Worldwide commitments on the environment, climate or social improvements all begin at home. A good reason for the global family business of Mars to motivate its associates at their Viersen site for the company's very first Sustainability Day on 27 October.
Viersen, 28 Oct 2009. Worldwide commitments on the environment, climate or social improvements all begin at home. A good reason for the global family business of Mars to motivate its associates at their Viersen site for the company's very first Sustainability Day on 27 October. Responsibility for the environment, its associates and society, with people at the center - this is sustainability according to Mars. This includes local commitment at the German sites in Viersen, Verden, Minden and Mogendorf, and global initiatives for sustainably grown cocoa, fair working conditions around the world and the conservation of the environment and natural resources of our planet. "For our chocolate products this means as of 2020 we are committed to sourcing only cocoa that has been certified as sustainably grown", said Thomas Bittinger, General Manager of Mars Süßwaren Deutschland.
In many ways, the Mars Sustainability Day in Viersen was characterized by change. As such, the snackfood producer not only presented a hybrid truck used by Mars Deutschland as one of the first industrial companies to do so, but also their entire eco-balance in logistics: Mars is only allowing Euro-4 and/or Euro-5 certified trucks to enter the fleet, whose share used by Mars has now reached 90percent. This puts Mars far above the German average of 40 percent. Also very impressive - even for the Viersen associates - is the current eco balance of the new goods-out area. The loading times in Viersen were radically shortened and the trailer cooling systems are switched to electricity during loading of the trucks. "For us it means savings of 60,000 liters diesel and eliminating 264 tons of CO2 per year", explains Kai Könecke, Plant Manager of Mars in Viersen.
During Sustainability Day, the company demonstrated to its 500 associates what tradition in action really means. In 1947, Forrest Mars Sr. first set down in words the company's vision of having "mutuality of service and benefits" at its heart. This became the foundation of what later became our Five Principles: Quality, Responsibility, Mutuality, Efficiency and Freedom.
For the global family business at Mars, this also includes having a strong commitment at every local site - regardless which country. In Viersen, Mars is one of the most important employers; and in Germany they have been awarded the title of Top Employer already twice. "We feel a shared responsibility for the people that live and work here. Thus, we have been supporting the Kinderschutzbund (Child Protection Agency) and the KreisSportBund (County Sports Association) with their project schwer mobil (Heavy Movers), in addition to various food charities. As for the local food charities, the Christmas market for the county of Viersen's most needy will be catered by our associates for the fourth time in a row, a real highlight of the year for us", as emphasized by Kai Könecke. A lasting commitment at the site also means preserving our resources and avoiding waste or emissions. In Viersen - as demonstrated on the Sustainability Day - we are using residual energy from the production to heat our offices and buildings. Daylight is directed to the work places using so-called solar tubes. Subsequently, the consumption of gas has been reduced by one fifth and electricity by one third since 1999. In the same time period, Mars in Viersen decreased its consumption of city water by 73 percent. As for the ambitious goal to lower the amount of residual waste at the Viersen site to 0% by 2012, the participants at Sustainability Day enjoyed an impressive starting position - their recycling quota is already at 99 percent.
Further information
Mars Deutschland: Mars Deutschland is a subsidiary of the US family-owned corporation Mars Incorporated, one of the leading global manufacturers of branded products. In their main business segments of Petfood, Chocolate and Food, Mars in Germany had annual sales of about 1.3 billion euro in 2008 and currently employs around 1,800 associates. Since October 2008, Wrigley with its Gum & Confectionery segment is also part of the corporation. Some of the most well-known brands in petfood are Whiskas, Pedigree, Chappi, Kitekat, Cesar, Sheba, Frolic and Trill. The chocolate segment is best known for brands like Snickers, Balisto, M&M's, Mars, Twix and Celebrations. Uncle Ben's and Ebly are the flagship brands of our human food business. The chewing gum and confectionery segment is represented by well-known brands such as Wrigley’s Extra, Orbit and Airwaves.
More information is available at www.mars.de
