KELHEIM - Kelheim Fibres has published its first Sustainability Report, detailing the speciality viscose fibre manufacturer's environmental performance as well as its approach to Corporate & Social Responsibility issues.
"Credibility and trust are based on transparency," said Sustainability Manager Timo Thunitgut. "Our Sustainability Report according to the framework of the UN Global Compact follows these principles and presents our actions fully transparently. It shows how we as a company live up to our responsibility for people and the environment; it reveals our contribution to combatting one of the biggest global problems of our time - the increasing waste problem caused by disposable plastic products - with our biodegradable fibres.”
As part of their EMAS certification, the Bavarian firm has already been publishing an annual environmental statement since 2020, in which all relevant environmental data are available to the public. The Sustainability Report, which will also be published annually, goes one step further here - it covers not only the company's environmental performance, but also Corporate Social Responsibility as a whole.
Following this approach, the fibre experts have also created a new structure internally, which gives even more weight to the area of CSR; in future, all sustainability topics will be centrally integrated in the new CSR department (formerly HSE, Health, Safety & Environment) under the leadership of Wolfgang Ott. "Responsible corporate behaviour is and will increasingly become a relevant competitive differentiator," Ott said. "By bundling all CSR aspects in one department, our CSR performance, a topic that has been firmly anchored in our philosophy for years, will gain even more visibility and impact."
All of the company's fibres, which are used a range of diverse applications from fashion, hygiene and medical products to nonwovens and speciality papers, are made from 100% wood pulp from PEFC or FSC certified sources. They are fully biodegradable and offer an environmentally sound alternative to petroleum-based materials in a broad range of different end products – while maintaining or even enhancing the functional performance of the product.
Production takes place exclusively in Germany and complies with the strict German environmental legislation. Kelheim Fibres is the first viscose manufacturer worldwide with an EMAS-validated environmental management system.