Sustainability

We understand sustainability as a development that corresponds to our time and at the same time secures the basis of life for future generations.

slide-header-img Sustainability

Trilogy

Economics
Ecology
Social

Zitat von Dr. Rainer Mangold
A viable corporate strategy for the future is based on sustainability. Environmentally and socially compatible value creation and associated profitable growth require a systematic approach and transparency. Dr. Rainer Mangold

Our sustainability vision

Being successful together. Growing together.

Sustainable hygiene and health products at a fair price – that’s what we want to make possible by supporting the clear goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and achieving climate neutrality by 2050 at the latest. In addition, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the UN Agenda 2030 serve as important guidelines for our economic activities.

Even before acting ecologically to protect the environment and climate, we as a company also bear a social responsibility for employees, partners and customers along our entire value chain and beyond.
Although we are not yet perfect in all areas, we have a clear motivation to get a little better every day.

The following graphic visualizes our strategy to achieve these goals.

Our sustainability efforts are guided by the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The Paris Agreement has the ambitious goal of limiting climate change to 1.5 degrees Celsius in terms of global warming. To achieve this, greenhouse gases and CO2 emissions must be reduced as far as possible in order to achieve a climate-neutral world.

We achieve the goals of our sustainability strategy through defined standards and measures and by dividing our responsibility into three areas: Economy, Ecology and Social.

Economic responsibility

Governance

  • Long-term, value-oriented corporate strategy
    A solid basis for all our activities lies in the economic success of the CMC Group and is reflected in our corporate values regarding a high customer and performance orientation as well as a passionate, agile team.
  • Fair business practice
    We operate in accordance with applicable law and international laws and standards of conduct, including anti-corruption measures, whistleblower mechanisms and responsible marketing.

Ecological responsibility: Sustainable value creation & climate neutrality

Product and packaging design, production processes and logistics

Our vision is to minimize negative environmental impacts. Our R&D managers, our plants, and our supply chain and logistics departments therefore work for continuous improvement in terms of:

  • Renewable and biodegradable raw materials
    We have switched our cotton swabs, which used to contain over 80% plastic, to 100% biodegradable cotton and FSC paper in terms of product and packaging specifications.
  • Resource efficiency: material savings and minimization of production waste
    We now reuse about 6,000 tons of our die-cutting grids from cotton pads 100% in the production process after appropriate reprocessing.
  • Circular economy: upcycling and processing of recyclate
    All our packaging have mono materials with high recyclability and we use up to 80% recyclate in many cosmetic packaging.
  • Environmentally and energy certified production sites: ISO 14001 and ISO 50001
    Our plants operate a systematic environmental and energy management system. Modern machinery ensures energy efficiency and meets the highest safety and occupational health requirements.
  • Reduction of fossil energy sources and CO2 emissions
    At the company headquarters, we have already been able to use over 80% of our electricity generated via our photovoltaic system ourselves over the past three years.

Social responsibility

Human rights, diversity and inclusion

We have a common understanding throughout the company with regard to the following principles:

Human Rights

Across our supply chains, we stand for the protection of human rights and distance ourselves from all forms of forced labor, child labor and abuse.

Transparency

We try to be transparent about our vision and progress through certificates and internal and external communication.

Supply chain due diligence

We extend our responsibility to our supply chain and also hold our upstream suppliers, partners and sales intermediaries accountable.

Labor practices

We are committed to promoting diversity, inclusion and equal treatment and to eliminating all discrimination in the workplace. Our company ensures a healthy and safe working environment for creativity and performance.

Certified

Our sustainability efforts in the areas of economy, ecology and social affairs are certified by the following standards:

 

As a Sedex member we are committed to being a responsible business, sourcing responsibly, and improving ethical standards and working conditions within the supply chain.

Membership
Sedex / SMETA standard

amfori is the leading global business association for open and sustainable trade. Our vision is of a world where all trade delivers social, environmental and economic benefits for everyone.

Membership
amfori business association

For our products with Fairtrade Cotton Mark, all of the cotton is certified according to Fairtrade Standards, enabling Fairtrade cotton producers to benefit from fairer trading conditions and to achieve social and environmental improvements. See info.fairtrade.net/sourcing

Product seal
Fairtrade Cotton Mark

The FSC® label on our wood and paper based products or packaging materials supports responsible management of the world’s forests.

Product seal
Forest Stewardship Council®

Our vegan products can be registered with the Vegan Society‘s international Vegan Trademark (also known as the ’Vegan Flower’) and comply with the Vegan Standard established by the British Vegan Society.

Product seal
Vegan trademark

Our products with Nordic Swan Ecolabel conform to strict environmental criteria regarding both materials and manufacturing processes in use. Nordic Swan Ecolabel-certified sanitary products contribute to overall well-being by imposing stringent chemical requirements on the materials and the final products.

Product seal
Nordic Swan Ecolabel

Our sustainable cotton products meet the worldwide leading GOTS standard for organic fibres, which ensures compliance with ecological and social criteria along the entire textile supply chain.

Product seal
Global Organic Textile Standard GOTS

With the certification according to ISO 14001, we define the requirements and goals for our environmental management system.

Environmental management system
ISO 14001

With certification in accordance with ISO 50001, we document a systematic energy management system at our plant in Düren.

Energy management system
ISO 50001

Highlights

We set ambitious sustainability goals for the future and are proud to already be making a difference with concrete results and projects.

Images of plastic waste in our oceans have prompted us to rethink cotton buds, hygiene essentials that used to be typical plastic products. In this regard, plastic shafts were not only replaced by sustainable paper shafts, we even go one step further and have also changed the entire packaging concept…
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Unfortunately also in Europe, a significant share of packaging waste still ends up in landfills instead of being recycled. Therefore, it is our concern to promote a circular economy by contributing to a functioning recycling loop with our packaging design. The basis for this is the so-called "Design…
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Why should we refrain from going back to nature when it comes to cotton products? Naturalness is very much in vogue, which is why we have created natural cotton pads as a sustainability-oriented alternative to bright white bleached hygiene products with our natural cotton pads. For the absorbent cotton…
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