CO2 certificates for solvents
Richard Geiss GmbH and its customers have saved more than 30,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions with the use of recyclates
Good news for the environment and environmental management: the use of recycled solvents saves large quantities of CO2 emissions. How much exactly? Richard Geiss GmbH, based in Offingen (Bavaria), proves this to its customers with special CO2 certificates. The solvents specialist is the first manufacturer to determine the product carbon footprint for each customer and recyclate individually and to compare it with newly-produced products. This makes Richard Geiss GmbH a pioneer in Europe. Superb: in 2023 alone, the customers of Richard Geiss GmbH saved a total of 31,126 tonnes of CO2 emissions by using recyclates instead of new products.
“That’s a huge impact and shows how important issues such as environmental protection and sustainability are to our customers. Our CO2 certificates allow us to document this commitment in black and white, which is a really a great way to make the environmentally-conscious purchasing decisions of our customers measurable and visible. This way, we want to create greater awareness for the sustainable use of solvents and recyclates as low-CO2 alternatives to new products,” explains Bastian Geiss, CEO of Richard Geiss GmbH.
“That’s a huge impact and shows how important issues such as environmental protection and sustainability are to our customers. Our CO2 certificates allow us to document this commitment in black and white, which is a really a great way to make the environmentally-conscious purchasing decisions of our customers measurable and visible. This way, we want to create greater awareness for the sustainable use of solvents and recyclates as low-CO2 alternatives to new products,” explains Bastian Geiss, CEO of Richard Geiss GmbH.
Over 30,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions saved
The rethink away from new products and towards solvent recyclates is already well underway: together with its customers, Richard Geiss GmbH achieved a total CO2 saving of 31,126 tonnes in 2023 alone. Every company that procures recyclates from the Bavarian solvents specialist has a stake in this saving and can receive confirmation of it on request in the form an individual CO2 certificate. The CO2 savings are also shown on every invoice that customers receive with an order for Richard Geiss recyclates.
Good for environmental management
The CO2 certificates can also serve as an important document for audits, such as environmental management audits (ISO 14001), as they make the CO2 savings through the use of recyclates measurable and verifiable. Compared to new products, recycled solvents conserve resources and reduce waste and CO2 emissions.
CO2 certificates for the product carbon footprint
For the CO2 certificates, Richard Geiss GmbH calculates how much CO2 the customer specifically saves compared to the use of new products, and with which recyclate. The values are determined with the help of the ecoinvent central database. As a detailed life cycle inventory database, ecoinvent provides transparent information on the environmental impact of a variety of services and products, such as solvents.
“Our certificates also show that every company can save CO2 if it uses recyclates as solvents instead of new products,” emphasises Peer Linse, CFO of the company. For example, in 2023 one customer of Richard Geiss GmbH saved more than 830 tonnes of CO2 by purchasing the recyclate NMP, a stunning 84 percent reduction compared with the use of new products. The company purchased approximately 160 tonnes of recycled N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP).
Recyclate expertise
Richard Geiss GmbH has been operating in the circular economy for several decades and is one of Europe’s leading experts for solvent recycling. “It has always been clear that our recyclates don’t just save raw materials, but also CO2 emission. With the CO2 certificates, we can now show this saving in definitive terms – and so can our customers. This is extremely important for them, as they now can demonstrate in black and white how serious they are about achieving their sustainability goals,” explains Bastian Geiss. The solvents specialist offers its CO2 certificates for recyclates in various industrial fields – including surface and textile cleaning and the chemical and pharmaceuticals industry.
The solvents specialist has by now calculated the relative CO2 savings and issued CO2 certificates for a total of 29 recyclates. In the case of the recyclate perchloroethylene (PER), for example, which is used in areas including surface and textile cleaning, the relative CO2 saving is 73%, or 3.02 tonnes of CO2-eq.
About Richard Geiss GmbH
Richard Geiss GmbH is one of Europe’s leading specialists in solvent recovery, based in Offingen in the district of Günzburg. The company produces high-purity distillates from solvent waste by distillative processing. Richard Geiss GmbH supplies solvents for industrial surface cleaning, textile cleaning, and the chemical and pharmaceutical industries. Contract cleaning rounds off the range of services as the fourth business area. Richard Geiss GmbH employs approximately 110 people in Offingen. The company has an approved processing capacity of 50,000 tons of solvents per year, which are processed into high-purity distillates and is certified according to ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001, ISO 50001 as well as a waste management specialist. Richard Geiss GmbH was founded in 1959 by Richard Geiss and today Bastian Geiss manages the family business in its third generation.
Info:
Richard Geiss GmbH
Lüßhof 100, 89362 Offingen, Phone + 49 8224-807-0, info@geiss-gmbh.de, www.geiss-gmbh.de
Press contact:
Bettina Nilius, Marketing
Tel. 08224-807-91, bettina.nilius@geiss-gmbh.de
