Forests are habitats for many plant and animal species and a valuable resource that protects the climate, soil and ground­water. For the manufacture of paper from wood pulp, these resources are finite. The necessity of using paper is therefore questioned in principle. However, we cannot completely do without paper as a material for conveying infor­mation. After all, paper still plays an important role in customer commu­ni­ca­tions, for example in the form of catalogues or adver­tising material. Against this backdrop, we are consis­tently reducing our paper consumption and simul­ta­ne­ously increasing the proportion of environ­men­tally friendly paper qualities.

We obtain the paper used in our office and customer commu­ni­ca­tions from respon­sible sources. For our internal consumption we use paper that is Blue Angel (recycled paper) or Forest Stewardship Council (FSC®) certified or awarded the EU Ecolabel. Since 2012 we have also printed magazines and catalogues in Germany, Austria and Switzerland on FSC®-certified paper. At the national subsidiaries in the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 2013 and in Turkey, Poland and Hungary, this switch was made in 2014 .