Strong partnership for the circular economy
Strong partnership for the circular economy
March 30, 2023: Landbell AG joins Source One GmbH with a 25.1 percent stake.
Uwe Echteler, Member of the Executive Board of Landbell AG and COO of the DACH region, and Kai Hoyer, Owner and Managing Director of Source One GmbH, signed the shareholder agreement on March 29, 2023. The operator of takeback and collection schemes and the operational consulting company for all sustainability issues are thus creating further circular economy synergies. The concrete aim of the cooperation is to drive forward the closed-loop recycling of post-consumer packaging.
Sustainable and customised: customer-specific recycling options
Landbell Group and Source One are specifically deepening their existing partnership at pre-defined points of intersection. For both companies, the link under company law is a logical consequence of the trusting cooperation to date and paves the way for innovative projects. The focus of the joint activities is on using innovative technologies to recycle post-consumer waste that is difficult to recycle and to expand the global infrastructure for this purpose. In this way, the two companies are responding to the steadily increasing demand for high-quality recyclates and addressing customers' individual needs.
Closed-loop systems: well-positioned together
"In Source One, we have a dynamic and creative partner whose wealth of innovation excites us," says Uwe Echteler, who will now also be active as managing director of Source One. "Together, we can serve the markets flexibly and securely with circular economy solutions."
Kai Hoyer also expects sustainable positive effects from the cooperation: "Our common core concern is the conservation of resources. Landbell Group is therefore the perfect partner for us to create further synergies for the circular economy. We will jointly close and optimise product cycles."
Contact
Dr. Raffaela David
Head of Marketing & PR
E-Mail: r.david@landbellgroup.com
Phone: +49 152 56 405 723
Landbell Group closes the loop for plastic food packaging
Landbell Group closes the loop for plastic food packaging
In an innovative recycling project, Landbell Group, together with its partners SABIC and Mars, has closed the loop for plastic food packaging
Mainz, 19 October 2022 - In a groundbreaking joint initiative involving leading companies from various industries, Landbell Group has achieved a breakthrough in the high-quality recycling of plastic food packaging. At the end of 2020, the Mainz-based environmental compliance specialist joined forces with SABIC, an innovative chemical company, and Mars, a global manufacturer of confectionery, food and pet food, in a pioneering recycling project. The goal: to turn hard-to-recycle plastic packaging from households - which can only be incinerated or recycled into low quality material by mechanical recycling - into food packaging through chemical recycling, thus closing this challenging loop in a high-quality way. After more than 20 months of intensive collaborative work, the partners have announced that the project is complete: in the coming weeks, Mars will use recycled packaging material collected by Landbell Group and processed by SABIC into certified polypropylene (PP) in the packaging of its snack bar brand, KIND®.
The certified food-grade recyclate is obtained by recycling low-grade, used mixed plastics from packaging waste. A pyrolysis process allows the used mixed plastic to be recycled at molecular level. In this technology, the plastic is heated to very high temperatures in an oxygen-free environment and broken down, producing pyrolysis oil. SABIC uses this pyrolysis oil like a fossil raw material, which makes it possible to create new packaging and products that meet the strictest quality requirements, such as certain hygiene standards for food packaging.
“Mixed used plastic from flexible consumer packaging is difficult to sort and recycle mechanically,” adds Uwe Echteler, Chief Operating Officer for Landbell Group. “However, as demonstrated in this closed-loop project, we can facilitate effective advanced recycling solutions that allow plastics and packaging manufacturers, as well as OEMs and brand owners, to reclaim and benefit from the value of mixed used plastics while at the same time reducing fossil depletion and enhancing their carbon footprint.”
“We are very excited about this pioneering closed-loop recycling project that demonstrates the feasibility and speed of implementing circular plastic innovations when leading actors from across the entire value chain are closely collaborating,” says Lada Kurelec, General Manager PP, PET, PS, PVC, PU & Elastomers Businesses for Petrochemicals at SABIC. “Used flexible packaging has a high feedstock value for new materials, and our TRUCIRCLE polymers and services form an instrumental element in tapping this vast potential.”
The new mono-material packaging solution continues the partners’ efforts to support a circular economy by incorporating advanced recycled content in healthy snack bar packaging.
“At Mars, we want to contribute to a circular economy where packaging material never becomes waste, but is recycled, reused or composted. For this to happen, we need new solutions and infrastructure to change the recycling landscape and to compliment mechanical recycling,” adds Barry Parkin, Chief Procurement & Sustainability Officer at Mars. “Today marks another important step in accelerating our sustainable packaging journey and in our collaboration with partners like SABIC that are enabling new opportunities to provide consumers with packaging designed for circularity.”
