At Light My Fire, everyone is involved in CSR topics. Additionally Light My Fire has one CSR manager as a direct contact person for stakeholders. The strong female leadership has sustainability as a core focus.

Light My Fire has formulated seven commandments, that every product has to fulfil, which ensure that all products are aligned with the company’s vision. (See Design Process)

Quality Management is key when making products which are in contact with food. FDA and EU Food Approved (US Food and Drug Administration with European regulation) regulations are constantly developed further, which might require additional tests, even on existing products. Also whenever the portfolio is updated, even with just a colour change, all products have to be migration and Prop 65 tested to comply with all regulations.

Light My Fire sources bio-plastics derived from sugar cane certified by Bonsucro and ISCC, the wood fiber come from wood waste from PEFC certified trees and the corn-based bio-monomer from EU is GMO free certified.

Bonsucro is an international not for-profit, multi-stakeholder organization established in 2008 to promote sustainable sugarcane. Its stated aim is to reduce ’the environmental and social impacts of sugar cane production while recognizing the need for economic viability’. It does this through setting sustainability standards and certifying sugar cane products.

ISCC Plus – International Sustainability and Carbon Certification, an international certification system for biomass and sustainable fuels that sets specific production standards. The system provides sustainability solutions for fully traceable and “deforestation free” supply chains.

PEFC (Program for the Endorsement of Forest Certification) is an international forest certification system which promotes ecologically, socially and economically sustainable forestry programs throughout the world.

Light My Fire has its own factory in Sweden, where they mould the different products themselves. 80% of all products are made in their own factory, 10 % in other factories in Sweden and 10% abroad (Honduras and China). Sweden has very high social and environmental standards, and is considered a very low risk country for social or environmental harm.

The key production process for Light My Fire’s products is moulding plastic granulate into three-dimensional forms. This kind of process creates a very low percentage of waste. The limited materials which can’t be recycled into the process will be incinerated and turned into energy. But there is still some room for improvement of waste management never the less. So far Light My Fire produces smaller batches, which are linked to different colours and whenever a color changes, some waste is created. Light My Fire is looking into options to increase the yield on smaller lots. The office and factory are almost entirely supplied by certified green energy.

In addition on the social side, Light My Fire encourages an openhearted work atmosphere, where family members are welcome for internships and holiday jobs and even dogs are allowed in the office. Diversity within the team is important. Staff with physical and mental disabilities are integrated to the means of their ability.

The design of every Light My Fire product has to achieve the following requirements, which match the core principles of the company:

1. OUR PRODUCTS MUST BE OUR BEST SPOKESPEOPLE
2. WE MAKE OUTDOOR PRODUCTS WITH THE NEXT GENERATION IN MIND
3. EVERY PRODUCT MUST HAVE CROSSOVER POTENTIAL
4. EVERY PRODUCT MUST CREATE ITS OWN NICHE
5. IF IT IS BEEN DONE BEFORE IT IS NOT FOR US
6. IF IT DOES NOT MAKE YOU SMILE THINK TWICE
7. IF IT CANNOT BE MADE IN SWEDEN THINK THREE TIMES

Light My Fire’s code of conduct is valid for all material suppliers. Light My Fire sources all plastics through a Swedish agent, which is the common procedure with compounds. When speaking about bio-based or other kinds of plastics for that matter, we are talking about a very large corporation with standardised processes. These guarantee quality and steady supply. Traceability is guaranteed through third party certification, but only in terms of the material, not in terms of the exact provenance of the farmland. Since Braskem holds most of the volume of the sugar cane bio-based supplier market, their market position is unmatched. This makes them a target of scrutiny but on the other hand, there aren’t any real alternatives either, in case something isn’t up to the market’s expectation. Light My Fire is working on using Swedish plastic in order to have more real hands on control. Whenever bio-plastic is used, transparency becomes a major issue. In order to make sure that bio-based raw materials are not in competition with land used for food production food production or encouraging deforestation, it is important to have transparency in supply chains and/or guarantee the exclusion of land-use conflicts by certification (Bonsurco, ISCC). Light My Fire’s bio-plastics are not just one single material. They, like traditional fossil-based plastic, comprise of a whole family of materials with different properties and applications.

