Ressources
and Recycling economy

Earth Overshoot Day – the day on which the Earth’s sustainable resources for the year are used up – is moving further and further forward on the calendar. In 2023, Earth Overshoot Day was reached as early as 2 August.

The WWF’s Living Planet Report 2022 confirms this trend and once again points to the dramatic consequences of the rapid acceleration of human impacts on nature, biodiversity and ecosystems. According to the report, our time is characterised by an enormous increase in the human population and a strong increase in economic growth. This plays a central role not only in the context of climate change. Both are associated with a gigantic consumption of energy, water and land. In an unprecedented way, the effects of human activity are leading to massive changes on planet Earth and increasingly threatening ecosystems and us. Scientists agree: without ecologically diverse and functioning ecosystems, future human development is hardly possible. The challenge of how to cover resource consumption at current levels of consumption is also becoming more acute in times of crisis. The geopolitical situation in 2022 illustrates the complexity of raw material flows and their effects in the event of disruption. The same applies to the Covid-19 pandemic, the interruption of supply routes and the effects of climate change.

More information:

• Living Planet Report 2022 (Abstract / PDF)
• Living Planet Report 2022
• How we observe planetary boundaries

We also need materials to manufacture our products: in 2023, for example, we used almost 139,000 tonnes of polypropylene. Since Jokey became involved in promoting a circular economy at an early stage, our portfolio has included packaging made from almost 100 per cent post-consumer recyclate (PCR) for over 30 years. But a truly circular economy involves more than just the use of recycled materials. It requires action at many levels and the cooperation of numerous players along the value chain. We have a clear vision of how the absolute resource demand must be covered by a functioning circular economy. Plastic offers many advantages if it is used efficiently and effectively in the long term, both quantitatively and qualitatively in value-added cycles, and ideally processed again into new products in a climate-neutral way. The full use of recycled materials alone could reduce our CO₂ emissions by up to 40 per cent. So not only are we conserving resources, we are also protecting the climate and ensuring that valuable materials remain in the cycle.

We also enter into obligations with regard to the circular economy in the Global Compact, particularly in the area of the environment and climate. Within the Jokey Eco Concept, we define specific goals for promoting a circular economy.

A wide range of measures are needed to achieve a circular economy. Through our strategic and transformative partnership with WWF Germany, we are sending a strong signal that we are working together to promote a circular economy for plastic within the planetary boundaries and actively implement projects.

360° responsibility

We take responsibility for our projects well beyond the manufacturing of our packaging along the entire value chain. We are committed to ensuring that packaging is returned to the material cycle in the interests of a functioning circular economy. In Germany and, we hope, soon all over the world. To achieve this, we rely on open dialogue with customers, partners, associations, politicians and NGOs. Together with key players, we are committed to the global promotion and further development of a holistic circular economy. We are working to support the development of waste infrastructures in the countries of our locations. And we are proactively facing up to our extended producer responsibility. We are continuously intensifying our work in networks in order to be able to play an even greater role in topics such as waste prevention, the circular economy and the protection of the oceans from plastic waste. For example, Jokey has joined forces with internationally active NGOs and initiatives such as WWF Germany, the PREVENT Waste Alliance, the Circular Plastics Alliance (CPA) and Waste Free Oceans (WFO). We are also taking measures to promote a circular economy within our own supply chain.

Dual system in Germany

Measures to promote a circular economy require a system perspective in addition to a focus on the product level. At the beginning of the 1990s, we launched the dual system in Germany with many other stakeholders. Although our recyclable material collection systems are now leading by international standards, the collected material flows can be further improved in terms of the efficiency and quality of the secondary raw materials. The more homogeneous the materials sorted in the collection systems, the more targeted they can subsequently be in the mechanical recycling cycle. Only a high-quality collection also leads to high-quality new packaging made from recyclates and thus meets our strict quality standards at Jokey.

Recycled packaging for non-food

We conducted initial trials on the use of recycled plastics as early as 1991. At that time, however, customers did not sufficiently accept our grey recyclate bucket made of PCR material. Since 2018, we have been promoting recyclate packaging again with our initiative “Grey is the new Green”. In particular, in the non-food sector, we are already using a wide range of post-consumer recyclates and implementing measures to continuously increase the proportion.

