IDM ¦ Interview
Climate neutrality and
animal welfare
Gropper sets a new standard
Gropper, an owner-managed
German dairy, has made a
name for itself by producing
the first climate-neutral
fresh milk in the country.
This product also bears the animal welfare
label of the German Animal Welfare Association,
guaranteeing an especially high
standard of animal welfare. IDM asked
Wolfgang Hoff, Managing Director –
Export/Marketing/Sales how the idea
became reality.
IDM: Does “climate-neutral” refer to the
entire product, from milk production to
processing to retail? Or only to one aspect?
Hoff: Our climate neutrality approach for
milk is product-related and is based on the
calculated CO2 footprint (product carbon
footprint) along the life cycle of the milk,
up to the customer's central warehouse.
IDM: CO2 emissions are inevitable in the
value chain. How do you deal with these,
and how high are they in Gropper's case?
Hoff: To begin with, our credo in this context
is: calculate, avoid, reduce and compensate
for unavoidable emissions. We try
hard to avoid emissions wherever possible.
One of the actions implemented by Gropper
in order to compensate for unavoidable
CO2 emissions is to support regional
climate-protection projects, among other
things. Over the years, we have managed
to greatly reduce CO2 emissions through
various measures and thus make a considerable
contribution to climate protection.
Our rieser URWASSER mineral water
brand and parts of our liquid milk business
are already climate neutral.
IDM: Was the packaging chosen specifically
to reduce the CO2 footprint?
Hoff: With our PET bottle, we see ourselves
as industry pioneers. It is made of
50 percent PET. With rieser URWASSER, it
is already 100 percent – so no more new
plastic is discharged into the biosphere.
In the meantime, we have been able to
switch many of our products to a new
PET bottle: instead of 26 grammes, the
new bottle weighs only 23 grammes and
is currently the lightest of its kind on the
market. This saves 500 tonnes of plastic
per year. The Gropper dairy also welcomes
the deposit for PET bottles for juice and
milk (as planned by the German government).
In addition, we have replaced the
lid of some coffee drinks with a new type
of drink lid plate. This means a plastic saving
of one third.
In addition, the Gropper dairy was honoured
with the German Packaging Award
in 2020. The award-winning new material
is a recyclable sleeve packaging. It enables
(photo: Gropper)
12 · May/June 2021 ¦ international-dairy.com
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