Contact
Dr. Raffaela David
Head of Marketing & PR
E-Mail: r.david@landbellgroup.com
Phone: +49 152 56 405 723
Voltfang wins Green Alley Award
The company convinced the jury with its electricity storage system made from reused electric car batteries and triumphed over five other finalists in a live pitch competition on April 28th.
Berlin, April 29, 2022. The winner of the Green Alley Award 2022, Europe’s first start-up prize for the circular economy, is Voltfang from Germany. The start-up's winning idea: Extending the lifecycle of batteries from electric vehicles. Their green electricity storage system uses only second life batteries from electric cars. In this way, the Voltfang system can store excess energy from solar panels and provide clean energy to companies and private households.
Jan Patrick Schulz, CEO of Landbell Group and creator of the award, is very satisfied with this year's winner: “Voltfang addresses a vital topic for the circular economy. The number of electric cars on our roads will increase to 30 million by 2030 according to EU plans and so will the amount of waste batteries from these cars. What convinced us about Voltfang's business idea was that they not only specialize in making the best out of these used batteries but also contribute to closing the gap in our renewable energy transition,” said Schulz. “With the Green Alley Award, we put a spotlight on circular start-ups like Voltfang that can make a decisive contribution to our fight against climate change.”
David Oudsandij, co-founder and CFO of Voltfang is happy about the award and explains how the start-up will use the prize money of 25,000 euros: “We need sustainable storage solutions like our Voltfang electricity storage system to achieve the energy transition. This is the only way we can conserve resources, reduce dependence from abroad and save one or the other battery from going to waste. Therefore, we will use the prize money to commercialise our product, create more impact and enable a future worth living.”
The Green Alley Award is the first European start-up award for the circular economy. Since 2014, Landbell Group has rewarded young companies whose solutions help to use less finite resources and reduce waste.
“We are very pleased that we are once again able to present a strong winner with Voltfang this year,“ said Jan Patrick Schulz. “With its convincing business model for a circular battery economy, Voltfang can really make a difference for the circular economy”
For more information, read the press release here.
Berlin, April 29, 2022. Der Gewinner des Green Alley Awards 2022, Europas erstem Start-Up-Preis der Circular Economy ist Voltfang aus Deutschland. Die Geschäftsidee des Start-Ups: Ihr nachhaltiges Speichersystem verwendet ausschließlich gebrauchte Batterien aus Elektroautos. Auf diese Weise kann das Voltfang-System überschüssige Energie aus Sonnenkollektoren speichern und saubere Energie für Unternehmen bereitstellen.
Jan Patrick Schulz, CEO der Landbell Group und Initiator des Awards, ist sehr zufrieden mit dem diesjährigen Gewinner: „Voltfang greift ein wichtiges Thema für die Kreislaufwirtschaft auf. Die Zahl der Elektroautos auf unseren Straßen wird nach den Plänen der EU bis 2030 auf 30 Millionen ansteigen und damit auch die Menge der Altbatterien aus diesen Autos. Was uns an der Geschäftsidee von Voltfang überzeugt hat, ist die Tatsache, dass sie sich nicht nur darauf spezialisiert haben, das Beste aus diesen Altbatterien zu machen, sondern auch dazu beitragen, die Ökostrom-Lücke im Rahmen unserer Energiewende zu schließen. Das Startup macht sich die Tatsache zunutze, dass Lithium-Ionen-Batterien nach dem Auswechseln aus Elektroautos noch viel Saft haben. Auf diese Weise wird der Lebenszyklus von Altbatterien verlängert und bereits produzierte Energie verfügbar gemacht, wann immer sie gebraucht wird“.
David Oudsandij, Mitgründer und CFO of Voltfang, freut sich über die Auszeichnung und erklärt, wie das Start-Up das Preisgeld von 25.000 Euro verwenden wird: „Wir sind begeistert, diese Auszeichnung zu erhalten. Wir befinden uns jetzt in einer kritischen Phase der Erderwärmung; jede Sekunde zählt. Wir brauchen nachhaltige Speicherlösungen wie unseren Voltfang-Stromspeicher, um die Energiewende zu schaffen. Nur so können wir Ressourcen schonen, die Abhängigkeit aus dem Ausland reduzieren und so manche Batterie vor dem Abfall retten. Daher werden wir das Preisgeld nutzen, um unser Produkt zu kommerzialisieren, mehr Wirkung zu erzielen und eine lebenswerte Zukunft zu ermöglichen.“
Der Green Alley Award ist der erste europäische Start-Up Preis für die Kreislaufwirtschaft. Seit 2014 zeichnet die Landbell Group zusammen mit PartnerInnen der Branche junge GründerInnen aus, die sich für eine Circular Economy in Europa engagieren und fördert damit bahnbrechende Lösungen in den Bereichen Digital Circular Economy, Recycling und Abfallvermeidung.
