Serving the
safety of food and the environment

Every sample collected from a customer involves a journey. Given our nationwide operations and the volume of samples collected each year, optimising these journeys is both an environmental and an operational priority.

This is precisely the purpose of OptiTime, the tool used to optimise our samplers’ collection routes. By combining geographical areas, customer time slots and transport constraints, it enables us to streamline routes without ever compromising the responsiveness our customers expect.

The results speak for themselves: between 2022 and 2025, the distance travelled per sample fell from 21.9 to 10.9 kilometres, a 50% reduction. Over the same period, fuel consumption decreased by 3 litres per 100 kilometres, while the number of litres consumed per sample fell by 33%!

Fewer kilometres mean less fuel consumed, lower emissions and better-controlled logistics costs. A win-win equation at every level, driven by a principle that underpins our entire environmental approach: reducing impacts at source.

Some CSR commitments take the form of a signature at the bottom of a charter. Others literally set sail.

Since 2020 and through to 2027, Phytocontrol has been supporting the Polar Pod expedition as a sponsor, alongside explorer Jean-Louis Etienne. This unique vertical vessel is designed to drift with the Antarctic Circumpolar Current to study an ocean that remains largely unexplored by science.

This partnership is a direct extension of our expertise: the data collected by Polar Pod on pollution in the Southern Ocean caused by anthropogenic pollutants and microplastics can be analysed using the expertise of our laboratories. The expedition reflects Phytocontrol’s analytical expertise by putting measurement and analysis at the service of a better understanding of pollution in marine environments.

A sponsorship supporting one of the greatest scientific challenges of our time: gaining a better understanding of the impact of human activity on our oceans.

An analytical laboratory uses consumables, equipment and numerous resources every day to carry out its activities. Each of these represents an opportunity to rethink our practices through the 4R approach: reduce, reuse, repair and recycle. Here are a few examples:

Reduce, first and foremost, by rethinking our everyday practices: optimising sample batches to limit equipment heating and cooling cycles, using LED lighting controlled according to natural daylight, and reducing the use of solvents and disposable consumables through new analytical methods. Water and energy consumption is also monitored at sample and analysis level, enabling us to better identify the main areas of consumption and track how resource intensity evolves in relation to laboratory activity.

Reuse, by giving a second life to equipment that no longer meets the laboratory’s needs, particularly through donations and partnerships with organisations specialising in reuse. We also reuse packaging received from customers, such as bubble wrap and cardboard boxes, and redistribute IT equipment internally when it is still fully functional.

A technical sector such as ours is no exception when it comes to diversity and professional equality. At Phytocontrol, these issues are addressed through a structured approach, with measurable objectives rather than simple statements of intent.

Our Gender Equality Index is monitored annually and supported by a formal action plan. Several measures are implemented, including employee awareness initiatives, analysis of gender pay balance, particular attention to recruitment and training, regular awareness campaigns, and initiatives promoting women’s health.

Parenthood plays a particular role in this policy, as it continues to affect women’s careers more frequently than men’s. To provide practical support, Phytocontrol offers places in company childcare facilities through “Les Phytoons” and has partnered with the in-home childcare organisation Family Sphere to help employees achieve a better balance between their professional and family lives.

To achieve tangible results, a CSR strategy must be embraced and promoted beyond management alone. At Phytocontrol, it is supported by a network of CSR ambassadors across the Group’s various departments and sites since March 2026.

Their role is to bring our CSR commitments to life as close as possible to day-to-day operations, through meetings organised in a participatory format where everyone can discuss, question and put forward ideas. The topics addressed are practical and relevant, drawing in particular on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) established by the United Nations for 2030.

This network, which supports the progressive consolidation of our CSR approach, relies on the voluntary commitment of employees who wish to make a practical contribution to its implementation. It provides a channel for needs and ideas from the field to be shared, transformed into concrete projects, and then monitored, adjusted and evaluated over time, helping to progressively embed CSR into the Group’s everyday practices.

Some community initiatives do not require a substantial budget to make a genuine difference. One concrete example is the year-round collection of clean plastic caps, including those from consumables used in our analytical activities, for the benefit of the charity Les Bouchons d’Amour. Once collected, these caps are recycled by the charity, with the proceeds helping to finance equipment for people with disabilities.

This initiative forms part of a broader commitment to community support, which takes different forms depending on current needs, such as toy collections for the Red Cross or donations sent to people affected by climate-related disasters.

Simple actions, repeated over time, help build a culture of solidarity shared by all our employees.

A responsible purchasing policy can also be a powerful driver of local economic development. Phytocontrol embraces this approach through its collaboration with Jallatte, a safety footwear manufacturer based in Saint-Hippolyte-du-Fort, in the Gard region. This partnership notably led to the development of the Jallabo, a safety shoe specifically designed to meet the needs of laboratory professionals.

Whenever possible, choosing local partners capable of meeting our quality and safety requirements is our practical way of bringing industrial performance and local economic development together, rather than treating them as two separate issues.