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Our sustainable commitment

Since our founding in 1980, we have strived to operate ethically in relation to nature and humankind, making environmental preservation and the respect for local ecosystems a core part of its decision-making process.

In addition to measures already implemented directly at its farms and subsidiaries around the world, as well as strict compliance with all applicable regulatory requirements, at Biolandes we continue to take concrete action toward ambitious goals for environmental sustainability and human well-being.

Limiting our carbon footprint:
a continuous improvement process

Knowing that our distillation and extraction operations rely on processes that require the considerable consumption of heat and fuel resources, we have made a special effort to develop an effective energy management program, implemented directly at our production sites.
Biolandes founder Dominique Coutière pioneered this ingenious process, which consists of conducting uninterrupted distillation operations using a completely automated system. In addition to limiting repetitive and time-consuming manipulations, it eliminates the need to stop and resume operations, thus significantly reducing energy loss.
Since our founding in the early 1980s, Biolandes’ main production site, located in the town of Le Sen in the Landes region of southwestern France, has been powered by biomass energy, in other words the combustion of renewable organic matter. Rather than burning virgin wood, the biomass boiler runs on fuel derived from industrial by-products and plant wastes resulting directly from the company’s distillation and extraction operations – a virtuous circle that we continue to perfect. As of today, all of the industrial tools in operation at our Le Sen site are powered by this virtuous process, which produces an average of nearly 4,000 tons of steam per month. The Biolandes factory in Andalusia (Spain) is also equipped with a biomass boiler for the production of extracts and ingredients derived from wild cistus, harvested in the surrounding plains.
The electricity needed to power the buildings and equipment of the various support services at our Le Sen site represents Biolandes’ second biggest source of energy consumption. Efficiency analyses, which are already conducted in the form of regular energy audits, will be further increased. A number of actions have been carried out for the purposes of saving energy (such as the replacement of traditional light bulbs by LEDs) and of achieving self-sufficiency in electrical production through the installation of solar panels. As of today, solar panels produce one-fourth of the daytime electricity consumption at our Le Sen site. The goal is to reach 100% self-sufficiency by 2023. To that end, we have launched a project to cover several buildings with photovoltaic panels in 2022, and to build a solar canopy over a storage area spanning more than one hectare (2.5 acres) in 2023. The same program is being adopted at Biolandes’ subsidiaries around the globe, with the aim of achieving electrical self-sufficiency.

Respecting local and social balance

With our devotion to the terroirs and the people who perpetuate precious skills and know-how for the future of natural ingredients, we fully assume our responsibility in this value chain by cultivating long-term fair-trade relations.

The terroir and know-how specific to each local context are of utmost importance to us. In addition, since 1988 we have created our own supply channels in the countries where the plants we use are endemic or traditionally grown. Today Biolandes has 12 production sites around the globe. We apply the same labor and wage policies everywhere:

  • Favoring permanent salaried employment whenever possible, or offering temporary contracts with the same benefits;
  • Including access to social safeguards and retirement protection;
  • And remuneration above the legal minimums, and coverage of the costs of commuting to the harvesting or gathering sites.


Present in the field, we are also directly engaged in projects that contribute to the development of local economies (such as cultural and sports events) and to the improvement of the populations’ living conditions (e.g. infrastructure improvement, refurbishment of community buildings, installation of lighting systems, etc.). Our farms are currently in the process of qualifying for Ecocert For Life certification, and a great many of our supply channels are already Fair For Life certified, providing tangible proof of these concrete responsible commitments.

It has always been a priority for us to be involved on the local level, as close as possible to the plants that supply our raw materials and the people who grow them. For this reason, we cultivate long-term relations with our grower-partners, working with them in a spirit of dialogue and sharing: aid for the development of responsible farming practices, ethical purchasing policies with long-term contractual commitments to minimum guaranteed prices, the allocation of advances, and participation in the Fair For Life development fund for the supply channels concerned.

Respect for Biodiversity

At Biolandes, we firmly believe that the quality of a natural extract depends largely on the quality of the original raw material. Working with nature every day, in our own fields or in cooperation with our grower-partners, we are continually aware of the issues concerning the conventional vs. organic farming of aromatic plants. Being a producer at the source allows us to play an active role in the preservation of this biodiversity.

The plant kingdom has a marvelous capacity for natural renewal. We consider it vital, first of all, to conduct all gathering and harvesting operations responsibly, and, secondly, to support regeneration as much as possible. With these principles in mind, we have undertaken a number of operations directly in the native growing regions of the plants that we use. In Spain, our cutting and tilling activities for wild cistus help prevent loss due to forest fires and contribute to the natural reseeding of the soil. In New Caledonia, we pursue ongoing reforestation campaigns for sandalwood forests in controlled harvest zones.

As farmers, we know that nature is all about balance, and that the wealth of biodiversity is a key factor for its preservation. Our agricultural engineers, backed with first-hand experience in the field, implement agricultural practices that promote self-regulation of the growing areas. In Bulgaria, we have installed “buffer” zones around our lavender fields in which we plant wild rose bushes. The addition of botanical species helps enrich the region’s fauna, multiplying interactions among plants and limiting the propagation of pests. To measure the impact of these initiatives, we conduct biodiversity studies in our growing areas.
Many of the conventional-quality extracts that we offer to you are also available in certified organic versions. Over time we tend to increase our use of certified organic plants, with the goal of gradually extending that quality to all of the ingredients and raw materials in our product lines. To that end, we favor natural, eco-friendly farming practices: mechanical weeding, the use of natural fertilizers derived from our organic by-products, rejecting the use of polluting inputs, etc.

Upcycling

As much as possible, we recycle the by-products resulting from the production of extracts from botanical raw materials. This enables us to offer our clients an alternative supply derived from these by-products while limiting the environmental impact of our operations – an example of the circular economy applied on an industrial scale.

The wealth of nature is such that several extracts can often be derived from a single plant. At Biolandes, we develop our lines by producing, whenever possible, additional derivative extracts from the initial natural raw material, provided that they have been shown to possess desirable organoleptic or biochemical qualities.

Our technical and research teams systematically conduct carefully controlled development trials before embarking on large-scale extraction and production operations.

This research effort is exemplified by our “By” range, launched nearly 30 years ago, which consists of products made by reprocessing distillation residues whose essential oils have already been extracted. It comprises several extracts derived in cascade from the same by-product, with decidedly distinctive olfactory profiles that enrich the perfumer’s palette. Vegetable waxes and hydrolates are other examples of by-products that are reprocessed to be offered as functional ingredients.





More about our upcycling range

The reuse of by-products from our distillation and extraction operations is part of an approach that has been in Biolandes’ DNA from the very beginning. A great many concrete actions are carried out in the field with the goal of giving back to the earth what it has given us. For example, the Biolandes Pin Décor company, a fully integrated member of the Biolandes group, specializes in the reprocessing of plant wastes for reuse as compost and natural fertilizers. As much as possible, this approach is extended to all of our production subsidiaries, and we also share it with – and for the benefit of – the farmers with whom we partner on a daily basis (e.g. shredding and spreading of dry residues in the fields, etc.).
Plant wastes are not the only resources recycled and reused at Biolandes. For general purposes of economy and sustainability, we recycle the industrial fluids required for our operations. Solvents are rectified and purified so that they can be reused in other manufacturing processes, thus reducing their consumption. Similarly, the water condensates, recovered hot at the end of the distillation process, are used to heat the water supplies for our boilers, which limits the need for external heat input.

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2760 route de Bélis – BP2 – 40420 LE SEN, France

Tel : +33 (0)5 58 51 00 00
Fax : +33 (0)5 58 51 07 00