Even greater service orientation and further development of the product portfolio

A two-day team retreat at the end of April offered an opportunity to personally build on the mostly digital interaction in everyday working life between Bonn, the RAL headquarters, and the German Environment Agency in Dessau-Roßlau and set out the joint path for the further development of the Blue Angel. Before celebrating the German Environment Agency’s 50th anniversary this year, the city on the Elbe played host to visitors from the Rhine.

What does the certification mean for the new licence holders, and what roles do environmentally friendly materials play in roof design if climate change also continues to advance at our latitude? Once the trade fair was over, Christian Deckert, Head of Product Management for Waterproofing Membranes at alwitra, answered these and other questions on environmentally friendly construction.

The focus mainly lay on environmental aspects as well as the working conditions in manufacturing. The Blue Angel certifies textiles that fulfil high environmental standards while also taking production conditions into consideration. The ecolabel was once again represented at the trade fair this year: in their talks and discussion rounds, Dr. Kristin Stechemesser and Brigitte Zietlow from the German Environment Agency provided insights into the opportunities offered by the circular economy and circularity for the textiles industry and legal standards that apply to ecodesign requirements.

WEPA is making the most of the fact that, alongside this, online shopping is generating more and more waste paper from packaging, and has developed the first sanitary paper made from recycled cardboard packaging and corrugated cardboard. This innovation was awarded not only the Blue Angel but also the German Ecodesign Award – presented by Minister for the Environment Steffi Lemke.

The Environmental Label Jury agreed on the criteria for two new ecolabels at its winter meeting:

Organic growing media and potting soils (DE-UZ 234)