"With avoidance, reduction and compensation, we are implementing our climate strategy and thus neutralizing our operational emissions by 2025."
Nina Franke, Sustainability Manager
As a manufacturing company, we consume resources. The decisive factor is how we use them. We save resources in many areas and try to work as responsibly and environmentally friendly as possible. Doing business within planetary boundaries is the goal of our actions.
Protecting the environment and the climate is a high priority for us, which is why we pay great attention to our influential energy management department. Through various measures, we are constantly improving our efficiency and reducing our emissions.
We require various resources for the production of our packaging. The plastic polypropylene (PP), from which our products are made, plays a central role. In 2021, we processed over 25,000 and in 2022 over 22,500 tons of plastic granulate. We handle this resource responsibly and process as little material as necessary in our products. To further reduce the use of fossil raw materials, we are also constantly testing alternative materials made from recycled or organic ingredients that fit our customers' products. The use of sustainable raw materials and compliance with sustainability requirements in production is confirmed by our ISCC Plus certification.
We save resources as early as the development stage of our products. Modern simulation tools allow us to optimize product and production properties. Thanks to robust designs and high-alloy steels, the durability of our tools is guaranteed. In order to save resources during transport, we pay attention to good stackability of our products during design, which ensures high pallet and truck utilization.
SPIES' waste generation in 2021 was approximately 1431 and in 2022 1,275 tons. About 80 % of this was plastic waste from our production - our scrap. Reducing production scrap is a goal that is ecologically but also economically relevant. Our production scrap represents so-called post-industrial material (PIR) and is passed directly to a recycling company so that new products can be manufactured from this material. In 2022, the recycling rate of our scrap was 100%.
| Resources | 2022 | 2021 | 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Materials | |||
| Plastic granules | 22,537.12 t | 25,248 t | 24,556 t |
| Colors | 568.41 t | 543.64 t | 362.74 t |
| Steel | 20.00 t | 43.05 t | 65 t |
| Cardboard | 2,164.48 t | 2.81 t | 2.28 t |
| Foils | 715.34 t | 1.02 t | 0.33 t |
| Pallets | 1,391.39 t | 755.23 t | |
| Waste | |||
| Total | 1,274.90 t | 1,430,650 kg | 1,595,849 kg |
| thereof plastic | 998.70 t | 1,139,240 kg | 1,344,738 kg |
| thereof recycling rate | 100 % | 99.99 % | |
| Water | 4,836 m³ | 12,507 m³ | 5,0001 m³ |
Climate change poses a threat to the entire human race and economy. That is why it is important for us to make a contribution and reduce our own greenhouse gas emissions.
In 2021, we calculated our carbon footprint for the first time for the years 2019 and 2020. We are supported by the company .planetly, which performs the calculations using the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. By 2025, SPIES will be climate neutral in Scopes 1 and 2.
For this purpose, a comprehensive climate strategy will be developed starting in 2022. Avoid, reduce, compensate is the sequence of measures we are pursuing. One measure that has already been determined is that SPIES will purchase 100% green electricity from 2025. This alone will reduce about 98% of our Scope 2 emissions. Smaller measures, such as the purchase of bicycles to eliminate the need for cars when traveling between plants, also contribute to climate protection. All remaining operational emissions that cannot be saved by 2025 through reduction measures will be offset by certified climate protection projects.
| CO2 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CO2-emissions | currently being determined | 22,054.65 t* | 68,984.17 t | 65,931.16 t |
*In this calculation, sub-areas of Scope 3 emissions, such as production materials and logistics, were excluded.
The 2021 CO2 emissions of SPIES are about the same as those of 4,500 people (global average).
Our packaging makes an important contribution: it protects food. About 30% of global emissions are related to food and only about 3% of the climate impact of food is related to packaging. The sustainability of packaging is important, without question, but the focus is on protecting food.
One of our most essential areas of leverage in terms of sustainability is energy management. With electricity consumption of 34,230,452 kWh in 2022 (equivalent to the average annual consumption of more than 13,500 2-person households), this area has long received special attention and our energy management system has been continuously certified according to DIN EN ISO 50001 since 2012.
The production of injection molded products is very energy intensive. Therefore, a constant review and improvement of energy intensity is very important to us. As part of our ISO 50001-certified energy management system, strategic goals and measures are created and pursued.
Through the measures we are currently pursuing, we plan to save a total of 25,000,000 kWh in energy consumption by 2025 (calculated from the base year 2015). These savings will be achieved through seven overacrching strategic goals with many indiviidual measures, such as the replacement of lighting, the modernization of machinery, or digitization projects to identify compressed air leaks more quickly. In 2021 and 2022, two strategic objectives were completed, both of which optimize refrigeration systems in various areas by 5%. This will save around 637,000 kWh per year. Compared to the previous year, we have improved by 8.32% in 2021 and 10.79% in 2022.
SPIES is a member of the Regional Network for Energy Efficiency of the VEA and here works together with other companies in the region to develop targets for increasing energy efficiency.
The roofs of our production halls are equipped with numerous photovoltaic systems, with which we produce about 1.4 million kWh of green electricity annually, and we are planning even more projects to obtain our electricity from regional renewable energy sources.