"By avoiding, reducing and offsetting, we are implementing our climate strategy and neutralising our operational emissions for the long term."
Denis Müller, Nachhaltigkeitsmanager
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.
Environmental protection is one of the most important issues for the future at SPIES Kunststoffe GmbH. As an energy-intensive plastic processing company, our energy consumption, technical infrastructure and the raw materials we use have a significant impact on our greenhouse gas emissions.
In 2024, SPIES began to develop a long-term, sustainable environmental strategy that includes specific reduction targets for Scope 1 and Scope 2 for the first time for 2025, and will also include Scope 3 in the future.
We require various resources for the production of our packaging. The plastic polypropylene (PP), from which our products are made, plays a central role. 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.
In 2024, this figure rose to 1,659,53 tonnes, of which nearly 79% was plastic waste from our production process. 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.
| Resources | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Materials | |||||
| Plastic granules | 25.422,31 t | 21,778 t | 22,537.12 t | 25,248 t | 24,556 t |
| Colors | 814,53 t | 574 t | 568.41 t | 543.64 t | 362.74 t |
| Steel | 28,57 t | 30.00 t | 20.00 t | 43.05 t | 65 t |
| Cardboard | 98,94 t | 1,794 t | 2,164.48 t | 2.81 t | 2.28 t |
| Foils | 231,79 t | 1,227 t | 715.34 t | 1.02 t | 0.33 t |
| Pallets (wood & plastic) | 1.303,20 t | 1,276 t | 1,391.39 t | 755.23 t | |
| Waste | |||||
| Total | 1.659,52 t | 1,334 t | 1,274.90 t | 1,430,650 kg | 1,595,849 kg |
| thereof plastic | 1.317,28 t | 1,125 t | 998.70 t | 1,139,240 kg | 1,344,738 kg |
| thereof recycling rate | 99,86 % | 100 % | 100 % | 99.99 % | |
| Water | 4.142 m³ | 4,746 m³ | 4,836 m³ | 12,507 m³ | 5,0001 m³ |
As a manufacturing company, energy consumption and the associated greenhouse gas emissions are among the key factors that determine our environmental footprint. SPIES has an established energy man-agement system that is ISO 50001 certified and involves systematic energy analyses, targets and efficiency measures.
Key activities include:
Not only do these initiatives help lower emissions, they also boost profitability by reducing energy consumption.
| CO2 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CO2-emissions | 129.946 t | 115.189 t* | 108.176,19 t* | 22,054.65 t | 68,984.17 t | 65,931.16 t |
This data was collected and calculated in collaboration with an external service provider in accordance with the GHG Protocol.
*The calculation includes Scopes 1 and 2 as well as subcategories 1-7, 9, 12 and 15 from Scope 3. This calculation includes items that were not taken into account in previous years.
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 reaching 33,141,536 kWh in 2023, this area has long been a particular focus of our EN ISO 50001-certified energy management system, which drives our continuous efforts to reduce consumption.
In the 2024 reporting year, a significant proportion of the electricity purchased will therefore come from renewable sources. The data is based on the electricity suppliers’ bills and internal energy reports.
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.
Even though the final reduction targets within the framework of an environmental strategy will not be set until 2025, SPIES is already pursuing several measures that will contribute to achieving these targets in the future:
Initial strategic steps:
Ongoing operational measures:
These measures lay the foundation for introducing robust environmental targets in the years ahead.
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.