Full Circle Sustainability

Even in an increas­ingly digi­tal age, paper is still a part of life – whether by mail, maga­zines, and flyers, or as labels stick­ing to bottles and cans. Stein­beis Papier GmbH is Europe’s market leader for graphic recy­cled paper. And in Evonik Active Oxygens, Stein­beis Papier has found a part­ner that supports its own high sustain­abil­ity standards.

As a company, Stein­beis Papier dates back to 1863. Yet it was around 50 years ago that the tradi­tional paper manu­fac­turer took a deci­sive turn in its history. In 1976, the company decided that its site in Glück­stadt near Hamburg would produce exclu­sively from 100% recy­cled paper — a bold deci­sion at a time when terms like recy­cling and sustain­abil­ity were not yet main­stream. Today, this deci­sion is paying off: Nearly 300,000 tons of recy­cled paper left the factory gates in 2023 with­out the need to cut down a single new tree.

Sustain­abil­ity Deeply Rooted in the Company’s DNA

“ReThink­ing Paper” is the motto of the sustain­abil­ity pioneer. “We place more value on actions than on words, though,” points out Market­ing Direc­tor Veronika Warm­ers. “The slogan ‘ReThink­ing Paper’ describes our self-iden­tity, empha­siz­ing that the first step towards more sustain­abil­ity is the abil­ity to think in new direc­tions. Because if it’s not sustain­able, we don’t do it!” This approach is imple­mented consis­tently: The company sources its used paper from a radius of around 250 kilo­me­ters. For larger customers, Stein­beis Papier even picks up the waste paper itself. Where possi­ble, exports to Euro­pean customers are handled intermodally.

Stein­beis Papier oper­ates one of the most modern recy­cling plants in Europe. The surface water required for produc­tion is taken from the local Elbe River. After being cleaned, it is then used as indus­trial water for the entire manu­fac­tur­ing process. Inter­nal water treat­ment cycles enable multi­ple uses before it is returned to the Elbe via the company’s own fully biolog­i­cal waste­water treat­ment plant. “We don’t want to waste a single drop,” empha­sizes Veronika Warm­ers. “Resid­ual mate­ri­als left over from produc­tion are prepared as substi­tute fuels for our power plant.” This waste then supplies all the ther­mal energy needed for the produc­tion process, and combined heat and power gener­a­tion covers about half of the addi­tional elec­tric­ity needed. The result is an energy-effi­cient, low-emis­sion, and resource-conserv­ing indus­trial oper­a­tion that saves 73 percent of energy and 79 percent of water compared to compa­ra­ble virgin fiber produc­tion. These efforts have been recog­nized: Stein­beis Papier received the German Sustain­abil­ity Award in both 2008 and 2023.

Win-Win Situ­a­tion Through Sustain­abil­ity Certificates

As customer demand for whiter recy­cled paper contin­ues to rise, so does the use of hydro­gen perox­ide in produc­tion. “Currently, we purchase around 4,000 tons of hydro­gen perox­ide per year,” says Andreas Steenbock.

One supplier is Evonik, whose Active Oxygens busi­ness line is pursu­ing a sustain­abil­ity strat­egy of its own. By follow­ing its “Way to GO₂” roadmap, the perox­ide special­ist aims to progres­sively switch its produc­tion to more sustain­able sources, such as renew­able energy and green hydro­gen. This trans­for­ma­tion is already in full swing at several of the busi­ness line’s 20 global produc­tion sites. As a result, the produc­tion of hydro­gen perox­ide is becom­ing increas­ingly sustain­able as the asso­ci­ated CO₂ emis­sions are reduced. By 2040, all Active Oxygens produc­tion plants world­wide are expected to run in a climate-neutral manner.

The progress of this trans­for­ma­tion is reflected posi­tively in the ongo­ing calcu­la­tion of the prod­uct carbon foot­print. Evonik Active Oxygens can pass these bene­fits on to its customers through a “book-and-claim” mech­a­nism – a process that has been audited, moni­tored, and certi­fied by rigor­ous test­ing expert TÜV Rhein­land. The result: Evonik Active Oxygens can already label the green portion of its port­fo­lio with “Way to GO₂” sustain­abil­ity certifi­cates and offer these for purchase.