Light My Fire uses three different types of bio-based plastics that have the different properties for specific product needs. All materials comply with the requirements and specifications of the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and (EU) 10/2011 regarding food contact.

The three material mixes Light My Fire uses are supplied by three suppliers. All of them have a certain amount of renewable content, varying from 15-96 %, the rest is crude oil. The three provenances of Light My Fire’s bio-plastics are proven not to be in competition with food.

The wood fibers singular from certified wood waste PEFC from Germany, the GMO free corn based bio-monomer comes from Europe and is considered a by-product of food production. The Sugarcane-Ethanol-Granulate is from managed agriculture in Brazil, certified according to Bonsucro and ISCC Plus.

• School in a bag – an initiative packed with a kit for education to mainly Africa including a lunch box. LMF have been sponsoring this project for the past 10 years. https://www.facebook.com/schoolinabag/
• Keep Sweden Tidy association – All proceeds of Sporks sold at trade shows are donated to this organization. LMF will also start a larger collection by selling picnic products for our national day 6^th June where LMF will encourage people to go outdoors and have a picnic with friends and family to celebrate nature and the beautiful country of Sweden. All proceeds will go to Keep Sweden Tidy and their great work. https://www.hsr.se/english
• For the last 14 years Light My Fire has been appointing between three and ten people from the national handicap work association with great results.
• Light My Fire encourages children of staff and friends to apply for holiday work. The procedure involves writing a proper CV, a personal letter and answering Light My Fire brand questions for the first year. In the second year they do a “re-application” adding to their CV and Answering some reflective questions on their previous year’s work.

Light My Fire does intensive in house testing with a strong focus on durability along with migration tests, since Light My Fire products are in contact with food.

Migration is the transfer of chemical substances from food contact materials into food. For plastic materials two types of migration limits have been established in Commission Regulation (EU) No. 10/2011.

Light My Fire guarantees to adhere to those limits.

Light My Fire has managed to reduce freight volume by 30% just by redesigning and reducing their packaging. This translates directly into reducing CO₂.

The means of product transportation is an integral part of the conversation between Light My Fire and their retailers and suppliers. Most retail clients are in the EU. For both parties it is always a discussion about cost, which must be balanced with environmental impact. In 60% of cases Light My Fire will make the decision of how the product is transported.

They don’t yet measure CO₂, but are planning to make this part of their future sustainable development program.

Light My Fire has given packaging a lot of thought. Besides always using biodegradable colours, which is crucial for reducing toxins in the environment, they focus their efforts of three major areas.

SECOND USE 

Light My Fire has developed packaging with a second purpose/value.

Its small, handy packing bags made from recycled PET that can be used again after purchase.

RECYCLED CARDBOARD

Light My Fire has changed all cardboard from virgin material to 100% recycled, unbleached FSC certified cardboard with energy efficient LED UV printing without coating. That means less chemicals and less energy!

KRAFT BAGS & WOODEN DISPLAYS

Light My Fire has added more options of bulk products to encourage retailers and consumers to avoid packaging completely. They have also replaced their retail cardboard product displays with two layer KraftBag that assure minimum space and material for its purpose to present the product attractively.

Light My Fire is present at four fairs every year. They have their own booth made from wood, which they have now used for 6 years. All promotion materials are online and not printed. Sales meetings happen at the trade-shows.

To identify the date of production and the exact material mix, Light My Fire prints the month and year of production on all of their products. So in case of recycling, they can determine which materials went into a specific product.

This is an indicator for appropriate recycling streams in the future.

Some end consumers are conscious about separation of different plastic types. However this consciousness and willingness depends largely on the infrastructure available, which varies greatly not only from country to country but also regionally.

But Light My Fire counts on a development towards a sensible recycling infrastructure, which respects bio-plastics especially. Therefore they already equip their product already with the appropriate recycling symbol. They also give information about appropriate recycling on their website.

Light My Fire can recycle their own products. But not many products come back, which is why Light My Fire is working on a university project to establish a short distance recycling process based on having a large quantity of products in one colour and an agreement that the product will be sent back, when it becomes unusable.