Our top priority is that all goods are in the right place at the right time for our clients. This requires a highly complex logistics network. Forward-looking logistics and efficient fleet management are a must in order to maintain CO2 emissions for the vehicle fleet at a low level, as enormous savings potential can be found here, for the benefit of the environment, our clients and, of course, of our company, too.
In particular, our measures include:

• Optimising the management of our flow of goods in order to shorten transport routes, optimise
  the utilisation of trucks as well as avoid empty trips and idle times
• Collection of goods from suppliers on return journeys
• Use of low-emission trucks (Euro 5 emission standard)
• Conscious decision not to use biodiesel due to the unfavourable side effects in cultivating the
  plants used to produce biodiesel.
• Optimal route planning through the use of innovative technology
• High proportion of goods stored in central warehouses – fewer direct deliveries to customers
• Optimising reception of goods

Waste avoidance is an important component of environmental protection. Reducing and avoiding the use of packaging material are especially focused on when developing our quality brands. The material we use is particularly environmentally friendly. Furthermore, we cooperate closely with our suppliers. We particularly direct our attention to recycling and reusable packaging.

Recycling
In our Neumünster and Wittenhagen central warehouses we have an internal recycling centre, where cardboard, wood and films are treated for further processing and subsequently sold. 100% of the paper waste accrued in all operations is recycled.
A counting centre has been established for disposable drinks containers, where they are sorted by clear PET, coloured PET, aluminium and tinplate. They are then pressed and sold to firms which process these materials further.
Organic waste, sorted by packaged and unpackaged foods, is transported to biogas plants in Northern Germany, where it is used to produce CO2-neutral power and heat.

Reusable packaging
We work with reusable packaging whenever possible. A large amount of waste can be saved if less packaging material is used. For this reason we transport our fruit and vegetable products in environmentally-friendly Euro Pool containers. These are cleaned following transportation and subsequently used again. In 2008 we managed to deploy 1.8 million containers.