When planning and outfitting our new production site in Switzerland, we wanted to establish smart infrastructure to minimise our operation’s footprint from the beginning.

Renewable energy

We are using renewable energy for our production facility and offices in Switzerland. In fact, we use 100% Swiss hydropower. And to make sure no energy is wasted, we recover and reuse the heat created in our production process to heat our offices and other parts of the building. For our future energy demand, we are assessing the best green energy mix available to us and want to complement the power supply with our own solar panels on a nearby south-facing hill. We keep you updated on this one!

Saving water drop by drop

We handle resources with care and use only as much as needed. In our production, water is used mostly for the product itself as an ingredient and for cleaning. We only use as much as needed to comply with our cleaning routine, which has the highest standards for hygiene, quality and safety. To reduce water consumption wherever we

can, we installed office-wide water conservation measures. We also care about what gets discharged: We outfitted our facility with a waste water collection tank where production discharge is mixed and pH levels are neutralised, so it can safely enter the sewage system.

As a foodtech start-up exploring new frontiers, innovation is where we shine. We focused on building a strong in-house science and R&D team to identify new alternative proteins, pioneering novel biostructuring methods and technologies. We are convinced that biostructured proteins will outperform animal meat in the future in terms of taste, sustainability, health, efficiency and price, and Planted is committed to using only 100% natural ingredients and no additives in all its products - making it a healthy and better option for all. We get excited when thinking about what product to bring to the market next and confident that in the end, diversity of options available to people looking to consume less animal protein is key. Plus: We love challenging ourselves. We make it science.

Sustainable procurement & supply chain support Next to quality and safety, we pay particular attention to social and environmental risks in our supply chain. As a first step, we strengthen our approach to sourcing decisions and screening key suppliers. Our supplier policy defines criteria for sustainable cooperation based on the ILO labor standards and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and outlines environmental

pollution prevention. Where there are potential issues with suppliers and partners, we will ask the questions necessary for pushing them to do better. Next to oats and sunflowers as protein sources, our pea proteins and fibres are Planted’s most important raw materials. All plant ingredients are GMO-free. And as growing protein-rich crops in tropical regions is strongly associated with deforestation and biodiversity loss, we do not source any agricultural raw materials from biodiversity-rich rainforest. We opt for local ingredients wherever quality allows. Right now, that means that our rapeseed oil and water is Swiss and the peas are European. In the future, we’d like to use locally produced plant proteins as well. To make this happen with the right quality and quantity, we partnered in a protein crop breeding project with the School of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences Bern (HAFL) and the company Peter Kunz e.V (gzpk). Supported by the Swiss government, these partners are currently carrying out initial field trials. We are also collaborating with the Swiss Protein Association to push the alternative protein topic onto the political agenda.

The most important function of packaging is to protect its content. Reducing the environmental footprint by optimising our packaging cannot make up for losses incurred due to wasted resources. Planted is all about finding innovative solutions, such as for our webshop packaging. The cold bag we ship in is made of recycled paper and is 100% recyclable, and the cooling pads are filled with tap water, which can be easily drained into the sink. What’s new? In January 2022 we switched to 80% recycled PET (rPET) for our retail trays and continue to use FSC-certified cardboard in the Swiss market. The rPET material has a smaller carbon footprint than its virgin plastic counterpart and has already been recycled at least once. The FSC certificate makes sure that the used raw material comes from well-managed forests and controlled sources. So far, we haven’t found a convincing solution that allows us to get rid of plastic altogether, but we are exploring options to further reduce plastic material in our packaging. For example, we are looking into prolonging shelf life in a natural way and bioplastic materials. Got an idea? We want to hear about it!

At Planted, we firmly believe that scarce resources must be used sparingly and responsibly. That is why we work to continuously optimize our production processes and avoid waste wherever possible. We have, for example, recently completed a project that allows us to re-work start-up losses generated when our machines are not fully heated up yet or when pieces of the product do not conform to our quality standards (e.g. if they are too small). With this new procedure, we were able to reduce losses by over 80%.

In all our interactions we place special emphasis on fairness and respect. We do not discriminate on the basis of gender, age, race, nationality or any other non-professional classification. These are principles all of us live by every day. To accommodate different needs and lifestyles, almost all jobs at Planted can be done part-time and working hours are flexible. We offer guidance and training to acquire new skills and support our team member’s development. Additionally, we offer company apprenticeships. And we specifically prioritise mental health. All of our team members have access to free and

confidential expert counselling and coaching. On production site, safety always comes first. We assess risks, implement mitigation measures and design specific safety trainings. We track and analyse accidents and near misses and implement our findings to ensure that similar mistakes are not repeated. We are currently implementing a Code of Conduct for our Board of Directors, Executive Board and senior management, which describes ethical business practices and social and environmental responsibility.