Closed loops are a promising approach

Here, raw materials are kept in strictly closed cycles. Pilot projects aimed at closed loops are currently in the test phase at our company. The idea: Used Jokey packaging is already collected where it arises, namely from commercial end users. This is how we ensure that the raw materials of this packaging are optimally recycled via our own collection system and flow back into our production processes as high-quality recyclates. To implement this concept, we are developing customised disposal and recycling concepts together with selected partners.

Resource-conserving production processes

Overall, we are gradually adapting our production processes and infrastructure for the use and processing of the targeted quantities of post-consumer recyclates (PCR) and circular raw materials. A circular economy also means ensuring that resources are used efficiently and kept in circulation during our production processes. In addition to post-consumer recyclates, we also use recycled production waste, 99 per cent of which we reuse – and have done so since our beginnings.

“Zero Pellet Loss” initiative

This group-wide initiative also aims to further increase resource efficiency and prevent material losses into the environment.

Value-added strategies for waste prevention

In addition to the best possible use of raw materials, Jokey is constantly striving to optimise the use of auxiliary and operating materials and to reduce the proportion of residual materials that are no longer needed. To this end, we have long since developed processes that ensure that waste is recycled back into raw materials as completely as possible. In this process, waste is first reduced and the remaining waste is separated according to type and sent for appropriate recycling or reuse.

Circular material management

In the coming years, we will not only require our raw materials to be recyclable. We also want to introduce circularity to all other materials and substances in order to further reduce our resource footprint.

ISCC PLUS-certified circular PP polymer

In order to find circular product solutions for the food sector in particular, we are also continuously evaluating alternative materials and processes, such as the use of renewable raw materials or the use of various recycling methods. In pilot projects with partners, we are testing the use of circular raw materials, for example from chemical recycling, for the food industry. We use ISCC Plus-certified polymers for this. These meet the strict quality requirements and hygiene standards for food packaging. However, the quantities of material available are still modest. The major efforts being invested in these processes give reason to hope that these recycling processes can be scaled up from the second half of the 2020s, even under the currently critical aspects of ecology and economy, to supplement mechanical recycling.

Versatile PP recyclates

With regard to alternative materials, we have already produced packaging for customers that includes components made from marine plastic waste (e.g. discarded fishing nets and ropes). The recyclates obtained from this are partially reintroduced into the secondary raw material formulations for our non-food packaging.

RAL quality mark for recycled plastic

Jokey is also setting a clear signal in its product portfolio with the introduction of the RAL quality mark of the “Gütegemeinschaft Rezyklate aus haushaltsnahen Wertstoffsammlungen e.V.” (Quality Association for Recyclates from Household Recycling Collections), which guarantees the use of genuine post-consumer recyclates obtained from household recycling collections (e.g. yellow sack and yellow bin).

Jokey Eco-Design Guideline

In 2023, new guidelines for our packaging were implemented throughout the Jokey Group. They are the technical basis for ensuring that our products already meet the requirements of a functioning circular economy.

Complete emptying and secondary use

In addition to key topics such as the use of circular raw materials, we also consider aspects such as complete emptying in our Eco Design. In this way, we want to improve the recycling process for plastic packaging. Another aspect is the durability of plastic. This enables our products to be reused and extends their life cycle before they are recycled.

PP monomaterial

Jokey packaging is made of polyolefins, mainly polypropylene or polyethylene. All plastics and decors used are ideally suited for material recycling and can be assigned to the most important global collection streams, where available.

Reusable packaging

In the area of service packaging, we have been offering products under the subsidiary brand KeepIn since 2023 that pursue a reusable benefit and have been developed with the technical features of reusable packaging in mind. We are continuously working on further optimising the recyclable design of our product solutions in this area, for example, with regard to cleaning. However, reusability is also a question of the system. In addition to the technical requirements for a to-go packaging material, logistical services must also be guaranteed for reusable packaging to provide real ecological benefits. An eco-certificate for reusable packaging is therefore not given simply by the fact that it can be used multiple times for the same purpose. Rather, all reusable packaging materials and systems must be tested for their individual footprint.

