Langnau BE – Printed paper and cardboard are often full of toxins. In contrast, Vögeli forgoes the use of such toxic substances in its production processes. The printing company based in the Emmental consistently adheres to the Cradle to Cradle principle. For this, it is able to turn to a Europe-wide network.

Vögeli offers the only printed paper in the world that conforms with the Cradle to Cradle Certified GOLD Standard. Today, the Emmental-based company is in a position to offer food packaging made from printed paper and cardboard on a par with organic products, which therefore renders it suitable for use in the circular economy. This applies to paper, adhesives, lacquers and printing inks used by Vögeli.

This innovation has been made possible by collaborating with several partners. For example, the company founded the Print-the-Change cooperative together with the two printing firms, namely KLS from Denmark and Gugler from Austria. As a press release issued to announce the establishment of Print the Change last year explained: “The cooperative’s mission is to share expertise amassed by the founding companies over two decades with regard to healthy, residue-free printing processes, the circular economy and Cradle to Cradle certifications with other printing companies in Europe, conduct joint research, development and procurement activities in addition to working the markets”. The partners are able to fall back on long-standing experience. In this respect, Gugler became “the world’s first supplier of Cradle to Cradle certified printed products” in 2011. Vögeli has now gone one step beyond: as it is the only company to have been awarded a Cradle to Cradle Certified GOLD Standard certification, it is now also able to offer solutions in the field of food packaging for organic produce for the first time.

The common path towards sustainable printed products was supported by EPEA Switzerland. The company, which is headquartered in Bäch SZ, supports other firms in various activity areas related to the development and implementation of Cradle to Cradle design concepts. In this way, for example, it helped Vögeli as part of the collaboration to be fully transparent with regard to the chemicals used in its processes and to thereby secure a Cradle to Cradle Certified certification at GOLD level. This ensures that Vögeli is contributing towards a situation in which toxins from paper and cardboard no longer pollute the environment, meaning that these substances ultimately also no longer end up in consumers’ bodies.

Further reading:

Additional information on the companies website. Also, there is a short video summary of Vögeli´s C2C philosophy on YouTube.