Corporate policy

Mission

The Richard Geiss GmbH is the leading chemical company for solvent recycling. We offer our customers intelligent and individual solutions with innovative products and custom services. We create sustainable values through personal contact maintenance, best customer service and responsible treatment of resources. We open chances for success through a competent, consistently reliable and continuing trusting partnership.

Vision

We pursue a clearly defined goal: to generate steady growth together with our employees and business partners by realizing the most efficient recycling economy in the coming years and to strengthen and expand our position as the most innovative and most significant solvent recycler Europe-wide.

We shall do this on the basis of our corporate values that serve as guidelines for our behavior towards our customers, our employees and our social Environment.

Corporate values

1. Quality, environmental protection, safety and health

The compliance with applicable laws is an essential fundamental principal of our actions. Independent of legal requirements, we strive for continuous improvement of the company in the areas of quality, environment, safety and health and publish these improvements regularly. In principle, our company standard always fulfills more than demanded by the legislator. For us, economic issues do not take precedence over environment and health protection. This consciousness is continuously improved by target agreements.
We support our customers in handling solvents safely and environment-friendly by providing training courses and application consulting.

2. Innovations for the success of our customers

We continuously work at improving the quality of our products and our service by keeping close contact with our customers and suppliers. The better this works out the stronger we are able to grow with our customers.

Customer satisfaction is a valuable asset. We therefore measure it regularly and use information provided by our customers and suppliers for continuous improvement of our customer communication and thus our business processes.
Our challenge is the change of markets, science and society.
We look at the changes as chance to find new ways for accessing markets, to further expand our leading position in solvent recycling and to find even more efficient solutions for our customers.

3. Sustainable development

Our corporate action is strongly characterized by sustainability concepts. As our present management has to fulfill the requirements of future generations part of our corporate ambition is to provide utmost attention to safety aspects, to take on social responsibility as company, to limit the effects of our activities on the environment to a minimum and to secure the financial strength of our company.

4. Professional skills and personal competencies

Our employees are trained for dealing with customers and problems, individually and as team, as best as possible. We continuously promote the training and further education of our employees with regard to operational, professional and legal requirements. Personal, intellectual, emotional and professional competence is our advantage in competition. Our employees provide their potential and their creativity for our joint success. .

5. Fairness and respect

Nobody is able to succeed alone. Success is based on cooperation and communication. Within the company and also in cooperation with business partners. This is only successful on the basis of mutual respect and appreciation.

Furthermore, specifically recognition, appreciation and respect characterize our management style.

For us leadership means being a role model and to convince and motivate by cooperative management.

All our employees are included in decision and/or work processes relevant to them. This open communication also takes place beyond work groups and hierarchies and ensures a quick and efficient information flow.
Self-initiative and corporate activity is consequently supported by all management levels.

6. Integrity

Each manager performs his organizational and supervisory duties competently and has the responsibility that there are no violations of law in their areas of responsibility that could either have been prevented or made more difficult through proper supervision. This applies also in case single tasks are delegated.

All our supervisors have the function of a role model and are obligated to fulfill this requirement by putting our visions and corporate values into practice.

The existing corporate values of the Richard Geiss GmbH are obligatory for all employees and subsidiaries. They are considered as Code of conduct by consideration of laws and generally accepted practices. Employees have to be informed of the codex accordingly. This codex is the basis for all actions in the Richard Geiss GmbH and its subsidiaries.

Code of conduct

The purpose of our Code of conduct is to obligatorily regulate, communicate, observe and preserve the basic principles of human coexistence and work for all who work in our company and who cooperate with us.

Each set of rules is only as good as it is practiced, perceptible and permanently integrated in everyday working life.

Basic behavior requirements

Competence, motivation and responsible actions of employees are an essential prerequisite for the success of Richard Geiss. Responsibility towards humans and nature, laws, as well as fairness and tolerance, are values of our company.

1. Fair treatment of our employees and business partners

Our business partners (customers, distributors and suppliers) and employees are the focus of our activities. The relationships with our business partners and employees shall be characterized by mutual reliability and sustainability. It is expected that our actions are honest, that we are polite, respectful and fair. This includes that transparent and comprehensible decisions are made and communicated.

