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With every LITTLE STEP…

Whether it’s extending the lifespan of products or repurposing their reusable components, it all adds up in terms of becoming more sustainable. ‘Too good to throw away’ is the mantra of German writing instruments vendor edding. Head of CR Coordination Patricia Siebel explains.

OPI: Plastic is a huge environmental culprit. But for a writing instruments manufacturer like edding, it’s difficult to address the issue as plastic is such a core part of the end product. How do you deal with this?

Patricia Siebel: Looking at processes, we always strive to replace virgin with recycled materials. We, for example, are already using post-consumer plastics and renewable resources for the production of our EcoLine which has been climate neutral since 2009.

And we are always trying to prolong the lifespan of our products. We offer refill units for around 70% of all edding markers. Refilling prevents waste and helps conserve raw materials such as plastic and aluminium.

We are always looking to prolong the lifespan of our products

OPI: What about the product’s ‘afterlife’ – what are the options for single-use or end-of-life refillable pens?

PS: A high percentage of the components can be recycled and used again to make high-quality goods such as those in the edding EcoLine. This is where our return boxes for empty and worn out markers and writing instruments come in.

These boxes can be ordered directly from edding – both the box and the return service are free of charge for users. Returned, full boxes are sorted in a workshop and then forwarded to our recycling partners that deal with the different materials. In total, we have about 73% recycled plastic, 4% aluminium and 8% other metal. Typically, about 15% of non-recyclable waste remains, which is sent away for thermal treatment.

Patricia Siebel, Head of CR Coordination, edding

OPI: Is the return box specifically for edding writing instruments?

PS: No, it’s not. This project is about saving scarce resources and virgin material, so pens and markers from other vendors can also be added to the box.

OPI: What uptake have you seen for the return box?

PS: We initially introduced it in Germany back in 2013. As such, the largest numbers of returns certainly come from our own backyard. The European rollout started about a year ago. We can’t as yet report specific results from other countries as the process of filling the boxes, returning and then dealing with them takes a while.

OPI: Have you encountered any specific challenges along the way?

PS: One major challenge has been to organise the return transport of the boxes within Europe. Before we decided to have them sent back to Germany from other nations, we looked into the issue of ‘waste tourism’, conscious that the recycling benefits must outweigh any increased emissions resulting from longer transportation journeys. We found, thankfully, that the balance is still very much tipped in favour of the positives.

The returns so far do not cover the quantities needed for our complete EcoLine production, but we’re seeing momentum building and are confident quantities will grow as sustainability moves further up the agenda and the concept gains greater acceptance. Even small steps can lead to the ultimate goal of becoming completely carbon neutral by 2025.