Sustainability

We at Ingka Centres and Matkus want to create positive impacts on people and the environment. In order to achieve this, we promote a balance between, for example, economic growth and environmental protection and renewal. We consider all solutions in terms of their long-term impact – we want to respond to people's needs without compromising the opportunities of future generations to respond to theirs.

By 2030, Ingka Group's goals are:

1. Healthy and responsible life – we inspire and enable people to have a better life within the planet's resources.

2. Environmentally friendly – we aim at waste-free and environmentally friendly operations and encourage the rest of the community to make positive choices.

3. Fairness and inclusiveness – we improve the wellbeing of millions of people by being an inclusive and people-centered brand, company and employer.

Read more about Ingka Group's sustainability principles.

Read more about the principles of Ingka Centres' operations.

Deeds big and small in the daily operations of a shopping center

Matkus Shopping Center has reached the silver level of the international certification system LEED. LEED is an American, internationally comparable certification system for green properties. For more about the certification, see the U.S. Green Building Council website.

Matkus uses 100% green, certified electricity – we use solar, wind and hydropower. We have also paid attention to lighting: all lamps in the common areas and outside are energy-saving LED lamps.

Responsibility amounts to small everyday deeds, and this is our philosophy at Matkus. The customer toilets have a dual-flush system to save water. A half-flush actually consumes less than 50% of a full flush.

We promote waste sorting locally. The Ekorinki point is available to customers, and tenants in the shopping center can sort all waste types collected in the region that they create in their daily operations.

Collection points for Matkus shops

Many Matkus shops accept used and broken clothes, home textiles and sports equipment. Used textiles and equipment are re-sold or used in the manufacture of new products – this way any items that you no longer need do not end up as waste. See the list of shops below and check the collection principles on the shops' own websites.

Cubus

Finlayson

Gina Tricot

H&M

KappAhl

Lindex

Partioaitta

Polarn O. Pyret (vanhojen PO.P-vaatteiden jälleenmyynti)

Stadium

Community

Matkus cooperates with many local actors and organizations to create a better daily life in our region. Our goal in to pay it forward: we want to help local people to help other local people. Based on a survey we commissioned, our community has a strong desire to help especially local low-income families and lonely people of all ages. We regularly work with the following, for example:

Hope

Hope is an organization run by volunteers to promote the common good. The organization's primary target is to improve children's equal opportunities for good, everyday life by making donations, for example. Matkus and Hope engage in two types of cooperation: we enable local people to help each other by providing collection containers where clothing and goods can be brought. Read more about Hope collection. We also give direct assistance to local low-income families with children. For example, in 2020 we made donations to one hundred families that are Hope customers. We gave the families gift cards to Matkus to enable the children to buy now school supplies and treat the entire family for a meal as the school year started.

City of Kuopio

We promote the wellbeing of local people in a variety of difficult life situations together with the City of Kuopio. We help local families by donating toys and household items, together with IKEA, to customers of Kuopio Shelter. We cheer up children in Kuopio University Hospital's blood and cancer wards with presents and surprises. We organize activities with Tervaniitty care home, for example over coffee or lunch at Matkus.

Events

Matkus offers lively settings for local, non-profit organizations and communities to promote their causes. We share information about such events also on our own channels to attract a larger audience. For example, in February 2020 the "Iloa vapaaehtoisuudesta" event ("Joy from volunteering") presented local volunteer work and its importance in various organizations and communities. New volunteers were sought and indeed found. In autumn 2019, Plan organized a Girls' Day, increasing awareness about equality around the world. We also enable art exhibitions organized by school classes, for example, several times a year, to delight our customers and to support the visibility of the art in the shopping center.

The above are just a few examples of what is organized in Matkus – some one-off events, some annual.

Cleanest week in Kuopio

Inspired by the World Clean Up Day, we clean up the environment together, reducing our burden on it. Matkus participates in the theme day, encouraging people to organize various events to highlight this important issue in their own channels. The next Clean Up Day in Kuopio will be September 14–21, 2020. More information will be provided closer to the event on Matkus social media channels, so keep checking our Facebook and Instagram accounts. While waiting for it, you can view last year's postings.

Quiet shopping trip

Silence has a number of benefits: it helps you to be seize the moment, it's relaxing to your mind and senses and slows down a hectic life rhythm. Matkus offers a quiet shopping experience on the first Wednesday of every month at 6 pm–9 pm. This means that no music will be played and no advertisements will be shown, enabling a nice and quiet shopping experience.

The following Quiet shopping events will be:

- September 2, 2020 at 6 pm–9 pm
- October 7, 2020 at 6 pm–9 pm
- November 4, 2020 at 6 pm–9 pm
- December 2, 2020 at 6 pm–9 pm