Leading the sector with its innovation-focused approach since its establishment, Karaca continues to draw attention to areas such as Energy Efficiency in Stores, Equal Opportunity and Sustainable Retailing with its 2024 Sustainability Report. Sustainability has an important place at the center of Karaca's products and production processes. Production with renewable energy and long-lasting product design form the basis of this understanding.

Within the scope of its Sustainable Growth Strategy, Karaca aims to offer sustainable products and services, reach different consumer groups and achieve inclusive growth, and act together with business partners, employees and Karaca lovers.

12 Percent of Karaca Logistics Center Investment Allocated to Sustainability Studies

Karaca demonstrates its environmental sensitivity with concrete steps by allocating 12 percent of its new Logistics Center investment to sustainability activities. Established in Hadımköy on an area of ​​120.000 m², this mega warehouse was positioned as the company's central logistics base and laid the foundation for a significant transformation in logistics processes.

Sustainable Retailing

Karaca Group continues to make a difference in the sector as one of the leading brands that develop and implement sustainable store concepts in Türkiye. All sheet and metal parts used in store designs are selected from second-hand products, while LED bulbs are preferred in lighting systems. All painting processes are carried out with water-based paints. While an important step is being taken towards reducing carbon emissions originating from logistics by switching to a decentralized distribution and service network structure, all shopping carts are renewed with 2024% recyclable materials and store furniture that has completed its service life is also recycled. As of 7, XNUMX Container Store concept stores continue to provide service throughout Türkiye.

Energy Efficiency in Stores

Karaca places energy usage-related issues at the core of its sustainability goals. It develops projects that will use energy efficiently and increases renewable energy usage areas. Within the scope of the studies, it has decided to switch to cloud-based energy monitoring technologies in stores in order to monitor uncertain consumption, especially those originating from shopping malls, on an hourly basis, and achieved 10 percent energy efficiency in 40 stores during off-duty periods. It has implemented this project in all of its stores in Türkiye as of the first month of 2025.

Women in Sales and Equal Opportunities

Karaca said,Karaca Makes Its Mark with Women in Sales” project offers women aged 35 and over the opportunity to work in the second spring of their careers in all stores across Turkey. Female candidates who have corporate work experience and want to return to active business life have the opportunity to work full-time and part-time in Karaca stores. As of 2024, 54 percent of Karaca employees will be women. This rate reveals the importance it attaches to women's employment and its determination to support gender equality at the corporate level. In addition, 42 percent of managers are women.

Regarding sustainability studies in 2024 Fatih Karaca, Chairman of the Karaca Board of Directors; “We act with the awareness that sustainability is no longer a choice but a necessity; we proceed with this responsibility in all our products and operations. This year, our focus was on our energy transformation and product-based sustainable developments. While we are determinedly advancing towards our goal of realizing all of our operational processes with renewable energy by 2030, we have implemented projects that focus on energy efficiency. We adopt our sustainability principle not only as a strategy but also as a value inherent in our company, and we carry out our work in this direction.”

2024 in numbers

Karaca Group achieved concrete results in the field of environmental and social sustainability as of 2024. Thanks to projects carried out in cooperation with UNICEF, 16.000 children have accessed the right to education. While the employee satisfaction rate within the company was 70,24 percent, the paper waste reduction rate reached 65 percent. 12 percent of the Karaca Logistics Center investment budget was allocated to sustainability-focused projects.

The female employee ratio reached 54 percent, making a significant contribution to gender equality, while the energy efficiency rate achieved per store within the scope of the Store Energy Efficiency Project was 40 percent. While all product packaging is produced from recyclable materials, the renewable energy ratio in the production of products in the small household appliances category, which was 78 percent last year, was increased to 2024 percent in 85. In addition, 171 women were employed within the scope of the “Women in Sales” project. Karaca Group continues to add value by placing sustainability at the center of its business conduct with its environmentally sensitive, human-oriented and transparent management approach.

To review the full sustainability report; https://kurumsal.karaca.com/surdurulebilirlik

Source: HORECA TREND and Karaca Group

PepsiCo Turkey is working to restore operational water used in its factories to basins with the “One Drop One World Project”. The company, in collaboration with the Nature Conservation Center, continues the project, which started in the Berdan basin where the Tarsus factory is located in 2023, and continues in the basins where the Manisa and Izmir factory is located in 2024 and the Adana factory is located in 2025, and continues to spread to all basins where PepsiCo factories are located in Türkiye.

