Sustainability in printing inks, adhesives, and coatings means that not only the final product but also all raw materials and components are produced responsibly throughout the supply chain. Sustainability is no longer a solo effort—it’s a collaborative journey we undertake with our customers to create innovative, sustainable strategies. For us, sustainability means aligning our business practices with environmental and social responsibility, something we’ve been committed to for over 25 years. The best part? Sustainable solutions benefit everyone!
For Us as a Family Business, Sustainability Means Long-Term Success
Over 25 years ago, Follmann became one of the first companies in the chemical industry to establish its own environmental management standards. Much has changed in the business world since then, but our core vision for sustainability remains the same: for us, sustainability is the path to success.
As a family-run company, we operate with a long-term perspective. We focus on sustainable solutions and on achieving lasting satisfaction for our customers.
Our top 5 actions for sustainable business practices
- Transparency: In our sustainability report, we publish detailed information on our use of the earth's resources, as well as our annual water consumption and emissions of pollutants.
- Resilience in the supply chain: Our aim is to conserve resources as much as possible! Our strategic procurement of raw materials ensures that we only purchase the raw materials that we use in our supply chain management. We also disclose all the routes in our supply chain and are constantly working to optimise them.
- Use of renewable energies and energy efficiency: Our own combined heat and power plant covers a large part of our own electricity requirements. We have also been purchasing green electricity from certified hydropower plants for several years.
- Long-term approach: We utilise our production facilities for as long as possible and generally always focus on long-term solutions. We also regularly invest in the Minden site and Germany.
- Continuous training: We ensure that our staff receive continuous further training and offer a venue for external training courses and workshops in the form of our TWZ. In this way, we also support our customers with customised training courses.
We notice: Our customers' sustainability requirements are increasing!
We are receiving more customer enquiries about explicitly sustainable issues. There is no universal solution here. Together with our customers, we develop customised solutions - that is our innovation goal. Our customers appreciate the close cooperation and transparent communication when it comes to sustainability.
Fewer solvents and bio-based raw materials
For us, sustainability means in particular making a contribution to social and economic goals through innovation. In addition to EU regulations and economic pressure, we are driven by ambition: We want to be pioneers. For example, we were one of the first companies to replace solvents in printing inks with water-based solutions and to realise these on plastic substrates. We are currently working on our GREENAD products - products with at least ten per cent certified sustainable, bio-based or mass-balanced raw materials in accordance with ISCC Plus certification.
Planetary boundaries are becoming increasingly relevant - both for the organisation of supply chains and for management at the site and in product application. They are our greatest motivation for sustainability. We cannot operate beyond them, which is why we set ourselves ambitious targets in this area. For us, sustainability is an obligation towards current and future generations. Only the responsible use of natural resources or the development of products without risky substances ensures long-term economic success in an environment worth living in.
This responsible behaviour includes the following actions:
- Continuously reduce our carbon footprint
- Comprehensive raw material qualification: We take into account quality, resilience in the supply chain, product safety, occupational health and safety and environmental protection.
- Continuous improvement through certified quality management systems and environmental management systems (ISO 9001, ISO 14001) and energy management at the Follmann Chemie production company in Minden (ISO 500001)
- High product responsibility in the development of products through the integration of certifications or audits by external third parties
- Our goal: the reduction of hazardous substances, for example SVHCs - substances of very high concern
- The formulation and production of printing inks in accordance with EuPIA guidelines and EuPIA-GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices)
The Green Deal
All important sustainability regulations are categorised under the European Green Deal: As a company, we stand behind the Green Deal and its ambitions for climate neutrality. This includes, among other things:
- Disclosure and creation of transparency
- Requirements for diverse personnel management
- Responsibility in the supply chain
- Resource-conserving production and a
- transformation to climate neutrality by 2045
The Green Deal is very important to us. It presents us and our partners with challenges that we can only solve together.
Circular Economy
The main objective of the Green Deal, the circular economy, is also our most important strategic challenge. Together with our customers, we are reducing hazardous substances and minimising our dependence on raw materials from the petrochemical industry. Reducing waste during production and processing is a matter of course for us.
