which cuts down transport emissions and costs significantly. Finally, the new box can be recycled easily when it is no longer needed.
In 2007 F-Secure approached Dr. Tuula Pohjola, Docent of Environmental Management and Accounting at the Helsinki University of Technology, to help assess the environmental issues related to the packing materials used by the company.
Dr. Pohjola, an expert in Environmental Management Accounting, carried out a life cycle assessment (LCA) to calculate and analyze the environmental load of the packages containing the installation discs for F-Secure’s Internet security products.
Dr Pohjola said: “The LCA is a tool for analyzing the whole supply chain associated with a product. It includes all the factors such as raw material acquisition, processing and manufacturing, storage, logistics management, freight transport, recycling and waste management that make up the environmental footprint of a product, which in this case was the packaged version of F-Secure’s software.”
Juha Ollila, F-Secure Vice-President, Channel Business, said: “The majority of our customers buy the products online, downloading them directly from the Internet, but a significant number of people still want to purchase the actual installation discs. Over the years we have used many different kinds of packaging, including plastic and heavy cardboard boxes.”
The results of the LCA showed that there were major differences between the different boxes from an ecological perspective, for example in the amount of energy used in the production process and in the transport costs of moving materials and finished boxes across countries. Surprisingly, it also showed that from a total emissions point-of-view, a cardboard product box may also be worse than a plastic box, depending on the transportation involved in sourcing the raw materials, warehousing, inks used, and waste percentage of the production due to changes in sales forecasts.
Dr Pohjola said: “The state of the world’s environment is everyone’s concern and corporations should be leading the way by reducing the environmental loads they generate. I’m pleased to see that F-Secure’s new packaging has been produced with environmental responsibility in mind. It’s a good example for other companies to follow. With fuel prices set to increase further, it makes both environmental and business sense for everyone to keep transport costs to the minimum and carefully analyze the best materials to use in packaging.”
Juha Ollila said: “The LCA pinpointed the areas in the production process of the packaging where we can make a difference to the environmental footprint of the company. With the 2009 consumer boxes we are now proud that we act globally but produce locally. While encouraging consumers to purchase our products online, we also want to minimize our environmental footprint in the packaging that we use when selling our products in the shops.”
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