J.T. Ronnefeldt KG

Climate Impact & Sustainability Data (2017-2018)

Total Energy Consumption:438,309 kWh (2018)

Water Consumption:947 m3 (2018)

Waste Generated:68 tons (Worpswede, 2018)

Reduced aluminium in packaging by approximately 2.3 tons per year since March 2019 by replacing aluminium foil with metallised PET foil in tea bags.
Stopped using metal staples in Teavelope® tea bags, using knotted cotton fibre instead.
Removed hot-foil stamping from Teavelope®, LeafCup®, and Tea-Caddy® packaging to improve recyclability.
Established a bee colony at the Worpswede production site in mid-2017 to promote biodiversity.
Increased the proportion of organic teas in the product range to 18.5% in 2018.

Increased training hours per employee from 2017 to 2018.
Filled two apprenticeship positions in 2018.
Expanded corporate health management, including ergonomic improvements and height-adjustable desks.
Held Sustainability Days in 2018 to raise awareness of sustainable lifestyles.
Cooperated with Childaid Network for eight years, supporting schools and small tea gardens in Assam.

Regular meetings of the Sustainability Committee to address sustainability issues.
Materiality analysis conducted in 2016 to prioritize sustainability issues.
Compliance with EU regulations on health claims and food information.

Long-term Goals:

Medium-term Goals:

Convert more than 50% of the vehicle fleet to electric, hybrid, or fuel cell vehicles by 2025.
Increase training hours per employee by 15% by 2022.
Achieve 100% sustainable packaging by 2021.

Short-term Goals:

Low environmental standards in some tea-growing regions.
Climate change impacting tea harvests in India (Assam and Darjeeling).
Difficulty in procuring teas due to climatic conditions.
High CO2 emissions from tea transportation.
Finding suitable compostable and biodegradable films for packaging that maintain tea quality.

Inclusion of environmental criteria in general purchasing conditions.
Preference for organic tea plantations.
Use of cargo vessels for tea transport (except for “First Flush by Air” teas, which will be discontinued in 2020).
Use of DHL GoGreen for climate-neutral shipping within Germany.
Testing of compostable and biodegradable films for packaging.
Continuous testing of new, eco-friendly packaging materials.

General purchasing conditions with social and environmental criteria.
Supplier commitment to codes of conduct (BSCI, Transfair, UTZ, ETP, Rainforest Alliance).
Regular visits to tea gardens and suppliers.
Preference for ETP-certified tea gardens.

Excessive cold winters, excessive humidity, heavy snowfalls, hail, and extended dry spells in Indian tea-growing regions.

Frameworks Used: GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) Standards (2016) - Core option

Certifications: ISO 9001:2015