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BIOGEL AGCorporate Sustainability Report 2019

Dear readers,

Being a family company, we strongly consider it as our duty to preserve thevalue of our natural resources, such as water, energy, and materials natureoffers to us.

To document our activities, we are delighted to publish our sustainability reportfor 2019. It provides information on the progress achieved on projects toimprove our environmental record, on work safety for our employees, and oninitiatives that benefit people in our surrounding communities also in thefuture.

Seeing sustainable solutions not only as a competitive advantage, we willfurther strengthen our long-term commitment to make good things evenbetter.

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Roland Fischer, CEO Biogel AG

Corporate Sustainability Report 2019

Biogel’s environmental footprint is strongly influencedby the actual production quantity output. For thispurpose, the production statistics are included in thesustainability report.

As illustrated on the graph, Biogel increased theproduction substantially since 2018 by 29% andcontinues on such level also throughout 2020.Investments for production increases are continuouslyrealized to meet also further market trends.

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3987

5145 5138 5200

2017 2018 2019 2020 (Forecast)

Gelatin production (MT)


Gelatin, collagen and collagen peptides are natural products. In order to produce our high-quality customized Gelatin, Biogel makes sure that their suppliers only process fully traceable and impeccable raw materials.

Today, the modern production cycles enable nearly no by-products being left. We at Biogel contribute to less by-products by continuously improving our processing infrastructure. By doing so, we support the overall nature to nature cycle.

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MEAT INDUSTRYSKINS, BONES, HIDESPRODUCTION

FERTILIZER RECYCLED WATER

AUXILIARY & OPERATING MATERIALS

ENERGY

TAILOR-MADE GELATIN

COLLAGEN PEPTIDES

FAT, PROTEINS, MINERALS

BIOGEL


We consider reducing energy consumption and improving our CO2 balance to be at the core of oursustainability vision and one of our most crucial priorities. To achieve significant improvements inour CO2 emissions, Biogel has initiated in 2018 a cooperation with Energie Agentur derWirtschaft with the objective to analyze potential energy optimization possibilities, which will leadto a substantially improved CO2 emission balance. As a significant milestone, in 2019 Biogel hassuccessfully completed an investment project by recuperating the thermo-energy from newenergy-savings compressor facilities and hence completely eliminating the fossil heating systems.Significant oil fuel savings are continuously leading to an annual decrease of 20.4 tons CO2.

We are proud of the fact that the Swiss Federal Government and partners recognized this effortwith supporting a certificate, attributing Biogel’s effort for sustainable climate protection, byactively reducing CO2.

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-11%

The heat recuperation investments willresult in a considerable reduction of110’000 kWh per year. Overall, trough theactions taken by Biogel savings of 181’000kWh are expected by the end of 2020,which is well ahead of the forecastedreduction objectives.

2017 2018 2019 2020

kWh per tonsproduced

204 172 181 144

140

160

180

200

220

kWh per tons produced

0

100

200

2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026

Energy savings through collaboration (kWh per thousand)

Realised Objective


Biogel's energy consumption is mainly influenced by the Gelatin production volumes.The gains towards obtaining the most efficient energy consumption as possible isembedded throughout the entire value chain at Biogel. As mentioned, a collaborationwith “Energie Agentur der Wirtschaft” was initiated in 2018 to analyze potentialenergy optimization possibilities. An action plan with improvement possibilities forBiogel was mutually worked out. Already, by now, an important number improvementprojects have been finalized.

Beyond that, additional optimizations within the production have been implementedto minimize the energy consumption. Currently, all lighting systems within theproduction and warehouse areas are being modernized by LED-units which lead tosavings of 2’000 kWh per year.

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By realizing all improvements andinvestments the forecasted kWhreductions are expected at -19.5%.

Biogel only uses renewable electricenergy from Swiss hydropowerplants.

811.841 882.701930.324

749.027

2017 2018 2019 2020(Forecast)

Energy consumption (kWh)


Biogel strives to produce as little aspossible waste while focusing onrecycling processes. Biogel was able tocontinue the positive development of2017 in 2018. New projects led to anincrease in waste in 2019. Biogel’s focusin 2020 will be to work on substantialreduction of this additional waste.

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All our local packaging plastic is 100%recycled by Beck Umweltservice AG,which enables us to strengthen ourobjectives for more sustainability. Since2017, Biogel manages to use lesspackaging plastics within theproduction cycle, which explains thedescending recycling amount of such in2019. Our suppliers are collaboratingto use less packaging plastics andswitch to more sustainable materialswherever possible.

+14%

2017 2018 2019

Kg per tons produced 1,6 1,6 1,8

1,4

1,6

1,8

2,0

Waste (kg) per tons produced

2017 2018 2019

Gram per tonsproduced

0,690 0,593 0,574

0,400

0,550

0,700

Plastic (grams) per tons produced

-17%


-19%

All our used BigBags are being 100%recycled by Beck Umweltservice AG.The number of recycled BigBags pertons produced is stable at 2.3kg since2018. This gratifying development istraced to a stable production, as therecycling amount is highly correlatedto the tones of customized Gelatin butalso new opportunities for re-useapplications in other industry sectors.

Due to food safety regulations, not allour pallets can be re-used. ThereforeBiogel cooperates together with SwissKrono AG, them collecting the non-reusable pallets and recycling suchsutainably. Since 2017, the number ofrecycled pallets dropped due toinvestments into new pallets leadinginto substantially less quality rejects.

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2017 2018 2019


2,0

2,5

3,0

BigBag (kg) recycled per tons produced

2017 2018 2019


4,7

5,2

5,7

6,2

6,7

Pallets (kg) recycled per tons produced

-18%


Biogel strives to lead an environmental friendlyrelation with all stakeholders. For this reason, thecompany actively reaches out to its interest groups inorder to determine improvement opportunities forand within the community. During the past years,several improvements to lower the productionfacilities’ noise emissions have been implemented,such as a new air and noise ventilation systems.Furthermore, Biogel prefers to cooperate with localconstructors and service entities which supports anoverall ecological footprint and the local economy.

9Corporate Sustainability Report 2019

We at Biogel believe that our employees belong toour most valuable asset. As a fair and progressiveemployer, we assume responsibility wherever weoperate.

A full SMETA audit was conducted in 2017, SMETAis an audit methodology, providing a compilation ofbest practice ethical audit techniques. It is designedto help auditors conduct high-quality audits thatencompass all aspects of responsible businesspractice, covering Labour, Health and Safety,Environment, and Business Ethics. Due to ourcommitments and efforts, Biogel received thehighest possible recognition with a 4-Pillar SMETAcertificate.

Furthermore, we demonstrate our commitmentthroughout continuous education and socialcontributions.

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BIOGEL AGGewerbering 6CH-6105 SchachenPhone +41 41 418 40 [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]://www.biogel.ch/

Corporate Sustainability Report 2019 - Biogel › wp-content › uploads › 2020 › 07 ›...

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