"Mit dem Green Alley Award stellen wir Kreislaufwirtschafts-Start-Ups wie Voltfang ins Rampenlicht, die einen entscheidenden Beitrag zum Kampf gegen den Klimawandel leisten können“, so Jan Patrick Schulz.
Mehr Informationen können Sie hier in der Pressemitteilung lesen.
New Landbell Group branding
From today, we have a new logo for Landbell Deutschland, Landbell Group and five of our companies:
We’ve done this to make it even clearer that we all belong to the same group of companies: We are one joined-up business that you can turn to for all your company’s environmental and chemical compliance needs.
Now, all our companies’ logos are linked by one common symbol, a square with arrows. This illustrates the circular principle and our platform for EPR worldwide.
The different colours show the full spectrum of what we offer: LANDBELL GROUP’s comprehensive core services – compliance, consulting and software – help companies to meet all their EPR obligations around the world:
- Our companies operating compliance schemes, like ERP internationally and Landbell Deutschland in Germany, have a red logo
- Our companies providing consulting services, like Landbell H2 Compliance, have a dark blue colour
- Our IT company Landbell Software (formerly Prodigentia) keeps its light blue colour, and
- Our company providing a mix of complementary services (compliance and consulting) has a light green colour, that’s Landbell DS Entsorgung
You won’t notice any changes in your day-to-day dealings with the Landbell Group people you already know and trust.
However, if you need to:
- join a compliance scheme or
- talk to one of our consultants about managing EPR and takeback globally or
- bring in a software solution to strip away complexity and cost
Then, one of our 400-strong network of people from our group of companies can help. Please feel free to contact us. We would be delighted to present our services and capabilities, who we are and what we offer in more detail.
You just received a notice from the Central Agency to submit a Declaration of Completeness and need a reliable and fast support?
You just received a notice from the Central Agency to submit a Declaration of Completeness and need a reliable and fast support?
Your company is obliged to submit a Declaration of Completeness if its packaging quantities put in 2021 on the German market reached the below volumes thresholds:
- ≥ 80 tons Glass and/or
- ≥ 50 tons Paper and/or
- ≥ 30 tons Light Weight Packaging (ferrous metals + Aluminium + Plastics + Beverage carton + other composites)
The Declaration of Completeness must be audited and confirmed by a registered expert, or by a registered auditor, tax adviser or sworn accountant.
We recommend you to act quickly as the Authorities might apply a fine up to 100,000 € in case of non-submission of the Declaration of Completeness.
Deadline for the submission in LUCID: no later than 15 May 2022
Our services include:
- Audit through a partner auditor with a preferred rate
- Assistance for data preparation
- Support by entering all required data in the LUCID portal
- Support in the communication with the auditor
For a quick assistance, please send us an email at vertriebausland@landbell.de
Big deadlines ahead for online marketplaces in Germany
Don’t get caught out by new obligations for packaging and electronic goods
Online marketplaces and fulfillment service providers operating in Germany will soon be subject to new extended producer responsibility obligations for packaging and electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) that they place on the market.
For packaging, the new obligations are based on the recently amended Packaging Law: operators of electronic marketplaces must not offer packaged products if the sellers of these products do not comply with their legal obligations. Seller of products on the marketplaces must therefore be registered as manufacturers/distributors of packaging with the Stiftung Zentrale Stelle Verpackungsregister (“ZSVR”) and license the packaging with a compliance scheme.
In addition, fulfillment service providers are not allowed to carry out any activities, such as storing, packaging or dispatching goods, for manufacturers without proper registration with the competent authority and/or appropriate licencing of the packaging of products.
Violations of these requirements can be punished with a fine of up to 200,000 euros. The regulations will take effect from 1 July 2022, and apply to both product and shipping packaging. With these regulations, each individual marketplace participant/user of fulfillment services will be held accountable. In addition, the marketplace operator/fulfilment service provider itself must demonstrably document that it is complying with the legal requirements.
