"We are living in an excellent energy-conserving circular economy for the benefit of climate protection and biological diversity." – Reinhard Schneider
When we talk about active climate protection, we speak of concrete, climate-protecting measures along our value chain. Those measures involve formulas, packaging and production.
Our Goal: We want to reduce climate damaging CO2 emissions along our entire value chain.
Our Solution: Circular Economy
What climate protection means to us
We promote active climate protection with the circular economy and thus minimize the ecological footprint of the entire value chain.
Having earned EMAS and ISO 14001 certification, we have been operating an independently audited, transparent and KPI environmental management system with "climate monitoring" since 2003 (Mainz) and since 2005 (Hallein). Our Energy Management at both sites is certified according to ISO 50001 standards.
The Result: Since our activities began, we have been able to reduce our energy consumption by more than 50%.
The circular economy within our value chain applies to the following areas:
FORMULAS - PACKAGING – RENEWABLE ENERGY & PRODUCTION - BIODIVERSTITY
Our Formulas
Our Frosch products are subject to strict development guidelines. Our ingredients are renewable, plant-based raw materials for alcohol, acids and surfactants.
Increasingly, we are using European vegetable oils, for example, rapeseed, linseed, sunflower and olive oils in our surfactants. Other substances responsible for cleaning power include alcohols and acids that also come from European cultivation, such as agricultural alcohols based on sugar beets and acids from wood.
We concentrate on promoting the cultivation of traditional plants while looking after native species diversity and preventing monocultures. Shorter transport routes compared to those for materials raised in the tropics spare the environment from harmful CO2 emissions.
You'll find more info at Frosch for European cultivation. Information about the climate-friendliness of diverse surfactants (wash-active substances) is at initiative-frosch.de.
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Our Packaging
Our Frosch packaging relies on the 3Rs of waste management, namely REDUCE-REUSE-RECYCLE.
The bottles (excluding caps) are made from 100% used plastic and are 100% recyclable. What's special about the Frosch bottles is that they use the source of Yellow Bag or Bin for 20% to 100% of materials, depending on the type of plastic. Waste then becomes a useful resource and remains in the recycling loop. We make this technology available to all companies in our Open Innovation project and hope that many of them will follow our way to climate protection.
Our refill stand-up pouch made of a monomaterial reduces packaging material by 70% and is 100% recyclable.
The reduced use of plastic conserves resources and spares the environment from harmful CO2 emissions, while the increased use of recyclate (used plastic) results in 70% lower CO2 emissions than the use of virgin plastic.
More information about our Recyclate Initiative is at Frosch for clean oceans.
That recycling is good for the climate was confirmed by a study conducted by the Oeko-Institut in 2019. Even when we take into account the total energy expenditures for all recycling processes, recycling is always significantly more climate-friendly than new production of the same material. You'll find more about the study at initiative-frosch.de.
Renewable Energy & Production
Our Frosch products are developed, produced and marketed in Germany and Austria in compliance with the highest and most extensive environmental standards. In addition, at our sites we use renewable energies generated by photovoltaic modules, geothermic systems and wind turbines. Our headquarters building in Mainz is an "energy-plus" building which has been awarded LEED Platinum certification.
But there's even more. In our factory's own Water Center, we give water environmentally friendly treatment and even use it twice – for cooling and heating and as process water for Production.
All these measures contribute to conserving water and energy resources and to doing business while protecting the climate.
Biodiversity
For a long time we have been working on the conservation of biodiversity in our project "Frosch protects frogs", in which we collaborate with the NABU- Naturschutzzentrum Rheinauen, Rhineland-Palatinate, on the improvement of living conditions for the tree frog and other amphibian species in their native habitat of the Rhine wetlands.
For us biodiversity plays an important role beyond our immediate neighborhood. With the use of surfactants from European cultivation, for example, we protect the rainforests in tropical regions and the species that live there. At the same time, we support the cultivation of traditional plants in Europe and thus the native species diversity.
Our engagement does not remain within European borders. Our cooperation with BOS Deutschland extends to Borneo, where we work toward species protection, the conservation and expansion of the habitat for orangutans and the protection of valuable peatlands, which also serve as CO2 sinks.
In September 2019 Werner & Mertz owner Reinhard Schneider received the German Environmental Award from the German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU). He donated the award of 250,000 EUR to BOS Deutschland, for the reforestation of Mawas reserve, one of the largest peatlands in Indonesia. It's an important measure aimed at the conservation of biodiversity in the green lungs of the Earth.