Dümmen Orange on track with sustainability certification
Photo, from left to right: Hugo Noordhoek Hegt (CEO, Dümmen Orange), Maik Mandemaker (Area Manager, MPS), Jan Nelißen (MD & Location Manager Rheinberg, Dümmen Orange) and Arthij van der Veer (Area Manager, MPS).
Dümmen Orange is on track with sustainability certification for its worldwide production sites. Last year five sites in four countries were added to the list of fully certified companies. Dümmen Orange wants all its production sites to be fully certified to Floriculture Sustainability Initiative (FSI) standards by 1 January 2025 and is using the industry accepted MPS certification to achieve this. Dümmen Orange expects to be able to complete the certification process before the deadline.
At IPM in Essen (Germany), Hugo Noordhoek Hegt, CEO of Dümmen Orange, was presented with the MPS-SQ certificate for its production site in Rheinberg, Germany, by MPS Area Managers Arthij van der Veer and Maik Mandemaker. This makes Rheinberg one of its five sites to be fully certified last year. Dümmen Orange companies in Uganda and Guatemala have also added the MPS-SQ certificate to their existing MPS-ABC and MPS-GAP certifications and are therefore fully MPS certified. The production site in Embu, Kenya, was KFC-certified in 2022. The Kenya Flower Council certificate is the sustainability certification standard used in Kenya and is comparable to MPS-SQ.
“Responsibility for people and the environment is one of our company’s core values,” says Hugo Noordhoek Hegt. “From this starting point we have drawn up an ambitious sustainability agenda for Dümmen Orange, covering three focal areas: Environment, Social and Technological Development. Clear certification goals form part of this strategy. This is important for measuring and making our efforts transparent.”
Maik Mandemaker: “MPS is committed to making the global horticulture sector more sustainable. It is good to see that Dümmen Orange is applying the same standards and imposing stringent requirements in terms of the environment, traceability, safety, hygiene and social conditions at all its sites worldwide. This enables us to work together to achieve a transparent, measurable horticulture sector.” Arthij van der Veer adds: “We develop innovative tools and certification standards. MPS standards are internationally recognized and at the cutting edge of the horticultural industry.”
Among other things, MPS offers the certification standards MPS-ABC, MPS-GAP and MPS-Socially Qualified (SQ). MPS-ABC is a monitoring tool that helps companies make the necessary adjustment to reduce their environmental impact. MPS-GAP is an entry certificate that allows deliveries to be made to international retailers. With this certificate, Dümmen Orange complies with requirements in areas such as traceability, environment, crop protection products and recall procedures. The MPS-SQ certificate covers working conditions and is based in part on the United Nations International Labour Organization (ILO) standards. With this certificate, Dümmen Orange demonstrates that it meets the international requirements in the field of health and safety.