Sustainability

We are happy to take back discarded Craemer products and use them to make new high-quality plastic pallets, boxes and containers. This is made possible by our extruder machine park at our German plastic injection moulding plants and our decades of know-how. This is our way of producing high-quality raw materials from discarded plastic products. We do not currently have extruders at our UK injection moulding plants, but we have also used materials from discarded plastic products there. Craemer's waste products are taken back by an external service provider who supplies us with the washed and shredded material for recycling.

The production of our metal formed parts, plastic pallets and containers is very energy-intensive. Since the beginning of 2022, we have been significantly reducing our electricity consumption at the Herzebrock-Clarholz and Oelde sites with the help of electricity from renewable energy sources, i.e. produced in a carbon-neutral manner (60 percent in 2022 and 100 percent in 2023). At the Herzebrock-Clarholz site, with its metal, plastic and tool production, this will reduce our carbon footprint 2023 by around 50 percent!

We have been using green gas at our Herzebrock-Clarholz site since January 2023. This means that 100 percent of the carbon emissions from our gas consumption will be offset by funding selected climate protection projects, making our entire gas consumption carbon neutral. Our plastic injection moulding plant in Oelde, which was taken into operation in 2022, does not use any gas at all.

We will increasingly rely on self-generated, renewable energy for our electricity supply. At the Aurea site, we plan to install a wind turbine with an annual output of 16.5 million kilowatt hours of electricity (equivalent to the power consumption of 5,000 households). Surplus capacity will be fed into the grid our headquarters in Herzebrock. In addition to wind power, we will also be using solar energy at the new site in the foreseeable future – with one photovoltaic system each in the open space below the wind turbine and on the entire roof area.

For factory transport between our production sites in Herzebrock-Clarholz and Oelde as well as between our two injection moulding plants in Telford, we use all-electric vehicles, both e-vans and e-cars. This also includes vehicles that are available for other journeys. At our Herzebrock-Clarholz site, our apprentices and trainers have also been using electric vehicles since spring 2023. And a VW ID.3 is available for journeys to vocational school or external appointments.

As a family-run industrial company, it is particularly important to us to promote and encourage an early interest in mathematics, information technology, science, and technology (STEM). This is why Craemer Group’s German headquarters is involved in the STEM for Children and Young People initiative in the Gütersloh region. In cooperation with schools, universities and other educational institutions, the fund supports various projects and events to get children and young people interested in scientific and technical subjects and professions at an early age.

Honeybee colonies help pollinate plants, including flowers, fruit trees, or crops. To set an example for this small but important insect, Craemer is providing ten bee colonies with a green home. Four beehives each have been set up in a sheltered green area on our premises in Herzebrock-Clarholz (since 2022) and Oelde (since 2023). This sustainable project was made possible by beekeeper, wasp and hornet consultant Marion Domke (https://www.imkerei-domke.de/), who runs a family beekeeping business in Wadersloh-Diestedde and rents out bee colonies. Since 2018, two bee colonies have been living on the premises of Craemer UK in Telford. These British bees are looked after by local beekeeper Alison Wakeman. Honey harvested from all sites is then sold to employees.

In order to increase the number of sand lizards, we have created suitable habitats for the endangered reptile along the railway tracks on our Herzebrock-Clarholz site. To protect the common pipistrelle bat, we created a flight path and planted it with flowering shrubs at our headquarters in 2016 ahead of building extensions. And at Craemer UK, we preserved two oak trees in the middle of our Site A and provided them with nesting boxes for these flying mammals.