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History Tiense

The story of Tiense Suiker begins as early as 1836. In that year, Joseph Vandenberghe de Binckom and Pierre Van den Bossche submitted a building application to the town council of Tienen. The town granted a permit and the birth of the Tiense Suiker refinery was a fact.

By the end of the 19th century, the factory was a medium-sized company. Thanks to numerous technical improvements and innovations, total annual production of refined sugar at Tienen rose from 7,000 tonnes in 1894 to 62,000 tonnes in 1913. The company also started exporting sugar at that time and took over other Belgian sugar factories.

After the Second World War, the Tien Sugar Refinery continued to bring important innovations to the sugar industry. Among other things, the company had a hand in improving seed selection and optimising beet cultivation. The company also pioneered social innovations. Long before the legislature did, the Tien Sugar Refinery introduced the principle of paid leave and limited working hours to eight hours a day.

Sustainability

We work with local Belgian farmers. So our sugar beet does not fly halfway around the world. Much better for the environment. After harvesting, the beet are further processed into sugar in Tienen. The beet are first washed. The water we use for this is then purified and reused. Even the water that comes out of the sugar beet itself is reused. Nothing from the beet goes to waste. We call this our zero-waste principle. After we extract the sugar from the beet, we process whatever is left into beet pulp. This pulp then goes back to agriculture and forms a nutritious addition to animal feed.

You can never have enough concern for people and the environment. And this is reflected in our plans. From 2020, for instance, the paper we use for our packaging will be 100% FSC certified. We will gradually increase our arsenal of organic sugar beet in the coming years and we will sow flowers at the edges of our fields to support bees, butterflies and birds. Finally, we will gradually reduce our plastic consumption.