Blue Plan
OUR STRATEGY FOR A BETTER TOMORROW.
Blue Plan, for a liveable planet.
Blue Plan has been the Greiner group’s sustainability strategy since 2020 and establishes the strategic framework for our activities and efforts for a sustainable future. The Blue Plan focuses on three core areas: climate protection, circular economy and people.
Greiner Overarching Objectives
Fight climate change
We are committed to climate protection and limiting global warming to 1.5° C.
The climate crisis affects us all. At Greiner, we want to do our part in the fight against climate change. That commitment includes heavily reducing our emissions by increasing our use of renewable energy and continuously improving energy efficiency.
Create a circular business
We want to be a fully circular business by 2030.
Ensuring that resources are recycled and recirculated will be the great challenge of the decade ahead. We will tackle this challenge by doing even more as a company to create sustainable product designs. Our goal is to keep minimizing the environmental impact of our products and to optimize resource use during the production process.
Empower people
We want all our employees to be prepared for the challenges of the future by 2030.
The knowledge and skills of our employees are the key to a sustainable future. With that in mind, we will do more than ever before to invest in professional development and training, step up health and safety in the workplace, and strengthen our efforts to support diversity.
Plastic in Medicine and the Laboratory: Opportunities and Challenges
Due to its properties and range of uses, plastic is often the material of choice in medicine and the laboratory. However, environmental aspects and requirements as well as our ambitious targets present us with new tasks. The issue of the circular economy in particular presents challenges in a medical context.
Due to the areas of application as well as country-specific legal requirements, a large proportion of our products are thermally recycled after use.
These products include, for example, medical devices contaminated with potentially infectious material. The safety of the user and preventing the transmission of diseases are of paramount importance when disposing of them.
Plastic has several properties that are essential for the functionality, safety and performance of the products: shatterproof, lightweight, versatile, visually transparent or non-transparent, and many more. The use of recycled raw materials is difficult because recycled plastics often do not have these properties or meet the purity requirements to the extent required and would, for example, have a negative effect on the reliability of research results.
Despite some challenges, we see opportunities and possibilities that will help us protect our resources. Our intention is to implement activities to work towards a circular economy and, wherever possible, in cooperation with our customers. You can find out more about this in the Environment section.
