New KHS sustainability report: more responsibility for nature and people

“We assume responsibility for people and their natural surroundings by practicing environmental friendliness and social commitment in all aspects of our work. For this reason, it is important for us to provide an insight into the fields of action of our activities," explains Prof. Dr.-Ing. Matthias Niemeyer, Chairman of the Executive Management Board. With this report, KHS orients itself to the globally recognized sustainability reporting standard of the Global Reporting Initiative. The results of the report show that KHS continues to take action in an exemplary manner: for example, the entire KHS Group has been using only hydroelectric power at all of its German production sites since 2016 and has thus reduced CO2 emissions by approx. 9,000 tons this year. This significant reduction also has a positive effect on the carbon footprint of all products manufactured by KHS GmbH.

For many years, KHS has been contributing towards continuously reducing the consumption of raw materials both in the beverage packaging itself as well as in the production of the machines and equipment required for this purpose. "Long-lasting and energy-saving filling and packaging systems also help our customers to produce much more sustainably," Niemeyer emphasizes. KHS is particularly committed to developing new PET packaging systems. Numerous innovative and award-winning systems have thus already reached market maturity: ranging from the 0.5-liter PET bottle for carbonated beverages with a screw cap weighing only 9.9 grams to the world innovation Nature MultiPack™ that holds PET bottles together only with dots of adhesive and a handle and thereby replaces the previously used shrink pack.

Consistent water savings thanks to efficient KHS machines
Water is a vital, precious commodity. For this reason, KHS is concerned with reducing the consumption of drinking water for industrial use to the greatest possible extent. The more efficiently the production plants can be run and the lower the primary water consumption, the smaller users‘ water footprint is. Users can thus save up to eight million liters of water annually using the new KHS bottle shower of the glass bottle filler running at a capacity of 50,000 bottles per hour. On the other hand, those who fill 36,000 1.5-liter PET bottles per hour using the newest version of the InnoPET BloFill stretch blow molder/filler block can even save up to 33.6 million liters of water per year by dispensing with the need for a PET bottle rinser.

The actions of the employees represent another key component of KHS‘ sustainability management. In order to promote the individual responsibilities and expertise of the employees in this area, the company has supplemented its annual safety briefings with environmental and energy-related topics. In 2016, KHS was also honored by German minister for the environment Barbara Hendriks for participating in the "Mobil.Pro.Fit" sustainability initiative. In numerous workshops this nationwide project created measures for the development of efficient and environmentally friendly mobility concepts for KHS employees thanks to the intensive networking of all companies involved.