Climate Ambassadors and the circular economy: rethinking our products
The Greiner Climate Ambassadors took away plenty of food for thought from a workshop on the circular economy.
The Greiner Climate Ambassadors of the internal training programme "Climate Ambassador Program" have seen a lot of action in recent months: exciting workshops and also a nomination for the Austrian sustainability award TRIGOS.
Circular economy workshop with many lessons learnt
One highlight of this year's Climate Ambassador Program was the workshop with circular economy expert David Mattersdorfer on 6 June 2024. The aim of the workshop was to increase the climate ambassadors' skills in assessing the circularity of products and processes. They learnt what lies behind the word "recyclability" and how theory differs from practice. Not only the used material is relevant, but also raising consumer awareness to dispose of products correctly.
The ambassadors used three different Greiner products to develop suggestions for improvement. How can our K3 yoghurt pots, mattresses and blood collection tubes become circular? What could be improved in purchasing, production, use and disposal? How could the life cycle be extended or could the product be used differently (keyword "repurpose")? It became clear that there are many opportunities to further develop our products.
We have already presented some existing projects in our annual and sustainability report 2023. Discover our performance and more about circularity at Greiner here: Nothing beats Circularity & Innovation.
The Climate Ambassadors left the workshop with plenty of valuable insights to bring back and implement within our divisions.
About the Climate Ambassador Program
The Climate Ambassador Program enables Greiner employees from the three divisional companies Greiner Packaging, NEVEON and Greiner Bio-One to acquire sustainability knowledge and skills. It also creates a cross-divisional exchange within the company. After all, achieving the climate protection goals of the company-wide Blue Plan sustainability strategy requires advocates throughout the organisation. The program is now in its second round and the current cohort will soon be successfully completed.
