Sustainability
Our sense of responsibility towards the natural environment drives us to make sustainability a high priority for our company. Our ISO 14001 environmental management system helps us keep sight of our self-imposed goals and make sure we achieve them. Sustainability has become an important and integral component of ELSÄSSER’s corporate philosophy in recent years, and we will continue to pursue appropriate ecological, economic, and social goals moving forward.
LED lighting
By switching from conventional light sources to LED technology, ELSÄSSER now uses 90% less energy for lighting. LEDs are an efficient, long-lasting, and low-maintenance technology, making them the ideal choice for sustainable lighting. The service life of the LED lamps installed at ELSÄSSER is 50,000 hours. They are more expensive to buy, but more economical in the long run because due to lower electricity costs. Thanks to their long service life, the replacement intervals are longer and thus the disposal rate is reduced. At the same time, fewer luminaires need to be produced.
Home working & vehicle fleet
ELSÄSSER also focuses on sustainability in the area of mobility. Our vehicle fleet includes hybrid vehicles and one fully electric vehicle. Three dedicated double wall boxes are available to charge these vehicles. By switching to mobile working and requiring our office staff to work from home at least two days a week, ELSÄSSER saves around 45,000 kg of CO2 per year by reducing the number of times our employees travel to and from work.
Dispatch of goods
For our goods shipments, we have selected sustainable shipping services provided by DHL and GLS. Via DHL GOGREEN and GLS KlimaProtect, we ensure that our products reach their destination in a climate-neutral manner. For example, we save more than 80 tonnes of CO2 per year by shipping our goods via DHL GOGREEN. We also offset the greenhouse emissions caused by our goods shipments through our support for global climate projects.Supply of the ELSÄSSER buildings
Fossil fuels such as oil, gas, and coal are finite resources. Solar energy, by contrast, is in limitless supply. To further reduce our CO2 emissions, ELSÄSSER has installed photovoltaic systems on the company’s warehouses. These currently produce enough electricity to power over 70 households per year. In the future, we plan to supply all ELSÄSSER warehouses with self-generated electricity (from 2023).
The heating systems at ELSÄSSER Filtertechnik are also carbon neutral. In total, 5,000 m² of ELSÄSSER’s premises are heated using a pellet heating system, which saves 42 tonnes of CO2 annually.
A cistern provides the rainwater that is used to irrigate the green areas at the ELSÄSSER site, as well as to flush all the toilets. ELSÄSSER obtains 40 m³ of water per year from this cistern.
Waste disposal
Our recyclables management system is designed to eliminate waste. Nevertheless, waste inevitably accumulates after products and materials have been used. For this reason, we work with a waste management company that ensures our waste is recycled and disposed of in a sustainable manner. Similarly, the lunches we offer our employees are provided with net-zero packaging and delivery. They are delivered in BIOPAP packaging made from 100% renewable raw materials. This can be disposed of as organic waste and is biodegradable within 90 days.
Social sustainability
Another key aspect of the sustainability concept at ELSÄSSER is our employees. Occupational health and safety is given a high priority at our company, as is treating each other with dignity and respect. Eating lunch together and providing organic fruit as well as water dispensers are standard practice at ELSÄSSER.