The Jokey Group itself does not offer a reusable system, but it has entered into strategic partnerships with system providers that specialise in innovative reusable packaging solutions for the to-go and catering delivery service sectors.

Initiatives and action days

They serve us to make the topic of recycling management and the handling of our resources tangible for our employees as well, e.g. the closed-loop projects with our partners Zentek and Remondis. These include the annual Jokey Global Clean-up Day, which has been a tradition at our German locations for many years and has been implemented at all international locations since 2022. Initiatives or campaigns by individual plants also take place here as warranted. At the Wipperfürth site, employees regularly take part in an apple collection campaign on a company-owned orchard meadow in Oberberg. In the future, such initiatives are to be expanded more widely across the group. Targeted campaigns to promote ecological resources and biodiversity are also planned here.

Jokey reusable division – protection for the climate and the environment

In 2023, we introduced our new division for reusable packaging. As part of this, we launched the Jokey subsidiary KeepIn. Its product range includes coffee cups, cups for cold drinks, matching lids for both types of cup, three different bowls and a tray. All these products meet the highest standards of food safety and sustainability. The reusable containers for food and drinks are specially designed and optimised for closed-loop systems. The technical requirements for the bowls and cups are also high. These include the lowest possible use of materials and, at the same time, a high degree of stability to enable them to be used at least 125 times. For this reason, we use innovative technologies, for example for our coffee cups. Here, a special foaming technique from Bockatech (EcoCore) enables us to produce cups that are up to 50 per cent lighter than comparable products on the market. The resulting air pockets in the material provide the cups with particularly good insulation – keeping the coffee hot and your hands cool.

The KeepIn range helps to reduce the amount of plastic packaging waste, which is increasing every year. This also correlates with the trend towards growing to-go offers in the food service sector. In light of the mandatory reusable offer introduced in Germany at the beginning of 2023 (Section 33 and Section 34 of the Packaging Act), KeepIn’s range also meets the legal requirements. In order to promote reusable solutions throughout Germany and internationally, KeepIn also entered into a strategic partnership with WWF Germany at the beginning of 2024. The aim of this cooperation is to work with the far-reaching NGO to raise awareness of the topics of waste prevention and recycling management in this area as well and to demonstrate the feasibility of the reusable revolution. The KeepIn product range is manufactured entirely at the Jokey plant in Sohland.

The advantages of KeepIn products at a glance:

Reusable: the ecological advantage increases with each use

The materials and designs in the KeepIn product range are particularly well suited to the requirements of a circular economy and sustainability. After all, the less material that has to be used, the more often a reusable container can be used, the lower the fuel costs thanks to lighter weight during transport, the shorter the transport distances, the more efficient the cleaning, and the better the recyclability at the end of the life cycle, the better for the environment and climate protection. Reusable packaging has a better environmental footprint than disposable packaging even after just ten uses*. However, in addition to the technical requirements for to-go packaging, logistical services such as distribution, sorting, cleaning and reprocessing in production quality with as many cycles as possible must also be guaranteed. To this end, we have entered into strategic partnerships with various start-up companies in Germany, Spain and Denmark that specialise in setting up and expanding reusable systems in the to-go sector.

* Source: wegweiser-mehrweg.de

Whether it’s processed production waste from our own manufacturing processes or recycled cleaning cloths for tools – working in cycles has been an important topic at Jokey since the beginning, as has avoiding waste. In addition to the best possible use of raw materials, Jokey is constantly striving to optimise the use of auxiliary and operating materials in order to reduce the amount of waste generated. As a result, the Jokey Group has already been able to significantly reduce the amount of waste. Nevertheless, there is still considerable potential for optimisation at various international locations. For example, we collect used materials such as wood, films and foils or cardboard packaging and return them separately for recycling. We recommend that our customers use transport packaging only where technically necessary.

We also work with local waste management companies to dispose of our operational waste. All internal waste-related data is recorded by our technical controlling department. Waste officers have been appointed at the main plants to monitor compliance with local waste regulations, arrange for collection by competent local service providers and initiate corrective measures in the event of incorrect sorting. Our goal must be to transform waste and by-products back into recyclable materials.