Similar regulations will come into force on 1 January 2023 for the placing on the market of EEE. Operators of electronic marketplaces must not offer this equipment – and fulfilment service providers must not carry out warehousing, packaging, addressing, or shipping – if the manufacturer of this equipment is not properly registered. Again, non-compliance could result in fines of up to 100,000 euros.
As an operator of compliance schemes for both packaging and EEE, Landbell Group provides marketplace operators with a simple and unique solution for ensuring compliance with the above regulations. Please contact us for more information and support.
German WEEE law amended
New obligations for online retailers, online marketplace operators and fulfillment service providers
According to the Global E-Waste Monitor 2020, a total of 53.6 million tons of e-waste was generated worldwide in 2019. Germany accounted for around 1.6 million tons of this amount. On average, each inhabitant in Germany therefore disposed of 19.4 kg of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) in 2019.
Electrical appliances such as refrigerators, televisions or toasters contain valuable raw materials that can be put to good use again through appropriate recycling. However, the appliances also contain harmful components for which special disposal by a specialist is required.
Achieving a high collection and recycling rate – and returning these raw materials into the production cycle – is one of the central objectives of the German WEEE law (ElektroG).
After the ElektroG was last amended in October 2015 to “ElektroG2”, a new amendment is now pending with effect from 1st January 2022, this time to “ElektroG3”.
With the amendment, online retailers, online marketplace operators, fulfillment service providers and food retailers will have obligations which will also expand the collection and take-back network in Germany.
The legislator has also revised the legal framework for manufacturers of electrical and electronic equipment.
Landbell Group company, ERP Germany has summarized the main changes are for you here (in German and English).
Meet us at the E-Waste World Conference & Expo
Come and meet us at Stand 114 from 30 November to 1 December at the Exhibition Centre in Frankfurt, Germany
The third edition of the E-Waste World Conference & Expo is expected to see more than 80 exhibitors and more than 1,000 participants from politics, business and science who will discuss current topics related to the collection and recycling of WEEE.
Among the 140 speakers at the conference is Wojtek Swietochowski, Head of Global Sales at Landbell Group. Wojtek will give one of the keynote presentations on “Sustainability and Producer Responsibility Organizations” as part of the “Green & Sustainable Electronics” category on the first conference day.
Landbell Group will also have Stand 114 in the exhibition hall to discuss e-waste with visitors.
Topics of the event include recycling and material recovery technologies, green electronics, sustainable materials, non-toxic substitutes, end-of-life strategies, and regulatory and business models.
Register for the event here.
800 attendees, one goal: a plastic free world
Landbell Group to speak at biggest conference on reducing plastic waste
On 10-11 November 2021, the 2nd Plastic Free World Conference & Expo will take place in Cologne, Germany. The event is directed at companies that want to reduce their plastic consumption, use more bio-based materials and build a true circular economy along their supply chain.
This year, more than 200 international speakers and over 800 attendees will come together to discuss the latest business models, strategies, material innovations and technologies that can help reduce plastic waste.
The event will provide an opportunity to discuss this topic with leading global experts from a wide range of industries. Landbell Group will also be represented.
On 10th November at 9 am, Wojciech Swietochowski, Head of Global Sales at Landbell Group, will give a presentation on the “German Packaging Act vs. Importance of Extended Producer Responsibility”. Among other topics, he will address the contribution that the German Packaging Act can make to optimizing packaging design and to building a circular economy.
To participate in the event, please register here.
Have you met Hermit Leer?
New campaign in Austria to raise awareness among consumers to properly dispose of waste portable batteries
Have you met Hermit Leer? Hermit plays the main role in a new information campaign in Austria. The campaign was launched on 19 July by ERP Austria together with the Austrian Ministry for Climate Protection and other partners from the public and trade sector, as well as a battery manufacturer.
The campaign is all about Hermit, a battery, and his “empty” friends who probably all of us have at home. Batteries contain many valuable raw materials that can be reused if recycled properly. In addition, the incorrect storage or disposal of lithium batteries can lead to fire hazards – both at home and during waste management operations.
While Austria met the required 45% collection rate for waste portable batteries last year with 48%, the target was only just met in 2019 with 45%. The campaign is therefore designed to help increase the collection rate even more in the future.
The two-year campaign includes newspaper articles, radio advertising and social media campaigns, as well as collection boxes for waste batteries in major stores.
Visit the campaign’s website here.