“Beverage coasters are a valuable material in the recycling loop”
Name: Jens Kriete
Job title: Koehler Group Sustainability Manager
Hobbies: Checking out flea markets
Age: 52
Part of Koehler since: 2020
A fine mist hangs in the air between the Black Forest’s mountains as the Murg river quietly burbles right past KATZ’s headquarters in the German municipality of Weisenbach. As they are being delivered, the muffled rumble of logs can be heard from the lumberyard – that’s the raw material that KATZ will take and turn into something very special. Production smells of fresh wood being debarked and ground into pulp. Wood and water are being mixed in the pulper so that the resulting combination can be processed into wood pulp board with the cardboard machine. All in all, it’s a perfect picture of just how closely intertwined nature and technology are at KATZ. And if you take a closer look, you’ll notice it right away: Sustainability is not just some abstraction there – it’s a lived reality. Every single day.
Ask Koehler Group Sustainability Manager Jens Kriete and he’ll tell you that this is the perfect place to experience environmentally conscious production in the flesh with all five senses. His confidence comes from a deep understanding of sustainability and the environment; an understanding that didn’t develop by chance: From a very young age, he was shaped by the way his parents treated resources with respect and made sure to live responsibly. Today, that foundation plays a key role in his work: Making sustainability visible, driving it forward, and getting people excited about it. He’ll also tell you that he loves things with history behind them, and that his flea market finds are not just unique items, but sometimes even treasures that bring back memories. All this makes him someone who not only understands sustainability, but lives it in the truest sense of the word.
Mr. Kriete, what can you tell us about your duties as the Sustainability Manager at the Koehler Group?
Well, my primary responsibility is to develop and refine the Koehler Group’s sustainability strategy together with the executive board and the Sustainability Committee. We define goals, set key performance indicators, and use the resulting foundation to bring concrete projects to life. Of course, there’s also our annual sustainability report, which is not just a huge undertaking, but also an extremely important thing for the company. After all, it very transparently shows where we stand and how we’re tackling the challenges ahead of us.
How do you make sure that sustainability is really incorporated into every nook and cranny at a company as big as the Koehler Group?
For starters, we have a clearly structured target process that covers the entire group. That means that every single individual company and every single unit – regardless of whether we’re talking about Production, Purchasing, or Sales – has clearly defined tasks and KPIs. On top of that, our internal communications and our sustainability report ensure that we always maintain transparency. Combine all that and the result is that sustainability is an integral part of our typical workday. And I’d be lying to you if I said I don’t love being able to play a vital part in shaping this entire strategy – after all, being able to combine sustainable development and business success is something that I find incredibly motivating.
What kind of role do KATZ and our Weisenbach and Willstätt sites play in the Koehler Group’s sustainability strategy?
KATZ actually plays a pretty special role in the Koehler Group’s sustainability strategy, since our Weisenbach and Willstätt sites are an incredible example of how regional value creation, short transportation distances, and processes that conserve resources can be linked together with synergistic effects. We’re buying raw material that is barely even processed and turning it into a product that is fully ready for consumption. But that’s not all: At KATZ, we’re doing that with a closed-loop water system, renewable energy from our hydroelectric power plant, and regional wood sourcing. In other words, KATZ combines a number of environmental processes that result in an incredibly iconic product with a natural feel. And that product is also highly recyclable after being used!
Now, I could obviously just say that we have a laser focus on sustainable processes and leave it at that, but I think I should add that this has been confirmed by third parties. In fact, the Koehler Group has been awarded the EcoVadis Platinum rating twice in a row already, which places us among the best one percent of all rated companies across the globe. It’s a pretty important distinction, since it means that our customers can truly depend on us as a partner when it comes to issues such as sustainable supply chains, for example. And while on that subject, I’d also like to mention that we work with FSC®1 certified and PEFC2 certified forest product companies. The wood we use comes predominantly from our local region and most of it is pulpwood, which is basically the thin segments of tree trunks that can’t be used as sawlogs anymore. I mention all this because our sustainability strategy includes resource efficiency, and making a premium product out of that pulp-wood is the very definition of this efficiency!
How sustainable are beverage coasters in comparison to alternative materials?
KATZ beverage coasters are extremely sustainable in comparison to alternative materials. They have a fiber content of around 84%, meaning that they consist predominantly of high-quality fibers that make them perfect for recycling. On top of that, these wood pulp board beverage coasters are plenty rugged, which makes it possible to reuse them multiple times in the hospitality industry before they’re simply discarded as wastepaper. And recycling processes really need high-quality fibers, so it’s just the perfect product all around. Take an alternative, such as napkins, and you’ll see that it’s less absorbent, less durable, or less recyclable – sometimes even all three! In contrast to that, beverage coasters work on every table, bring brand presence with them wherever they go, and make an essential contribution to raw material loops at the end of their lifecycle. Not to mention that the ones we make at KATZ are ideal for coaster flipping challenges, making them even more iconic!
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