PepsiCo Türkiye Corporate Affairs and Sustainability Senior Director Esra İren: “We must work harder to secure the future of water and create more positive impact on this critical issue through collaborations.”

Emphasizing that water use in industry and agriculture is one of the important headings in the management of this resource, PepsiCo Turkey Corporate Relations and Sustainability Senior Director Esra İren said, “In order to contribute to securing the future of water on the sustainability path we have determined; we carry out many studies from efficient water use to the repair of ecosystems, and we cooperate with expert organizations in this field. With this approach, we continue to increase the social impact we create not only in our own production processes but also with the projects we carry out in various fields, especially agriculture. With the awareness that water risk is high in agriculture, we have invested in pressurized irrigation technologies such as drip irrigation, which will reduce water use, and expanded the use of these systems and reduced water use in agricultural production by 25% in the basins where our factories are located.”

“With the One Drop One World Project, we are recycling up to 100% of the used water back to its original land.”

PepsiCo Turkey, Corporate Relations and Sustainability Senior Director Esra İren, who emphasized that they aim to restore the amount of operational water used in PepsiCo factories to the basins, said; “With the “One Drop One World Project”, which we took the first step in the Berdan basin in 2023 in cooperation with the Nature Conservation Center, we are working to restore the water we use in our factory in Tarsus to the basin and our farmers. We have expanded this project starting from Tarsus and then to Manisa, İzmir and Adana. In this context, while we restored 2024% of the water used in our Manisa factory, 100% of the water used in our İzmir factory and 94% of the water used in our Tarsus factory in 58, we also supported our farmers in the regions where the project took place with modern irrigation methods, contributing to the protection and efficient use of water.”

PepsiCo Turkey draws attention with its works carried out under the titles of “Using less water, recycling water and increasing access to clean water” and its collaborations to increase the impact to be created in water management. PepsiCo Turkey is collaborating with the Nature Conservation Center, which has been working for more than 20 years for the effective protection of biodiversity and sustainable management of natural resources in the “One Drop One World Project”. Since its establishment, the Nature Conservation Center has been focusing on developing new tools and methods for the protection of biodiversity, sustainable use of resources and adaptation to climate change by monitoring the practices in different parts of the world. DKM also supports the project with the applicable solutions it has developed for the “One Drop One World Project”.

Source: HORECA TREND and PepsiCo Türkiye

Aslı, a cafe-bakery chain operating under Eksim Holding's Food Group, has launched a sustainability-focused food compost project as part of the "Enough" social responsibility campaign. Aslı, which has one of Türkiye's largest integrated food production facilities, aims to reduce waste and minimize environmental impacts with this project it has implemented for the recycling of food waste.

An average of 2 tons of waste is transformed per month

Sustainable Living and Environmental Protection Association (KORU) In the project carried out in cooperation, food waste from Aslı's production facilities is turned into compost in KORU's recycling facility. In this direction, an average of 1.200 tons of food waste per month from the Aslı Dudullu factory, which has a monthly food production capacity of 2 tons and is suitable for recycling, is sent to KORU's compost production facility operating in Ümraniye at certain intervals. The composting process that begins here is carried out with the hot compost method. The waste is first physically sorted and cleaned of foreign materials such as plastic, glass and metal. Then, it is put through a shredder and brought into a form that will accelerate decomposition.

Used in the cultivation of vegetables, fruits, ornamental and field crops

The compost obtained at the end of this process, which is completed within 24-36 hours thanks to microorganisms working at high temperatures, is used especially in the cultivation of vegetables, fruits, ornamental and field plants with its rich organic matter content. These natural fertilizers, which facilitate the aeration of the soil, increase its water retention capacity and support the nutrient intake of plants, are donated to the Parks and Gardens Directorates of local governments with which KORU cooperates, contributing to the sustainability of green areas.

Sustainable Practices Continue in Branches

Composts transformed from waste from the Aslı factory are offered to guests at Aslı’s 34 branches. In addition, different sustainability-focused practices for guests are also noteworthy. Aslı encourages an environmentally friendly approach by offering a 50 percent discount on coffee purchases to guests who come with a thermos. This practice aims to reduce the consumption of single-use products and support sustainable consumption habits.

Source: HORECA TREND and Aslı