Sustainable cooperation: rose plastic and CERATIZIT are cutting CO2 emissions

Product protection is the top priority when shipping our tools, and plastic packaging is still the standard. Fortunately, however, there is now packaging that is made from 100% recycled material.

Find out how we came to use such packaging, how we are developing it together with our partner, rose plastic, and what we can expect from plastic recycling in the future in our interview with Stephan Lenz, Key Account Manager at rose plastic.

1. Why has plastic proved its worth as a packaging material?

Plastic is a very light and very efficient material which - if you look at the subject objectively and technically - has become indispensable in our society, industry, and private life. This is because you can create a very stable product with a wide range of functional options using very little material. In addition, it has been repeatedly shown in the past that supposedly more ecological material alternatives do not turn out to be equivalent, let alone better, in the end.

As a manufacturer of hard plastic packaging, we also believe that the material should only be used where it has the greatest benefit and is useful. This is the case with tool packaging. The key question is how to deal with the material or the product at the end of its life. The media's portrayal that plastic is "bad" is unfortunately somewhat one-sided and, for my taste, unfairly emotionalized and does not do justice to the topic. After all, it is not the material itself that is polluting the environment or the oceans, but the problem arises elsewhere: in my opinion, the disposal or more precisely the end of the life cycle of a plastic product needs to be properly addressed.
 

2. What is rose plastic's sustainability strategy? What materials are used in the sustainable packaging for CERATIZIT and how is recyclability ensured?

The raw material for plastics is crude oil - a limited resource, as we all know. In the past, plastic products were either dumped abroad, mainly in Asia or used to generate energy. As a result, a knowingly finite resource was and is being destroyed forever. That is where our sustainability strategy takes effect: We use the resources available responsibly, with an eye on future generations. Both companies - rose plastic and CERATIZIT - have the same mindset and orientation: sustainability is a mission and should ideally be lived and internalized in all areas.

In our company, we have been living the process of sustainability for many years by reintegrating our production waste into the production process. In addition, we have been working intensively for a good five years to migrate our previously used virgin material to recycled plastics. This has not been easy in the past, as there were simply no suitable materials available on the market. This has changed in recent years: The market has developed rapidly so that high-quality recyclates are now available to us. Since then, we have been continuously transforming our product portfolio from virgin to recycled plastics.

A positive side effect of using them is that they reduce the carbon footprint of our products by a good 60-70%. Another key aspect of our sustainability strategy is our core task of "product protection." This is because the product to be packaged accounts for a much higher proportion of the total carbon footprint than the packaging, which generally accounts for around 2% of the total carbon footprint.

Recyclability has always been an integral part of our product development - we call it "Design for Recycling" - in which we mainly work with mono-material packaging solutions. Our top priority is always to ensure that our products are easy to recycle. We have continuously optimized this area in recent years.

I am particularly pleased that with the responsible contact persons at CERATIZIT we have a team with which we have already been able to implement successful product developments together. These have led to significantly improved sustainability, reduced CO₂ emissions, easier recycling, and, finally, productivity benefits in the internal value chain at CERATIZIT. This is exemplary cooperation at eye level with mutual appreciation and partnership, which unfortunately cannot always be taken for granted in today's business world. In my opinion, this is the only way we can meet the demands of global competition and be "sustainably" successful.

3. What does the life cycle of packaging look like?

Our packaging is mainly used as disposable packaging. After removal of the product, in the case of CERATIZIT this means shank tools and indexable inserts, the packaging is disposed of as waste. Why? Every packaging has the "job" of protecting the packaged, high-quality product in a way that allows it to perform at 100%. Product protection is therefore the top priority. To guarantee this product protection in the best possible way, the packaging must be in perfect condition. However, every type of packaging, including ours, inevitably wears out when it is opened and closed.

Another aspect is that possible multiple use is associated with prior cleaning. In the overall context of energy consumption, logistics, and the resources required, this is ecologically and economically not feasible, as far as I know. On top of that, the visible signs of use on the packaging do not make a good impression on the delivery of high-quality precision tools. The value of the packaged product would certainly suffer latently as a result.
 

4. How does rose plastic/CERATIZIT manage to retrieve used packaging? (Process: Circular economy)

At present, we still receive re-granulate from our material supplier to manufacture our products with recycled material. This was and is only the first step for us. To be globally sustainable, the next goal is to establish a recycling system. In this system, hard plastic items are to be collected in a defined process, picked up by authorized disposal companies, and sent to recycling companies. These could then turn the supposed "plastic waste" - which we should and must regard as a resource in the future - into high-quality recycled granulate.

We then buy this and use it to make new products. This closes the cycle. No new resource in the form of new material is required - at best only to a very limited extent. The result is a recurring cycle, comparable to the existing German deposit system for PET drinks bottles in the private sector. We have also launched a joint pilot project with CERATIZIT on the topic of recycling systems, with the aim of developing a standard in the market.
 

5. Are there any plans for future developments or expansions of the sustainable packaging solutions for CERATIZIT?

We are in close contact in this matter as well and will continue on the path we have already taken together. I always look forward to talking to my partners at CERATIZIT, who regularly approach us with challenging projects. As we share the same philosophy of working together successfully in a spirit of partnership and trust, our work is particularly enjoyable and sustainable.

Note from the editors: The recycled plastic packaging from rose plastic is rolled out by degrees. The first portfolio change happened in Europe followed by other international sites. The aim is to have a global standard in the group to support the sustainability goals.