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We are mindful of resources.

Protecting the climate

For us, embarking on the #AchteMalDrauf mission means first and foremost measuring our resource and energy use and focusing on continuously avoiding and reducing consumption across our operations. Systematically and continuously.

The annual review of our environmental footprint gives us clarity about how effective the measures we have implemented are and where we stand on our path toward more responsible production. We look at consumption directly at our sites, the energy we purchase, and the relevant impacts within our upstream and downstream value chain. 

Many individual steps help us to gradually become more efficient. We believe that relying on renewable energies is the way forward. The switch to green electricity has had the greatest effect on our environmental footprint so far. We have been using it at all Katjes locations since 2015. In 2023, we expanded this approach further and now generate part of the energy ourselves! Thanks to our first photovoltaic system at the Emmerich site, the sun also supplies us with green electricity. And another innovation has been implemented: our own biogas from our new sewage gas plant is now efficiently replacing some of our natural gas.

In addition, our teams are constantly optimizing energy consumption in our factories, ensuring lower use per tonne produced. This is made possible by investing in innovative technical solutions and more resource-efficient processes, among other things. Our combined heat and power plant for generating our own electricity and modern heat recovery systems, which let us reuse waste heat efficiently, contribute to this.

The measures are having an impact: we reduced energy use per tonne in our direct operations and purchased energy by 14% in 2022 compared to the previous year! We will continue on this path. Our new target: by 2027, we want to cut a further 15% in absolute terms despite growth.

Together with our suppliers

We are continuing to make progress along the entire supply chain. We are in regular contact with our suppliers to identify further savings and improvements together. We keep track of the measures they take and what we can do jointly — because real progress is only possible as a team!

The packaging of the future.

Let’s start with the good news. We use 100% recycled materials for our boxes. All our packaging can be recycled. We regularly review the situation to see how we can optimize it. But our packaging does have to meet very exacting standards in order to keep our products fresh, hygienic and full of flavor. Presently, we can’t see any alternative to plastic. Unfortunately. We’re not interested in greenwashing, so we scrutinize alternatives to plastic very carefully.

Unfortunately, bioplastics are anything but resource-friendly. They don’t decompose naturally, and they can’t always be recycled. Manufacturing paper packaging would require enormous amounts of energy and water. Even then, we’d still need to coat paper bags with plastic to keep our products fresh which, in our humble opinion, defeats the point. Instead, we’ve decided that we want to be real packaging pioneers. We want to develop a genuine alternative to plastic. And we’re working on it!

You have a great idea for how we could package our products better? Please submit it to info@katjes.de.

Being mindful of resources means using fewer of them.

We constantly review our production processes and modernize our machines to ensure we use as few raw materials as possible. For example, we’ve installed state-of-the-art cooling units, our own cogeneration plant and thermal insulation, and we’ve optimized our compressed air processes and other processes to cut down on our carbon emissions and make sure that, day by day, we use less electricity and water.

Handling resources mindfully means generating as little waste as possible. 80% of our raw materials are delivered in reusable containers. This means we have virtually no packaging waste in our factories. And we don’t waste any food. Because if any of our products don’t quite meet our exacting quality standards, we simply sell them as factory seconds.

‘All veggie’ benefits the environment, too.

Our entire production is vegetarian – none of our fruit gums contain gelatin. Instead, we use plant-based gelling agents such as pectin and modified starch.

Switching from gelatin to plant-based gelling agents also reduces the amount of water needed in production. How much depends on the recipe: for comparable fruit gums, plant-based versions require around 42 % less water per kilogram than gelatin-based ones (basis: our internal production data; methodology available on request).

For us, that's a clear benefit – first and foremost for the animals, and for a more responsible use of resources in our production.

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