Green logistics at Rapunzel Naturkost

Sustainable also behind the scenes: shipping and transport packaging for nut creams and other Rapunzel products

Rapunzel has been optimizing sustainable and resource-conserving logistics for many years. Like organic cultivation or environmentally-friendly product packagings, the logistic services are an important aspect of a sustainable company orientation. Time to take a closer look at Rapunzel logistics!

Compensation for a healthy climate

The time when Rapunzel founder Joseph Wilhelm personally picked up products at the train station in the town of Kempten is long over. Today, Rapunzel products are shipped for the most part with the two freight companies Dachser and Gebrüder Weiss. Given the size of these service providers, the flow of goods can be pooled efficiently. Thanks to intelligent, IT-based route planning, empty runs and unnecessary vehicle use can be avoided. Modern leasing systems ensure that only state-of-the-art, low emission vehicles are used.

Emissions that are produced through parcel shipping with GLS or DHL (Rapunzel's uses DHL for the shipping of webshop orders) get compensated by the shipping companies, for example through reforestation or the support of environmental projects. The result: 100 percent climate-neutral shipment.

And how are the raw materials from around the world transported to Rapunzel? Goods from countries outside Europe are carried by ship which is the most efficient and therefore most sustainable way. Once they have arrived in Germany, the raw materials are transported by rail to container terminals in Southern Germany.

Green packaged goods

Sustainable logistics: shipping and shipping packaging at Rapunzel Naturkost GmbH

Additional packaging is needed in order for the Rapunzel products to arrive undamaged in the stores and your shopping baskets. At Rapunzel we try to minimize the packaging materials and to use as many environmentally-friendly materials as possible.

Through the minimization of covering foils and adhesive tape as well as through the optimization of foil thickness and the pallet film-wrapping we were able to conserve almost seven tons of plastic foil in 2019!

Our latest achievement: thanks to the incorporation of bent edges in the packaging boards the package sizes can be varied and a lot of fill material (naturally recycled paper!) and space in the transport trucks can be saved. This means: less material to be discarded. By the way: cardboards, envelopes and adhesive tape are all made from the same raw material.

All signs are set to 'green'

Green outlook

Green logistics is a permanent, never-ending task. At the moment, we are testing if cover sheets made of recycled paper can replace the covering foils of the Euro pallets. The entire electricity demand of the new Rapunzel logistics center in Bad Grönenbach shall be covered with photovoltaics and a thermal power plant. Aerated concrete, a natural building material, will be used for the outer shell of the new building. The aerated concrete will ensure a constant interior climate.

Rapunzel would also be delighted if the rail infrastructure would be expanded, because directly behind the logistics center are old, no longer used railroad tracks. If the tracks could be repaired, maybe Joseph Wilhelm himself might receive the first delivery there for old times' sake. At Rapunzel, we are constantly checking our processes in order to improve their sustainability and eco-friendliness. We will keep you posted on new developments!

Green building

Rapunzel favors renewably generated heat and electricity - our goal is to completely do without fossil fuels. A woodchip heating plant supplies the heat for our production plant. The wood waste for the biomass heating plant comes from regional forest tending and thinning measures. While the electric power is supplied 100 percent by 'Naturstrom' hydroelectric power, the gas supply for our two thermal power plants was completely converted to eco-gas. The eco-gas is produced from 100 percent sugar beet waste material.

Rapunzel uses both, the renewable electric energy and the waste heat. In 2019, the use of waste heat conserved approximately 420 tons of CO2 emissions. Additionally, Rapunzel also produces electricity with photovoltaic plants. At Rapunzel premises, the entire roof area was equipped with photovoltaic cells. Through the use of eco-gas and solar energy we could generate nearly 66 percent of our entire power consumption in 2019.