We at Kitotec GmbH certainly cannot save the planet alone. And yet we can make our personal contribution to protecting the environment and conserving resources. That's why we have been turning the small adjusting screws in our company for a long time, trying to reduce our energy and material consumption.
Emissions through energy consumption of the building:
Before our move to Meckenheim in 2015, the existing building was converted to 100% LED lighting. We also installed an extremely efficient heating system with high support from solar thermal. Since our computers and monitors were outdated at the time, we were able to switch to energy efficient systems at that time. Our next project is a largely self-sufficient energy supply, which we will implement by 2024 using a large photovoltaic system.
Emissions from travel to the workplace
As a result of our move to Meckenheim, the Kitotec GmbH team has been able to save around 500 hours of driving to and from work each year. In addition, one car was completely replaced by e-bikes. After installation of the new photovoltaic system, a changeover to vehicles with electric drives will take place, as only then will the use of cleanly produced energy make the changeover truly sustainable for us.
Emissions from service trips:
By consistently switching to online support using good equipment for video conferencing, we have been able to almost completely stop our air travel and massively reduce car trips. Before each service call, we ask our customers if an on-site appointment is really necessary or if we can't solve the problem online through a video conference.
Emissions from trade fairs:
We have already significantly reduced our trade fair activities since 2017 and have completely discontinued them from September 2022, as a lot of energy and material is consumed by the travel, transport and trade fair construction. The view of the mountains of waste on the day of the construction and dismantling of the trade fairs has shown us that this way of distribution for our products is no longer up-to-date and responsible.
Emissions from sales trips:
It took a few years until the acceptance for a product presentation via video conferencing was there. In the meantime, this has become the standard for us. Only in cases where very complex test and measurement procedures or the possibility for an installation of camera systems in machines has to be checked on site, we do travel. We are fully aware that this massively reduces the personal contact with our customers. But we are also absolutely sure that this is generally accepted and supported today in the sense of a more sustainable way of working.
Reduction of packaging material:
The little things make a difference: We do not use plastic adhesive tapes and plastic delivery note bags but only well-recyclable paper-based materials. We get 90% of our inner packaging from Piel Wohnen und Schenken in Meckenheim. This inner packaging for glass and porcelain is absolutely clean and by using it a second time we achieve at least a halving of waste. The same applies to sturdy, clean cardboard boxes that are matched to the size of the goods and pallets that are reused. Precise descriptions in our web store and good advice mean that it is extremely rare for incorrect orders to be placed, resulting in additional packaging and transport activities.
Reduction of paper consumption:
By using modern software, we now avoid more than 70% of the previous paper consumption. Due to the permanent further development of digitalization at Kitotec GmbH, this value is constantly improved. Even though it has been criticized from time to time, we have refrained from producing catalogs and brochures for many years. This has completely eliminated the consumption of many tons of paper as well as ink, chemicals and proportional emissions from mailing catalogs.
Emissions caused by waste and its transport:
The reuse of packaging has led to the pleasing circumstance that we now only have to put our paper (240 liter), plastic (240 liter) and residual waste (120 liter) garbage cans out for collection once a month, and in most cases they are no longer even completely full. We attach great importance to ensuring that everything from individual batteries to machines is disposed of properly and fed into the recycling loop. Twice a year, the carefully separated materials are transported to the appropriate disposal companies in the vicinity.
Emissions from the production and transport of parts:
Our exclusive supplier for all parts made of steel, aluminum and plastics produces on state-of-the-art, energy-saving machining centers. In addition to energy-saving measures such as LED lighting, the waste heat from machines and equipment is fed into the heating system during production, thereby reducing emissions. When purchasing our materials, we pay attention to sensible planning in order to avoid unnecessary transport and packaging materials..
Recycling of our equipment:
The design of our equipment is such that it can be easily and quickly dismantled again at any time and the individual components can be fed into the recycling circuit. The construction is basically designed to be able to repair devices even after many years of use. As a matter of principle, we take back equipment supplied by us for proper disposal. Should we determine during the inspection of the goods that they can still be repaired and that this also makes economic sense, our customers will always receive a message from us regarding this. In this way, we would like to avoid unnecessary waste and the waste of resources.
ISO 14001:2015 Certification:
In order to provide an organizational structure for our efforts to work more sustainably, we successfully achieved DIN ISO 14001:2015 certification in 2020 and are constantly developing this further.
