UZIN UTZ Group publishes group-wide sustainability report

Ulm, 21. Mai 2019 – The UZIN UTZ Group, a globally active full-range supplier of floor systems, is continuing its path of sustainable action with its new sustainability report. The sustainability report covers the main ecological and social developments of the UZIN UTZ Group in the financial years 2017 and 2018 and for the first time also includes international subsidiaries. From now on, the report will be published every year.

"Our third sustainability report openly and transparently documents our activities and thus lets actions and examples speak for themselves," explains Julian Utz, member of the Management Board of the UZIN UTZ Group. "Since the last report for the years 2015 and 2016, we have committed ourselves not only to developing very low-emission health and environmentally compatible products, but also to increasingly developing and using sustainable packaging systems. Since 2015, for example, we have been increasingly using buckets made of between 50 and 100% recycled plastic. We are continuing to pursue this goal by using canisters made from 100% recycled plastic."

Overall, the UZIN UTZ Group's sustainability philosophy is based on four pillars - Profit (economy and corporate security), Passion (products and services), Planet (environment and resources), People (employees and society). In these areas, in addition to the economic aspects, we also want to deal with topics that are far-sighted and indispensable for the environment and people, thus ensuring a successful future for UZIN UTZ. The strategic goal for the coming years is therefore to live and increase sustainability in all facets along the value chain, i.e. in product development and production, in the supply chain and last but not least also with regard to the employees.

Sustainability around the world

"The basic idea of sustainability can be found everywhere in the company. I am delighted that our international subsidiaries are presenting their sustainability activities for the first time," explains Julian Utz.

Profit focuses on long-term and fair relationships. At U-zin Utz, the service concept and new product-related services are particularly important. The subsidiary UZIN UTZ Construction Materials in Shanghai is pursuing this approach with a customer seminar offensive. In over 20 seminars, in addition to product news, technical application know-how in consulting and construction site support was conveyed. In view of the lack of craftsman qualifications, this is a special feature and thus a unique selling proposition on the Chinese market.

UZIN UTZ Nederland demonstrates its sustainable commitment to the planet, among other things, and also measures it in the investigation of its CO2 emissions by means of a carbon footprint. This CO2 balance is an assessment of the total amount of carbon dioxide emissions that arise directly or indirectly from the activities or life stages of products or people. The carbon footprint was reduced by six percent compared with 357 tons of CO2 in 2016.

More than 95 percent of products labelled as very low in emissions

Sustainable building and healthy living are becoming increasingly important in the industry for many stakeholder groups. The prerequisites are low-emission, low-polluting, high-quality and coordinated product solutions that give professional craftsmen, architects and planners security. At UZIN UTZ, more than 95 percent of the products now bear the EMICODE seal as "very low-emission", and more than 50 percent also bear the Blue Angel. In addition, many products have environmental product declarations (EPDs).

To the report

The Sustainability Report covers the main ecological and social developments of the UZIN UTZ Group in the financial years 2017 and 2018 and, for the first time, includes the main activities of the subsidiaries worldwide. It forms the counterpart to the Annual Report and describes not only the activities in R&D, environmental protection and resource efficiency but also the investments in training and further education and employee health as well as social and cultural projects. This report is available on uzin-utz.de in printed and online versions. Effective immediately, the report on sustainable action will be published annually.

About the UZIN UTZ Group

With around 1,300 employees and a consolidated turnover of EUR 345.7 million (2018), the UZIN UTZ Group, Ulm, is a leader in the development and manufacture of products and machines for floor laying. The construction chemical product systems for the laying of all kinds of floor coverings, including surface finishing and machines for tillage, are all developed and manufactured by the Group companies themselves and marketed worldwide under the internationally successful brands Uzin, Wolff, Pallmann, Arturo, codex, RZ and Pajarito. As a system partner of the skilled trades, planners, architects and builders, UZIN UTZ has been dedicated for 100 years to providing professional support to end customers and installers in all areas of floor laying. More press releases on www.uzin-utz.com