Börner Eisenacher: “Sustainability has a high priority in our company”

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As one of the major producers of organic sausage and ham in Germany, Börner Eisenacher GmbH attaches great importance to quality assurance and sustainable processes. In addition to compliance with recognised standards in terms of animal welfare and product quality, the packaging of the products also plays a significant role. This is because packaging has various important tasks, especially in the food industry. It protects the product and is subject to extensive regulations on the manufacturing process and permitted material composition.

In a joint workshop with RecycleMe, those responsible at Börner Eisenacher discussed the topic of recyclability of packaging and also took a closer look at their own packaging.

Checking recyclability and identifying optimisation potential

“Sustainability has a high priority in our company”, explains Benjamin Krieft, Managing Partner at Börner Eisenacher. “This is reflected not only in the quality standards of our product range, but also in the design of our product packaging.”

The EU Commission’s proposal for a regulation on packaging and packaging waste poses a number of challenges for industry and trade. Also in the area of recyclability, manufacturers and distributors of packaging must prepare for new requirements. For example, various criteria for material recycling will probably be defined for packaging categories and the categories will be divided into performance classes, with the last class being rated as “non-recyclable” and thus excluded from distribution.

“Of course, we are dealing with these developments intensively. Not only the legal situation is decisive for us at this point, but also the growing sustainable demands of our customers”, Krieft continues. “In order to do justice to this, we have also filled the topic of sustainability with a dedicated position in the company. And our packaging management is also set in its own department under professional management.”

The additional, international expertise of RecycleMe is a useful professional supplement for the team at Börner Eisenacher. “With RecycleMe, we were able to further expand our know-how. And thanks to the digital assessment tool, we have found a great way to continuously check the recyclability of our packaging measured against the German minimum standard – and thus identify potential for optimisation if necessary.”

RecycleMe as a transformation partner for industry and trade

“It is fun to work with companies that have both the capacity and the will to address the recyclability of their packaging”, says Barbara Krauss, Circularity Manager at RecycleMe, enthusiastically. “As a result, the joint exchange during the workshop took place at a high level and both sides were able to benefit from each other.”

Krauss and her team are therefore even more pleased that the cooperation will continue beyond the initial workshop. “Since then, we have already worked together on a study on packaging materials and will be happy to stay in contact in the future. And our digital evaluation tool can be used by companies like Börner Eisenacher at any time and free of charge anyway. A functioning circular economy needs committed cooperation between industry, trade and transformation partners like us.”