For many years, Multi Masters Group has made conscious choices in favour of sustainable products and materials, as well as more efficient logistics. Samsic, the parent company of Multi Masters Group, is also committed to documenting these efforts. After all, how measurable are these initiatives? And how can we draw meaningful insights from them? Rob Vleugels, Manager General Services, was appointed project lead to oversee reporting from the Belgian side.
A cross-country collaboration
“Samsic operates in 27 countries. Organisations of this scale are required to comply with specific regulations, including the mandatory publication of a sustainability report. Each country is therefore responsible for preparing its own CSR report—Corporate Social Responsibility. At Samsic, this reporting revolves around the Planet 2030 project.”
Such reporting is a substantial undertaking. “At the beginning of this year alone, we had to analyse and submit no fewer than 147 parameters.”
These parameters are structured across three levels:
- Environment: covering product selection, fuel consumption, fleet management, energy use, buildings, water consumption, and more.
- Social: everything related to employees
- Governance: analysing and translating financial data
Country-specific objectives
Rob notes that there are clear social and cultural differences between European countries when it comes to CSR. “France, for example, places a strong focus on illiteracy, which remains a significant challenge, particularly in major cities. In Belgium, our focus is more on environmental and climate-related issues.”
How do you bring all this together efficiently across 27 countries? “Stéphanie Delamarre, Samsic’s Global Director of Sustainability, has developed a roadmap for each country covering the three key pillars. Each roadmap includes a set of fixed parameters, while allowing countries to define their own ambitions and targets based on those parameters.”
In the coming period, the Belgian division will place specific emphasis on further increasing the sustainability of cleaning products. “This is a parameter we can measure—and a goal we can realistically achieve. That’s why it’s a priority for us.”
Initiatives
As part of its CSR commitment, Multi Masters Group actively supports a range of initiatives beyond its core business activities:
- Tree planting campaign with the support of Samsic
- Annual River Cleanup initiative, soon expanding to France and the United Kingdom
- Continued sponsorship of the dorcas gazelles at ZOO Planckendael
Sustainable product choices
Multi Masters Group has been working with Boma for many years—a supplier that scores highly on CSR performance. Through this partnership, the company supports two key causes:
- Supporting the Boma forest in Madagascar
A contribution is made to a reforestation project in Madagascar for every order of Boma products with a favourable Ecoscore.
- Providing drinking water to developing regions
For every litre of water used with the i-mop cleaning machine, one litre of clean drinking water is donated to projects in developing countries via the Made Blue Foundation.
Over the years, Multi Masters Group has also significantly streamlined its product portfolio.
“We wanted to eliminate the excessive range of products. Thanks to our years of experience in the cleaning sector, we know what truly works. This also makes it easier to recommend the right products to our clients. We’ve reduced our range from 400 to 200 products. A supervisor who moves from Antwerp to Ghent can now rely on the same familiar products at every location.”
The focus is clearly on efficiency and simplification.
Customer response
These efforts are highly valued by Multi Masters Group’s clients. “Many of the organisations we work with share similar sustainability priorities. It’s essential for them that their suppliers align with those same values.”
Multi Masters Group has also been investing in robotics and cobotics for some time. “We already have several devices capable of handling a large share of routine tasks. Vacuuming, mopping, sweeping: all in one. In practice, this is an ongoing transition for both our clients and our employees. However, we’re seeing growing enthusiasm across the board.”
The financial perspective
Naturally, these initiatives also have financial implications. Rob Vleugels has actively explored ways to manage and reduce costs. “Many sustainable innovations come at a price. At the same time, we’re taking a closer look at our expenditure. To give a simple example: we now use the same coffee supplier across all our locations. This means our accounting team only has to process one invoice instead of six. It saves time internally and helps reduce delivery traffic, which in turn lowers emissions.”
New headquarters
“We will soon be moving to a new headquarters on Oostkaai in Merksem. From the outset, we ensured that heating, insulation and electricity systems meet the highest sustainability standards. This includes automated sun shading, high-performance glazing, and heating and cooling based on an underground energy storage system (BEO field), among other features.”
The future of CSR
Significant progress has already been made in sustainability at Multi Masters Group. But what’s next for 2026? “Further enhancing the sustainability of our product range remains high on the agenda this year,” says Rob Vleugels. He remains pragmatic and realistic—just like the company’s sustainability ambitions. Still, the results speak for themselves: “Samsic awarded us a trophy because we are one of the few countries where more than 50% of our products are now ecological. I also want to commend all our employees who have fully committed themselves to our CSR journey.”
With this sustainability report, Multi Masters Group and Samsic aim to demonstrate that sustainability is not an abstract concept, but a measurable and fully integrated way of working.
