World Recycling Day 2025 – Our latest circular champions!
18.03. is World Recycling Day! We at groku are taking the opportunity to draw attention to our sustainable products once again! For almost 15 years, we have been passionately committed to resource-saving packaging solutions – with the clear aim of developing packaging that leaves little trace on our planet.
Our new champions in the groku HOM series set new standards in sustainable packaging: mono-material packaging made from up to 100% recycled material – resource-saving, recyclable and, of course, customizable thanks to IML technology!
Especially on World Recycling Day, it becomes clear how important closed material cycles are for our future. With the HOM14000 and HOM19500, we are making a further contribution to this – for a world with less waste and more recycling.
Success for groku with RecyClass
What counts for us are transparent and credible contributions in terms of sustainability!
We at groku are therefore always taking the next steps and have had our first bucket, the EZE12500, see photo, from our product portfolio tested for recyclability by RecyClass. It was awarded the highest rating, recyclability A.
This shows how effective and environmentally friendly modern plastic packaging solutions can be.
RecyClass is a cross-industry initiative focused on promoting and improving the recycling of plastics through assessment, certification and design guidelines.
We at groku see this result as a promising start to our collaboration with RecyClass – for a more sustainable future through innovation, transparency and harmonized recycling standards in Europe.
As shown here, the EZE 12500 has been awarded the highest rating, recyclability A, by RecyClass.
Photovoltaic expansion at groku is progressing
A further plant has now been put into operation and this will now generate approx. 700,000 kWh of clean energy a year at the site.
A large proportion of this energy will also flow directly into our production.
This makes groku one of the largest PV producers in the region and makes an important contribution to sustainability through renewable energies andCO2 reduction.
We give it a reliable seal of approval!
With REDcert2 certification, we can offer our customers an honest sustainability promise regarding the use of recycled materials.
Our packaging buckets are up to 100% recyclable, the raw materials used are traceable and therefore always known.
We are delighted that our partner Knauf Gesellschaft m.b.H Austria has opted for groku buckets, in the production of which 70% of the raw materials required are replaced by sustainably certified recycled materials.
The important message of this project: transparency in terms of sustainability. With the REDCert² seal applied, Knauf passes on its sustainability promise to the end consumer.
Our partnership is a good example of how companies can work together towards a greener future. We look forward to taking further steps in this direction!
Insights into the sustainable packaging industry
We at groku Kunststoffe GmbH recently accepted the invitation from interseroh+ to take part in a workshop on sustainable packaging in Berlin. As a long-standing partner of the recycling and system service provider interseroh+, we have been consistently developing our sustainability goals together for a long time.
The use of the “Made for Recycling” sustainability seal from interseroh+ underlines our cooperation and we were looking forward to the exchange on site.
Christian Henrichsmeier, sustainability expert and Head of Technology at groku, took part on behalf of groku. The workshop provided a valuable insight into new market trends and the legal framework of the Packaging Act and the minimum standard of the central packaging register. This information is of great importance to ensure that we design our activities in accordance with legal regulations and make our contribution to the circular economy.
The visit to the modern ALBA LVP sorting plant was particularly impressive. It was an impressive experience to see what happens to our packaging once it has fulfilled its main purpose and how the right design for recycling can help a bucket become a bucket again.
“When you stand at the sorting belt and see the variety of packaging passing you by, you realize how strongly our consumer behavior is linked to this flood of materials. The constant influx of trucks in the yard of the sorting plant made it clear to us that there is no standstill and that we must continuously work on developing effective recycling solutions,” says Henrichsmeier.
Another focus of the workshop was on evaluating the recyclability of our packaging and identifying optimization potential. The focus was always on the elementary functions of the packaging. “We are proud of the fact that we are already very well positioned and are consistently pursuing our sustainability goals,” concluded Henrichsmeier.
Overall, the interseroh+ workshop was an extremely enriching experience for us. We will continue to intensify our efforts to promote sustainable packaging solutions and actively contribute to the creation of a circular economy.
Christian Henrichsmeier (groku, Head of Technology) is impressed by the visit to the LVP sorting plant.
Certified sustainability in the bucket
With immediate effect, the recycled packaging of the more than 220 million injection-molded packaging articles from groku Kunststoffe GmbH in Schloss Holte-Stukenbrock will include a certificate that guarantees, among other things, the use of PCR material in the production of groku products.
“We are very proud to be REDcert² certified and to be able to make a credible PCR promise to our customers and consumers,” says Managing Director Henrik Großekämper. With this contribution to a transparent and functioning circular economy, the company is ideally prepared for future challenges such as statutory recycling quotas and plastics taxes in other EU countries.
A good example of a sustainable product from groku Kunststoffe is the 12.5 l bucket for the customer DAW SE, based in Ober-Ramstadt. The packaging bucket for paints consists of 70% PCR material, whose raw material source is PP waste from the Yellow Bag recycling collection and is easily recognizable by its grey color. Henrik Großekämper explains: “We only buy PCR granules from EUCertPlast and ISCC+ certified processors and process them in our products in different mixing ratios with virgin material, depending on customer requirements.” As part of a process-related mass balance procedure, which includes the complete traceability of all raw materials used and which groku Kunststoffe maintains for all input and output material flows as part of its ERP system, it is possible to show exactly what proportion of recycled material has been incorporated into the respective end product. This procedure has been successfully audited by TÜV NORD CERT GmbH, an approved certification body for the REDcert² Chemie system. “This makes us the first manufacturer of plastic packaging articles to be REDcert² certified,” the Managing Director proudly emphasizes, adding: “If we specify a recycled content for one of our packaging articles, this is guaranteed and verifiably included.” In the case of the 12.5 l bucket for DAW SE, the use of recycled material instead of pure virgin material leads to a CO² saving of 0.4 kg per container and thus contributes to resource conservation and climate protection.
The bucket, which has an appealing design thanks to the in-mould labeling process despite its grey base color, was developed with and for the customer DAW SE, which itself has already had its binders certified under the REDcert² system. The well-known European supplier of paints and varnishes, which includes the Caparol brand with its distinctive symbol of the colorful elephant, committed itself to sustainability over ten years ago. In addition to climate-neutral production of its paints and varnishes, it also focuses on sustainable packaging products. The Indeko-plus bucket from groku Kunststoffe with a recycled content of 70% fits perfectly with the requirements profile for a sustainable and efficient packaging product. “Depending on the desired property profile, we develop recipes for our packaging articles for our customers that can contain up to 100% PCR,” explains Henrik Großekämper. groku Kunststoffe produces around 220 million packaging articles, buckets and lids every year, primarily for manufacturers of paints and building protection materials, adhesives and dry asphalt or bitumen, as well as other bulk goods in the non-food sector. The injection molding company, which employs around 150 people, also produces buckets of various shapes and sizes for the food sector in addition to containers with a volume of 1 l to 30 l for the non-food sector and therefore has an enormous wealth of experience in the manufacture of sustainable plastic products throughout Europe.
