Packaging

Sustainable into the future: technotrans switches to recyclable packaging material

Thursday 02. June 2022 - Based on the guideline Avoid, reuse, recycle, use renewable raw materials, technotrans is systematically implementing its sustainability strategy in the area of packaging logistics. The company has optimised the use of materials required for transport across all groups in order to protect the environment.

Consistently fulfilling its ecological responsibility: technotrans SE is making its packaging logistics sustainable. The aim is not only to save packaging, but also to use environmentally friendly and recyclable materials. The proportion of ecological packaging at the locations in Baden-Baden and Sassenberg is already almost 100 percent. The result of these measures: The CO2 footprint decreases significantly.
Based on the guideline “Avoid, reuse, recycle, use renewable raw materials”, technotrans is systematically implementing its sustainability strategy in the area of packaging logistics. The company has optimised the use of materials required for transport across all groups in order to protect the environment.
At its headquarters in Sassenberg, technotrans significantly improved its eco-balance. By switching the entire packaging system to insert trays with packaged goods fixation, the company has largely avoided the previously necessary package filling with polystyrene chips. Only where this is not possible for logistical reasons does the company use chips made of organic material. In this way technotrans saves 841,500 kilograms of CO2 annually. A positive side effect: the packaging processes are now even much more efficient.
Into the future with ECO-PE foam sheets
At technotrans systems in Baden-Baden, the company focuses on packaging for equipment deliveries. Where conventional PE foam sheets used to protect the products during transport, ECO-PE foam sheets are now used. This reduces the CO2 footprint in this area by 95 per cent – from 2.51 kilogrammes CO2/kg of packaging material to 0.13 kilogrammes CO2/kg. A major advantage that pays off for the environment, as Adrian Butaru, Head of Logistics technotrans systems, points out: “In terms of price, we are at the same level, but the eco-balance is much better.”
In equipment shipping, too, technotrans systems has replaced a two-component foam packaging system that was difficult to dispose of with an environmentally friendly one. In addition, the company now packs spare parts in recycled paper. The result is a CO2 saving of almost 100 percent, from 125 kilograms of CO2/kg to around 0.2 kilograms of CO2/kg. As a result of all these measures, CO2 emissions have been reduced from around 99,430 kilograms in 2019 to around 37,975 kilograms in 2021.
Fully circular cycles by 2025
By making adjustments to its packaging logistics, technotrans is coming close to its goal of implementing fully circular material cycles. At technotrans systems, around 97 percent of consignments are already shipped using unmixed and recyclable packaging materials, and 92 percent at Sassenberg. “The conversions are an important step on our way to even greater sustainability and environmental protection,” says Michael Finger, Spokesman of the Board of Management of technotrans SE. “We are consistently pursuing this mission.” All materials are to be recyclable by 2025.
The measures form part of the company’s Future Ready 2025 strategy. In addition to establishing pure, recyclable packaging materials, technotrans intends to make itself more sustainable in other areas: These include the development of energy-efficient technologies, the switch to refrigerants with a low global-warming potential, and the use of electricity from 100 percent renewable sources.