Social sustainability

Societal/Socially, as a medium-sized company, we see it as our task to retain skilled workers in our company and to proactively respond to different life circumstances through flexible working time models as well as integrated work-life balance. Since 2016, with a women's advancement plan. Employee activities such as Christmas parties, annual Ferris wheel wine tasting, summer party/communal pizza eating, etc. are further components of the social topics that E.W. NEU offers its employees.

Since 2020, E.W.NEU has been requiring suppliers to successively fulfil the environmental and sustainability criteria listed below as part of the ISO 14001 preparations. By June 2022, E.W.NEU will be ISO 14001 certified. New suppliers will be selected on the basis of sustainability aspects and must meet the requirements listed below. Existing suppliers comply with all legal and supply chain act requirements. Many are already at this level, the others have started implementation by the new E.W.NEU catalogue on 01.05.2023.

Our concept in the webshop presents the environmental and sustainability aspects of the respective manufacturers in the description of the articles or as pictograms. These are e.g.:

1. E.W.NEU Classification Sustainability Ambition 1 to 5,
2. ECOVADIS, certificate of the German Institute for Sustainability and Economics,
3. ISO 14001 Environmental Management/ISO 9001 Quality Management, Water Resources Act, etc.
4. Blue Angel, FSC Certified Wood, Green Dot,
5. Code of Conduct,
6. etc. (further certifications are shown in the item description and as a pictogram)

Sustainability Certificate of the German Institute for Sustainability & Economics (Download certificate)

Using the example of BOSCH power tools, we would like to go into detail about sustainability criteria, which are then provided to the purchaser with the above-mentioned pictograms and in the article description as information for the purchase decision.

BOSCH strives to implement the circular economy and has been conducting life cycle assessments since 2017, paying attention to the use of the materials used. Bosch thus meets the criteria for recyclability and the problem-free return of the product to natural cycles and the criteria for repairability, durability and quality. With the introduction of the circular economy strategy and the consideration of the entire value chain, BOSCH has also integrated resource-saving production and energy-efficient consumption in production. The goal is climate neutrality by 2022. BOSCH implements this through the following four levers: increasing energy efficiency, regenerative energy generation, green electricity and compensation measures. Furthermore, BOSCH relies heavily on Industry 4.0 in order to network human-machine data optimally, efficiently and in a resource-saving manner (water consumption reduced by 25% since 2017, etc.). BOSCH pays collective bargaining wages, provides socially acceptable working conditions and has integrated company health management. In addition to compliance with the Supply Chain Due Diligence Act, BOSCH has defined a global code of conduct as the basis for joint economic activity. When it comes to packaging, recyclable packaging is used, and innovations keep reducing the burden on the consumer through better functionality and ergonomics reduced or eliminated (e.g. X-Lock Innovation mount on angle grinders). This information is available in the long text of the online shop and the certificates are available as pictograms on the item for the customer.

The following strategic suppliers of E.W.NEU have strongly anchored sustainability in their corporate strategy and mission statement and are presented below as a brief summary exemplary for many other suppliers.

SCHULTE Lagertechnik (factory equipment) uses materials or steel that can be 100% recycled. The wood and chipboard are from sustainable forestry and PEFC certified. The packaging is also from sustainable forestry. This and other sustainability information is available in the product description in the online shop.

KNIPEX as a pliers manufacturer (tools) won the German Sustainability Award in 2019 and is continuously reducing CO2 emissions with suitable measures derived from a CO2 balance and with measures in biodiversity and e-mobility. This can be seen in the example of CO2 consumption per pair of pliers:

You will also find this information in the long text of the online shop and the KNIPEX certificates as pictograms.

As a tool manufacturer, GEDORE pays attention to the steel cycle economy and in some cases completely dispenses with packaging and complies with REACH. GEDORE uses 100% green electricity and is certified in energy management in accordance with 50001 and invests a 6-figure sum in energy-saving measures every year. This information can be found in the long description of the articles and in the pictograms.