2. Integrity in business

  • Fairness in competition
  • Corruption or bribery shall not be tolerated.
  • Accepting presents and invitations is authorized without prior approval if they are of low value, express general local business practices and have no effects on business decisions.

3. Fair and respectful working conditions/fundamental rights of employees

  • A friendly, soberer, fair and respectful interaction with colleagues and third parties is expected of each employee.
  • Discrimination, harassment and intimidation of any kind, be it physical, sexual or psychological, shall not be tolerated.
  • The right of freedom of speech and expression of opinion shall be protected and guaranteed.
  • The freedom of association of workers in worker’s organizations (unions) shall be preserved.
  • Child labor and forced labor are prohibited according to applicable German legislation.
  • The statutory maximum working hours are adhered to.

4. Confidentiality and data protection

We respect the privacy of our employees and adhere to the legal regulations with regard to data protection.

  • Business, operational and customer-related data are subject to confidentiality. This also applies to work and projects (development projects).
  • The secrecy of business information is also part of our employment contracts.

5. Principle of sustainability

We are aware of our responsibility for environment protection as well as the health and safety of humans.

5.1 Safety culture

  • We promote safety-conscious behavior through training.
  • We adhere to legal regulations and official requirements.
  • We set internal safety standards that may surpass legal requirements.
  • We request that the absolute prohibition of drugs, alcohol and narcotics is observed.

5.2  Safety at the place of work

  • We determine and assess occupational hazards.
  • We provide personal protective equipment.
  • We minimize the risk of accidents as well as harmful effects on humans and environment through an extensive incident management.
  • We analyze accidents and derive measures that prevent repetition.
  • Near-accidents are systematically evaluated to prevent an emergency.
  • We train our employees in safety issues according to their individual workplace.

5.3 Quality and environmental protection

It is our shared responsibility not only to improve the level of quality and thus respectively our products through innovative actions and expansion of our technical knowledge, but also to guarantee sustainable existence needs through reduction and prevention of all effects on the environment. This shall be ensured by a systematic development of our performance features under consideration of the optimal and most possible environment-friendly production processes and the efficient use of all resources, coordinated with market requirements, legal framework conditions and provisions.

We must be able to take and recycle all contaminated materials/products from different areas of use and application. The regained product must fulfill all quality and environment norms applicable for new productions/remanufacturing without restrictions so it can be used again in the market of origin.

  • We observe the requirements of Responsible Care, which provides guidelines and structures for environment-relevant, future-compatible actions with regard to safety.
  • “Product Stewardship“ is an area of Responsible Care that is of utmost importance, specifically in the handling of chlorinated solvents. Thus, “Product Stewardship” obliges to joint actions, including the entire production and supply chain as well as the complete life cycle of the product, with the goal to pass on the environment and health-relevant data and to ensure the responsible handling of products. Suppliers and service providers shall also be obliged to adhere to these guidelines in their direct area of influence and also in the prior and subsequent supply chain.

5.4 Safety in our facilities

  • We guarantee the high safety of our facilities by careful planning of the facilities and by considering the state of the art.
  • Only trained and instructed employees operate our systems.
  • We maintain our facilities and installations and inspect them regularly.
  • In case of an emergency, we have a hazard prevention plan that regulates the cooperation of internal and external emergency forces. 

5.5 Product safety

We observe the product safety over the entire value chain – from the supplier to our customer. Our goal is that our products do not pose a danger to humans and environment when used properly.

  • We keep the information about our products continuously up-to-date.
  • We provide safety data sheets for all sales products.
  • We fulfill all legal requirements, specifically the Europe-wide Chemicals Regulation REACH and the Ordinance on Hazardous Substances GHS.

5.6 Transportation and storage safety

We are a waste management facility and therefore fulfill very high safety standards.

  • To select logistics service providers and to evaluate their performance we apply evaluation criteria pursuant to the EfB regulation.
  • We adhere to all statutory provisions and official regulations pertaining to storage safety.