Ulti­mately, the certifi­cates enable a win-win situ­a­tion. “While we can use the revenue from the certifi­cate sales to initi­ate further sustain­abil­ity measures, buyers continue to receive hydro­gen perox­ide of the usual qual­ity while cred­it­ing the certifi­cates towards their own sustain­abil­ity efforts,” explains Christoph Batz-Sohn, Direc­tor of Sustain­able Trans­for­ma­tion at Evonik Active Oxygens.

Stein­beis Papier was happy to take up this option. After all, the paper special­ist is already vigor­ously trans­form­ing the part of its produc­tion that is within its own sphere of influ­ence. However, for the Scope 3 emis­sions that stem from further upstream in the supply chain, the company relies on coop­er­a­tion with its suppli­ers. This is where the Evonik certifi­cates come into play. “For us, it was crucial that our contacts at Evonik Active Oxygens under­stand and share our atti­tude towards sustain­abil­ity. Only then can we create added value together that goes beyond the mere deliv­ery of hydro­gen perox­ide,” says Market­ing Manager Veronika Warmers.

Reduced Scope 3 Emissions

In 2024, Stein­beis Papier will purchase 2,000 tons of “Way to GO₂”-certi­fied hydro­gen perox­ide from Evonik Active Oxygens. “This enables us to reduce our Scope 3 by 1,120 tons of CO₂ in 2024,” reports Andreas Steen­bock. He is able to quan­tify this amount so precisely through a calcu­la­tion tool used at Stein­beis Papier. It tracks Scope 3 emis­sions nearly to the day: The quan­tity of a partic­u­lar prod­uct purchased is assigned an emis­sions factor deter­mined by exter­nal sustain­abil­ity experts. Evonik manager Batz-Sohn is impressed by this system: “Stein­beis Papier is one of our major customers and is one of the first to have estab­lished such a track­ing system. Stein­beis assigns sustain­abil­ity a concrete and trace­able value. All the better that our certifi­cates have a posi­tive impact on it.”

As more and more emis­sions are reduced from Evonik’s hydro­gen perox­ide produc­tion, so does the propor­tion of emis­sions also decline in Stein­beis Papier’s recy­cled paper. A posi­tive effect for Andreas Steen­bock: “For us, it was crucial that TÜV Rhein­land inde­pen­dently assess and vali­date the ‘Way to GO₂′ certifi­cates. This allows us to keep cred­i­ble docu­men­ta­tion in our system and main­tain trans­parency in our presen­ta­tion. This is much more bene­fi­cial for both ourselves and for the envi­ron­ment than unsub­stan­ti­ated claims, which could be vulner­a­ble to accu­sa­tions of greenwashing.”

Stein­beis Papier sees itself as well on the way toward basing its entire produc­tion and value chain on a foun­da­tion of envi­ron­men­tal respon­si­bil­ity while saving both energy and resources. “We are pleased that Evonik is ready to adapt to chang­ing market condi­tions and busi­ness require­ments. This makes them a strate­gic part­ner for us,” empha­sizes Andreas Steen­bock. Indeed, Evonik Active Oxygens has proven a trusted part­ner for Stein­beis Papier’s high stan­dards: In 2024, Stein­beis Papier gave Evonik its very top rating in a general supplier eval­u­a­tion. This rank­ing was due in part to prod­uct and service qual­ity as well as compli­ance with envi­ron­men­tal require­ments. With this rating comes the expec­ta­tion of contin­ued collab­o­ra­tion on ongo­ing improve­ments for a sustain­able, circu­lar economy.

Speak­ing of clos­ing a circle: At the site in Marl, Germany, Evonik also uses the high-qual­ity print­ing and copy­ing papers from Stein­beis. “The value chain is not always only linear, and some­times a customer is also a supplier,” says Batz-Sohn. “Thus, a sustain­abil­ity gain for one is a gain for all.”