Independence from fossil resources has become a hot topic
Germany is facing the challenges of rising energy and raw material prices, fragile supply chains and new threats to national security. Attention is turning to issues that have not made it onto the political agenda for some time. They include the transition to renewable energies and the circular economy as a model for the future. All at once they are no longer perceived as strictly “green” environmental issues, but rather as the strategic foundation for safeguarding national security and economic independence. A news item in the ZDF heute Nachrichten on 16 April (Betriebe: Erneuerbare statt fossiler Energien) reported on two Rhineland-Palatinate companies that have successfully transformed their business models, one of which is the cleaning products manufacturer Werner & Mertz with its Frosch brand.
Taking a page from Nature, Frosch has established effective cycles since its founding in 1986. The brand relies on plant-based ingredients and renewable resources and does without petroleum. Packaging too is sustainable. The bottles are made of used plastic with increasingly more material obtained from the Yellow Bag. To date, the company has put more than one billion bottles of 100 percent used plastic on the market—a milestone! This year the brand celebrates its 40th birthday.
During the current crisis, the company benefits from following this path to independence from fossil sources. “Of course we are subject to the mixed costs calculations of our suppliers, who have higher expenses for our plant-based raw materials too. But the effect for us is significantly smaller. This shows that when a company makes a timely switch to renewable raw materials, plant-based ingredients and recycling, it does not suffer as much from price shock,” says Werner & Mertz owner Reinhard Schneider.
Professor Klaus Helling, sustainability expert at Umwelt-Campus Birkenfeld, said in the same ZDF broadcast: “As a matter of fact, we are in a good position as far as the energy transformation and circular economy are concerned. However, we have to make it more widespread and the government has to create the conditions for that to happen.”
