The Optima Group, Schwaebisch Hall, Germany, has established a Sustainability Department to concentrate on developing ideas and solutions involving sustainability.
The issue of sustainability has become increasingly important. Discussions with major food and paper hygiene groups, and with partner companies, have confirmed the need for a comprehensive approach to the issue along the entire value chain. So for Optima, Sustainability is one of the four core issues, along with Flexibility, Safety and Digitalization.
The newly created "Sustainable Solutions" department also highlights the importance of this issue. From now on, Dominik Broellochs and Ulrich Burkart will be coordinating all of the sustainability initiatives for the Optima Group. They will be supported by project teams that are created on the basis of the expertise required and the specific issue. This means that the "Sustainable Solutions" team has at its disposal the largest possible capacity and an extensive network.
"We are shouldering the responsibility for the world of tomorrow," Joachim Dittrich, says chairman of the Optima Consumer Division. "What will tomorrow's world need? What are consumers expecting and what will their purchasing behavior be like?" For Optima, these and other issues will be pivotal in the coming years. "Honest packaging" is particularly important to the team. After all, not everything that looks sustainable actually is sustainable. "Frequently, on first sight packaging may look highly environmentally friendly. However, when you compare the ecological assessment with other packaging materials, it soon becomes clear that appearances can often be deceptive," explains Dominik Broellochs. "Poorly designed packaging systems result in waste," says Broellochs. Comprehensive approaches to managing recycling prevent waste and make it possible to reuse or reprocess packaging in a sustainable way.
