How can we deal with our mountains of garbage? This topic is currently of increasing concern to us humans. Countless tons of plastic waste end up in our oceans every year. Marine currents create garbage islands that can grow to the size of Central Europe. Only a small part of the plastic waste generated in Germany is recycled. Most of it incinerated to create energy or ends up in landfills. Due to the increasing visibility of these topics, the use and handling of plastics in particular are becoming increasingly under the spotlight.

Koehler is making a contribution to countering this global challenge. To help accelerate the global movement towards sustainable and responsible packaging solutions, the company is working on the development of barrier paper with functional surfaces. The aim is to produce barriers for packaging that can currently only be provided by plastics or composites. At the same time, this packaging paper should be recyclable in the paper cycle in order to make use of an already existing and functioning circular flow: more than 75 percent of the paper waste generated in Germany is recycled.

Of particular note in this regard is the Green Coating Collaboration, which Koehler runs together with the TU Darmstadt. This unique research community supports Koehler in developing functional surfaces for sustainable packaging solutions for all industries. Koehler is also investing over 300 million euros in a new production facility at the Kehl site. This underscores the company's innovativeness, which also extends to other areas.

Koehler founded its subsidiary Koehler Renewable Energy (KRE) back in 2012, which operates various biomass cogeneration plants and wind farms. The aim is to produce more electricity from renewable sources than is used for paper production by 2030. At Koehler, the concept of sustainability plays an important role across all product lines. This is not only due to the fact that consumers now attach great importance to acting sustainably – at Koehler the topic is also part of the corporate strategy, coupled with the pursuit of continuous improvement and innovation. With its Blue4est® thermal paper – which is not only an award-winning paper, but was also the first thermal paper in the world to be approved for direct contact with foodstuffs – the world market leader in thermal paper is demonstrating that this is not just hollow talk.

Koehler already has a long history in the field of solutions made from recycled board. Made from 100 percent secondary fibers, the paper offer a wide variety of colors and applications. Thanks to their unique natural feel, they not only lend the contents of the packaging a special value, they also underscore the claim of sustainability, which is becoming increasingly important in society and will determine the future.