Consistently sustainable – EUROGLAS is a TOP 100 innovative company

[Advertorial] EUROGLAS, a specialist in glass packaging, is demonstrating what the future of the packaging industry can look like. The second-generation family-run company has been awarded with the title of TOP 100 Innovative Company 2023 for its pioneering and original ideas in sustainability and innovation management. Managing directors Christoph and Johannes Jäckle are adjusting the levers within the company and its products to shape the packaging market of tomorrow.

“We think outside the box, consciously change our perspectives. We are constantly searching for ideas and innovations, also from completely different industries, to apply them in our environment”, says CEO Christoph Jäckle. “We are proud to rank among the TOP 100 most innovative companies!” The company underwent a comprehensive innovation analysis by experts from business and science, evaluating the innovation climate, innovative processes and organization, innovation-promoting top management, as well as external orientation and overall innovation success.

Climate neutrality in the company

“All change starts with yourself,” say the managing directors, focusing on their immediate impact: The company’s facility generates more electricity than it consumes, and its general energy demand has been reduced to a minimum by building in only latest technologies. Since 2020, the company has been working climate neutrally. EUROGLAS has also introduced a paperless office and fixed home-office days for the implementation of the internal sustainability campaign.

“In our management, we have set the goals for the innovation projects and are monitoring the progress. We also delegate a lot of responsibility to our employees in innovation project teams. These were some of the aspects that we had to confirm for the innovation title,” says Jäckle.

We give something back to the world – climate-neutral glass packaging

Christoph and Johannes Jäckle not only optimize their own company processes, but also offer customers low-threshold options for a climate-friendly packaging concept. The company aims to be a role model for customers as well as the industry itself, in terms of emission reduction and compensation, motivating them to take action.

In 2017, EUROGLAS introduced the “Kleine Halbe” (little pint), a 0.33-liter returnable beverage bottle that performs a weight reduction of closely 25 percent. This reduces not only energy consumption and prevents waste of resources in the manufacturing process, but also within the downstream value chain. By deliberately choosing manufacturing partners in central locations in Germany and their proximity to each other, unnecessary transport routes and costs, thus logistics emissions, can be avoided.

Following this, EUROGLAS took another step towards future packaging concepts with the weight-reduced and climate-neutral bottle series Ecolution, which the company introduced in 2022. The technical optimized oil bottles are produced in an advanced manufacturing process and are up to 40 percent lighter than comparable standard models. Part of the production- cost-savings are obligatory used to finance the climate-neutrality. The reduction in weight and smaller dimensions leads to lower transport and shipping costs at all stages.

The clue: the bottles remain the same diameter as the market standards, only the containers height is reduced. Thus, fillers do not have to invest in new tooling or labels. Due to the weight savings, again emissions and costs are lower all down the value chain. Also recycling fees re. waste levy for the consumers are cut, which marks a final plus at the end of the life cycle. All products are manufactured in Germany, which, in addition to short transport routes, means preserving value creation within the country. “With our Ecolution flagship project, we demonstrate that optimization to packaging not only serves technical and economic aspects, but can and should always addressed sustainability goals at the same time”, says Christoph Jäckle.

EUROGLAS utilized their expertise in CO2- footprint assessment and -compensation from these projects to develop their concept of the climate-neutral glass bottle, which was launched at the end of 2022. Customers can easily and transparently assess the impact of all offered glass containers through an emission-calculator on the company’s website. The online calculator developed by EUROGLAS in partnership with Fokus Zukunft is connected to the product master data on the website. Users can calculate the CO2 emissions per pallet, delivery, or year for every single item offered on the catalogue. The calculator also shows accruing costs for voluntary compensation.

EUROGLAS provides a professional and user-friendly platform that includes detailed explanations of the used calculation mechanism, the climate projects utilized by the company as well as general FAQs on sustainability (based at United Nations Sustainable Development Goals). This platform enables both B2B and B2C users to understand the mechanisms of the system and to integrate them into their own communication if wished.

“To lead the way means to be willing to accept our own deficits and imperfections and take over responsibility for these”, say Christoph and Johannes Jäckle, who took over the family business in 2010.

TOP 100 Award 2023

EUROGLAS is recognized as a driving force of innovation in the glass industry, as evidenced by the recent award of the TOP 100 Innovative Company 2023.

For 30 years, the TOP 100 seal has been a symbol of innovation for small and medium-sized enterprises in Germany. The jury, consisting of experts from science, business, media, and politics, including Dorothee Bär, MdB CSU, Achim Berg, Bitkom, Prof. Dr. h. c. Berger, and others, assess the innovation potential of the applicants. The top innovators are selected based on a comprehensive and independent analysis of their innovation capacity.

More information.

“At EUROGLAS, our focus is on quality and sustainability, rather than only quantitative objectives. We always keep an eye on the latest trends and developments. Nothing is more constant than change, and our progressive and agile corporate structure helps us actively shaping this change”, said the CEO.

About us | EUROGLAS

EUROGLAS is a family-owned business with a strong profile, a corporate philosophy that has been successfully developed over two generations, and more than three decades of established relationships with leading packaging manufacturers throughout Europe. Christoph and Johannes Jäckle, who took over the company from their father in 2010, are driving EUROGLAS forward with energy and dynamism. The 2020 built new office with over 800m² workspace, constant investments in personnel, digital infrastructure and innovation are a clear commitment to the future.

For more information about the EUROGLAS brothers, please refer to the following resources: https://www.euroglas.de/en/our-story/

Source/Image source: EUROGLAS Verpackungsgesellschaft m.b.H.