On the occasion of World Environment Day on June 5, Yun Xia and Frederik from the Environment, Health and Safety team present two examples that show how environmentally conscious action is practiced at Pepperl+Fuchs’s Mannheim site.
Environmentally friendly on the road: Charing stations for electric cars
Since 2023, charging stations for electric cars have been available in several parking areas. They allow employees to conveniently and affordably charge their electric vehicles during working hours while making an important contribution to promoting sustainable mobility. “The increasing use shows that the offer is being very well received,” explains Frederik, energy manager at Pepperl+Fuchs. “Especially in the middle of the week, all charging stations are usually occupied. We would therefore like to ask employees to move their vehicles to a regular parking space once charging is complete. This will help us further increase the utilization of the charging stations together.” Having access to charging facilities directly at the workplace lowers the barrier to switching to electric vehicles, helps to reduce emissions, and supports climate-friendly mobility.
Recycling electronic waste
Another example of sustainable action in everyday working life is the electronic device collection campaign from February 23 to April 2. Employees had the opportunity to have disused private mobile phones, tablets, laptops or hard drives disposed of professionally. In cooperation with a company based in Landau, data on the devices is securely erased, and functioning devices are refurbished for a new owner. Devices that can no longer be used are recycled so that valuable raw materials such as gold, copper, silver, and rare earth elements can be recovered. This conserves natural resources and reduces CO2-emissions, as recycling often requires significantly less energy than extracting new raw materials.
“Proper disposal of electronics is extremely important for environmental protection,” says Yun Xia, environmental protection officer at Pepperl+Fuchs. “Devices such as smartphones and laptops contain substances such as lead, mercury, or cadmium. If disposed of incorrectly, they can contaminate soil and groundwater.” The high level of participation, with around 330 devices collected, shows that the campaign was very well received by employees. At the same time, it helped raise awareness of waste separation, particularly emphasizing that electronic waster does not belong on household waste but must be disposed of separately. “With this campaign, we have provided employees with a simple and convenient disposal option. It creates awareness of proper waste separation in everyday work,” Yun Xia continues. “And as you can see, environmental protection and sustainability can already be achieved through simple measures.”