Environmental protection / Sustainability
Environmental protection & sustainability at Kölle Etiketten
Together with our customers, we take responsibility for the world for today and tomorrow by promoting sustainable business practices and using available resources carefully.
Find out below which measures and actions we take to actively contribute to environmental protection and how we implement sustainable business practices.
You can find our current certificates in the Downloadcentre.
Based on our own self-image, the obligations arising from our environmental certifications and our environmental guidelines, as well as the requirements of the POSSEHL Group, we regularly work on further improvements to protect the environment and conserve resources.
ISO 14001
We have integrated ISO 14001 (standard for environmental management) into our management system since 2014 so that environmental and legal requirements are systematically observed and processes and our products are continuously developed in an environmentally friendly manner.
We actively live aspects relating to environmental protection and sustainability and regularly implement improvements to save energy and resources.
We don't just want to talk about it, we actively do a lot for environmental protection and the sustainability of products:
- Waste is regularly recycled - saving around 1,100 tonnes of resources and an additional 130 tonnes of greenhouse gases every year.
- We have been able to save around 20% electricity through various improvements in production (2020 to 2023).
- Every year, we increase the use of FSC® material in our paper products.
- Only 100% green electricity is used. This enables us to significantly reduce our CO2 emissions. The electricity comes 100% from renewable energies and subsidised plants.
- Many small individual measures also contribute to improving environmental protection.
- We offer a wide variety of sustainable products.
Labels, flexible packaging and tea envelopes made from FSC®-certified paper are particularly popular. We also offer excellent alternatives to heat-sealable packaging that does not contain PE. These are being used more and more by our customers. You can discover many more sustainable products via the product pages.
You can find our current ISO 14001 certificate under our certificates.
Ökoprofit
We took part in the Ökoprofit project organised by the city and district of Esslingen for the first time in 2013 and successfully passed it in February 2014. But what exactly is Ökoprofit?
ÖKOPROFIT (ÖKOlogisches PROjekt Für Integrierte UmweltTechnik) is a cooperation project between local authorities and companies from a wide range of industries. The aim is for the companies to be supported by competent external experts in improving operational environmental protection and in this way to develop and implement practical measures
Through joint workshops with the participating companies, there is an exchange of experience with companies from other sectors, which is often enriching and provides impetus for further improvements. Furthermore, regular legal changes relating to environmental issues are discussed so that the companies have the information they need to comply with the law.
All companies participating in ÖKOPROFIT are able to repeatedly report high annual savings in electricity, heat, CO2, water and residual waste.
Once a company has successfully participated in ÖKOPROFIT, it receives an award as an ‘ÖKOPROFIT company’ from the organising body (the city and district of Esslingen).
We have been a member of the so-called Ökoprofit Club since our first participation in Ökoprofit in 2013 and have been successfully recertified every year. The focus is on the continuous improvement of environmental performance and the intensive exchange of experiences between participating companies.
You can find our current Ökoprofit certificate in the downloadcentre.
FSC® (Forest Stewardship Council)
In October 2018, we expanded and certified our management system in accordance with the requirements of the Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®) so that we can support the use of paper from sustainable forestry. Since then, we have been able to certify labels and packaging in accordance with FSC® and also print them with the FSC® logo.
What does the implementation of the FSC®-COC certification standard mean?
Kölle Etiketten is committed to taking into account not only ecological aspects but also the aspect of sustainability when selecting raw materials.
An important step on this path is the chain of custody (COC) certification in accordance with the requirements of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC®), which we have integrated. FSC® is a globally recognised standard and is committed to the sustainable management of the world's forests. We have committed ourselves to aligning our management system and the processes and specifications defined therein in such a way that they are in line with the principles and values of the standard formulated by the FSC®.
This means that we exclude direct and indirect involvement in the following activities, for example, and you can also help to prevent these activities by using FSC® products:
- illegal felling or trade in illegal timber or illegal forest products.
- Destruction of special protection values in forests in forestry companies
- Significant conversion of forests into plantations or areas with non-forestry uses
- Violations of any of the ILO fundamental principles defined in the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Labour Rights of 1998.
You can find our current FSC® certificate in the downloadcentre.
Our environmental guidelines are as follows:
We take our responsibility for the environment seriously.
By using environmentally friendly raw and auxiliary materials along with sparing production processes, we want to do our best to contribute to environmental protection.
We aim for energy efficiency in our production and in the transport of our products.
Avoiding waste is one of our top priorities. If this is not possible, we aim to utilise our waste through recycling. Even the simple disposal of our products by the end consumer is a part of our quality policy. We want to supply our customers with environmentally harmless products by orienting our processes and the materials we use to that goal.
We promote environmental action among our employees by including them in this and train them.
Compliance with all legal requirements is just as self-evident for us as constant improvement in terms of sustainable and ecological action, which is pursued and implemented within the framework of improvement processes.
We increasingly use FSC® certified materials within our products. The organization Forest Stewardship Council (FSC®) pursues to the first premise sustainable forestry of worldwide forest resources. Besides prevention of illegal logging, their efforts include simultaneous reforestation within the certified forests