Holzindustrie Schweighofer enhances its commitment to sustainability with new Environmental Policy
Holzindustrie Schweighofer, one Europe’s leading wood processing companies, has implemented a new environmental policy.
By launching this new internal guideline, the company commits to pursuing ambitious environmental management goals. Respect for the environment, one of the company’s core principles, shall thus be further strengthened as an integral aspect of our economic activity.
The revised environmental policy comprises the following goals:
- a target of buying exclusively certified wood material by 2025 and publicly reporting progress against this target annually (sourcing policy);
- full compliance with national and international environmental requirements with the objective of exceeding the requirements, thus moving towards a higher level of environmental protection;
- contributing to protecting biodiversity and actively engaging in forest restoration actions;
- a target of a 30% reduction in electrical and thermal energy by 2025; • a target of a 25% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2025;
- minimizing the volume of waste generated by our operations;
- maximizing the re-use of waste;
- ensuring the most environmentally friendly treatment and disposal of each type of waste;
- intensifying dialogue with stakeholders and employees to ensure and achieve our environmental objectives and goals through continuous improvement.
Ambitious goals for climate protection and energy efficiency
Michael Proschek-Hauptmann, Head of Sustainability and Compliance at Holzindustrie Schweighofer: “We have decided on very ambitious targets, especially concerning the fields of climate protection and energy efficiency, because our mills are already equipped with state of the art technology. The new environmental policy should also have a strong internal effect and should motivate our employees to act in line with the goals we have defined. In addition to measures that can be implemented relatively quickly such as the increased use of energy-saving LED lamps or the use of electric forklifts in the medium- to long-run, we will also focus on the optimization of internal processes. These measures will be complimented by special trainings and awareness raising initiatives for our employees.”
Holzindustrie Schweighofer has been successfully using GPS technology to secure its supply chain for more than a year now (www.timflow.com). "We now also want to make greater use of GPS technology for our internal procedures to further improve the logistics within the mills. This will enable us to significantly reduce the fuel consumption of our fleet as is already the case in our mills in Kodersdorf and Radauti, where this technology has already been implemented”, says Michael Proschek-Hauptmann.
To achieve the stipulated goals, the company aims to implement fully certified environmental management systems (according to ISO°14001:2015) for all plants by 2022 at the latest. The new environmental policy will be reviewed annually and its progress of implementation will be publicly reported each year.
Comprehensive action plan for a sustainable timber industry in Romania
Already in January 2017, the company implemented a comprehensive action plan to promote a sustainable timber industry in Romania. The measures in this action plan go far beyond the requirements of the Romanian legislation.
Michael Proschek-Hauptmann: "A sustainably managed forest and an overall intact environment are essential for society as a whole and of course for our company. Through the responsible use of our resource wood we aim to become an integral part of a circular economy and to assume this responsibility even more than in the past.”
