Our sustainability anniversary year
30 years of sustainability management and "Piepenbrock Goes Green", 10 years of "Growth" campaign and sponsorship with Plan International Deutschland – our year 2020 is dominated by sustainability. We will be celebrating!
30 years of sustainability and "Piepenbrock Goes Green"
The idea of sustainability has played a role in our company across all generations of our company management. The issue of sustainability, however, was firmly implemented and anchored in our corporate structures in the year 1990, when the position of environmental officer was established and our entire ecological commitment was summarised under the motto "Piepenbrock Goes Green". This defines company-wide environmental objectives to design our processes, products and services as environmentally friendly, to reduce our emissions and to promote biological diversity. In the same year, we were the first company in our sector to publish an environmental report.
For us, these measures represent milestones in the development of our sustainability management. We therefore regard them as the starting signal for strategic sustainable thinking in our company. From that time on, we continuously expanded our commitment.
10 years of "Growth" campaign
Another very important milestone in our sustainability alignment was the start of our "Growth" campaign in the year 2010. For customer orders as of a certain volume, we have since then planted a certain number of trees in our company-owned forest. In doing so, we integrate climate and environmental protection even more firmly in our sustainability concept and get gradually closer to our vision of a CO2-neutral service. We have already been able to implement the manufacture of CO2-neutral packaging machines at our affiliated companies LoeschPack and Hastamat under the motto "carbon neutral packaging"
10 years of sponsorship with Plan International Deutschland
2010 also saw the start of our co-operation with Plan International Deutschland and we took over the first of what are today 70 sponsorships for children in Laos and Vietnam. In doing so, we support local and regional projects to improve the health and hygiene conditions as well as educational opportunities for the local children.
Over the years, we have expanded our involvement with Plan International Deutschland. Together, we completed the project "Piepenbrock Clean Water" from 2013 to 2016. With donations collected from employees, customers and business partners, we supported the Pak Tha region in Laos, working with the inhabitants to build wells for clean water and install sanitation facilities in school.
The appointment of an environmental officer and the development of "Piepenbrock Goes Green" in the year 1990, and the co-operation with Plan International Deutschland in the year 2010 are thus elementary steps in the strategic development and continuous expansion of our sustainable commitment in line with the three columns of sustainability: ecology, social issues and economy.
We celebrate sustainability
For us, the anniversaries of our sustainability commitment are a reason to celebrate. This is why we have planned various activities and events all over Germany for the year 2020 to acknowledge sustainability and our sustainable commitment. We will report on this in our sustainability portal in the course of the year.
Planting trees as a sustained signal
The campaign "Growth" involves planting rare and historical types of fruit or the trees of the year – tree-planting campaigns have been part of our ecological commitment for many years. It goes without saying that this also applies in our anniversary year of sustainability. Together with customers, we have already planted new trees at many different locations, thus jointly setting an example for sustainability.
The town of Werne and Piepenbrock plant a robinia (locust tree)
Together with the town of Werne and its mayor Lothar Christ, our regional manager Thorsten Seewöster planted a robinia (locust tree) on the playground of the Anne Frank High School. The tree of the year 2020 symbolises the sustained partnership between the town and our company that has existed for many years. Even at the start of the order more than ten years ago, there was a campaign of this nature. Find out more about the tree-planting campaign with the town of Werne.
A white willow for INEOS in Cologne
In the same way as Piepenbrock, our customer INEOS in Cologne is also committed to sustainability. After jointly planting trees in our company forest at the start of the order, we have reinforced our commitment in time for our 30-year sustainability anniversary. Piepenbrock regional manager Thorsten Seewöster and Jürgen Schneider, head of the Piepenbrock branch in Cologne, planted a white willow on the factory premises of the chemical company together with Frank Eggermann, head of business operations and responsible for the INEOS administration building in Cologne. Read more about the tree-planting campaign at INEOS.
Support for social projects and initiatives
On both a regional and national basis, we support diverse non-profit and social projects and organisations. For example, we are benefactors of the "Germany Scholarship" and support the "German Dementia Relief" foundation or the regional series of races "ACTIVE pack of three". We also provide the Piepenbrock award for the advancement of arts and the Hartwig Piepenbrock German Centre for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) Award. This is how we assume our social responsibility as a family company – also in the year of our sustainability anniversary.
Donation for children
With an annual donation to the "Verein Kinderlachen e.V." (Children Smile Society), we are committed to the well-being of sick children and children in need. Piepenbrock regional manager Thorsten Seewöster handed over the cheque with the donation amounting to 1,000 euros to the general manager of Kinderlachen e.V., Marc Peine.
Sponsored race for the Osnabrück lions
Since 2013, we have supported the Osnabrück Zoo as a sponsor as well as with various donation campaigns, for example "Run for Lions". Here, Piepenbrock employees covered a total of 660 kilometres at the regional race series "ACTIVE pack of three". We donated one euro for very completed kilometre. Hartmut Voigt, regional manager for North Germany at Piepenbrock, subsequently doubled the amount. This made a total of 1,320 euros, which the regional manager together with Katrin Volbers, of the sustainability management staff at Piepenbrock, handed over to Andreas Wulftange, Zoological Director of the Osnabrück Zoo. With this sum, we are supporting the expansion of the lion enclosure. Find out more about handing over the donation to the Osnabrück Zoo!
