As a maintenance technician, it’s my job to take care of our utilities’ supply. This includes measuring energy consumption and continuously improving efficiency. In 2021, we optimized steam generation necessary in manufacturing by replacing an old system with a high-performing new one. This investment not only reduced our energy costs but also our climate footprint. Thanks to the new steam boiler we now save more than 70 tons of CO2 per year. That's equivalent to the emissions of a conventional car over half a million kilometers.

I firmly believe that, in addition to large-scale measures, sustainable progress is also driven by individual commitment. Together with the production team, we implemented a process to re-use drums for internal production storage. This saved us more than a ton of waste in 2021 alone.

Waste unfortunately can’t be avoided at every point. Today, we already valorize 98% of our waste. Therefore, we have defined 40 types of waste and recycle them according to a specific treatment.  So, we came up with a process to valorize our botanical wastes, either to be used by farmers as organic fertilizers or for the production of more than 18 MWh of green energy locally. That alone doesn’t change the world – but it equals the average yearly energy consumption of 8 people.

To save water, we have not shied away from challenging firmly established processes, and we have optimized our in-place cleaning procedures. As a result, we effectively minimized our freshwater and energy consumption and saved cleaning and neutralizing agents while improving the quality of wastewater – without any compromises on process or product quality. On our way to reaching our ambitious goals every step – even the smallest one – counts!