We assume responsibility: RKW expands commitment to sustainability

Frankenthal (Germany), 22 September 2020 – The RKW Group has significantly expanded its commitment to sustainability. Environmental protection campaigns at the company's 19 locations worldwide, support for the "Oceans without plastic" project, and a new sustainability report in accordance with UN standards were just three of the focal points of the "Sustainability Summer Campaign", which came to an end with the participation of the Frankenthal headquarters in the "RhineCleanUp".

"We assume responsibility: for the protection of the environment, for the sustainable use of plastics and for the expansion of the recycling economy," says CEO Harald Biederbick. In addition to concrete projects to increase the sustainability performance - such as the "Zero Pellet Loss" initiative to prevent environmental pollution from plastic granulate - the RKW Group is also committed to protecting the oceans. "To this end, we are donating 5000 Euros to the Naturschutzbund Deutschland (German Environmental Protection Assiociation)", Biederbick continued. The money will be used specifically for the initiative "Oceans without plastic".

Not only the company, but all 3000 employees of the RKW Group have made their contribution to the summer campaign on sustainability:

• At the Frankenthal "RhineCleanUp", RKW provided the largest group with more than 30 participants. Together with Mayor Martin Hebich and the Rhineland-Palatinate Minister of Family Affairs Anne Spiegel, a three-kilometer stretch of the Rhine bank was cleaned, and a total of 380 kg of waste was collected.
• At the Petersaurach/Bavaria site, the plant's 23 trainees laid out a fruit orchard. The project was independently initiated, planned and implemented by the young colleagues. This benefits not only the employees in Petersaurach, but all citizens of the community - the orchard is open to the public, and fruit can be harvested by anyone.
• The team at the Gronau/North Rhine-Westphalia site could not be stopped by Corona. More than 40 employees on their own initiative made up for the city's "Easter cleaning", which had been cancelled in the spring, and cleaned public streets. Here, 268 kg of waste was collected.
• In neighboring Nordhorn (Lower Saxony), the RKW team collected a total of 20 large bags of waste around the industrial park there. The cross-border, German-Dutch action on the occasion of World Clean Up Day was supported by the city of Nordhorn.
• To ensure that Sweden's beaches remain beautiful, the colleagues at RKW's Helsingborg plant resorted to gloves and garbage bags. They cleaned a nearby beach section and collected more than 100 kg of waste.
• A large number of actions were implemented at the RKW plant in Guangzhou/China. These included a joint garbage collection during a mountain hike as well as an environmental protection quiz during the lunch break and do-it-yourself gift ideas made from waste.

In addition to concrete actions in the field of environmental protection and sustainability, information also played an important role. Under the umbrella of the summer campaign, more than 50 articles were published on the RKW website, in social media and as (trade) press reports. The campaign concluded with the company's new Sustainability Report, which for the first time takes up the United Nations' sustainability goals (Sustainable Development Goals). In order to lessen the ecological footprint, the report is available exclusively in electronic form and is no longer printed.

On the whole, the Sustainability Summer Campaign reached more than 730,000 people across all channels (print and online). Compared to the previous months, web site page impressions rose by 74 percent and access to social media by 28 percent - another sign of the high level of acceptance of the RKW initiative. "We are very satisfied with the response to our sustainability campaign," says a Harald Biederbick. "This result is an obligation for us to continue on the path we have taken and to continue to assume responsibility in the future.”

The RKW Group is an independent, privately owned company headquartered in Mannheim, Germany and one of the world’s foremost manufacturers of excellent film solutions. RKW is the market leader in the areas of hygiene and agricultural films, films for the beverage industry and packaging for powdery goods. In addition, the company makes films and nonwovens for medical applications, for the chemical and converting industries as well as for the construction sector. RKW’s sustainable films enable its customers to improve the daily life of consumers all over the world. In the fiscal year 2020, RKW generated total sales of EUR 784 million. About 3,000 employees process 350,000 metric tons of plastic materials at 19 locations around the world. True to the corporate slogan “When excellence matters”, the company, which was founded in 1957, offers outstanding performance in terms of quality and service. Respect and reliability are the core values of RKW and form the basis of the company’s success.

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