Challenge

We offer various electrical appliances in our Coffee Preparation business field. These include filter coffeemakers, fully automatic coffee machines, electric kettles and milk frothers, as well as single-serve systems. In addition to this, our operating divisions Melitta Professional Coffee Solutions and Fresh at Work produce high-performance, fully automatic coffee machines for companies, hotels, and the food service industry, or rent them out as part of a comprehensive service offering.

The main sustainability-relevant challenges in our value creation area “Electrical appliances” relate to their production, their use, and their recycling. This is because electrical appliances not only consume energy, but also contribute to the emission of greenhouse gases during their manufacture. Furthermore, the useful life of the appliance and the possibility to repair it, as well as the recyclability of the materials used, have an effect on the degree of environmental impact. Often, electrical appliances also contain harmful substances which can be detrimental to health and the environment if they are not disposed of correctly.

With our many years of experience in the development of high-quality electrical appliances, we want to provide our customers with products that are not only compelling in terms of their usage, but also in terms of maintenance, repairs, and the provision of spare parts. This also includes the lowest possible energy consumption and the introduction of innovative models such as leasing or renting.

Targets and KPIs

By 2030 all electrical appliances we distribute are to be best-in-class in their respective markets in terms of energy consumption, durability, their use of sustainable materials, and repair and service offerings. Our work here is guided by the concept of the “Electrical Appliance of the Future”.

Our activities focus first of all on the products manufactured by the operating division Melitta Europe – Coffee Preparation Division. These include, in particular, filter coffeemakers, fully automatic coffee machines, electric kettles, and milk frothers for domestic use. In a second step, we plan to analyze and further develop the electrical appliances of the other operating divisions (primarily coffee machines and fully automatic coffee machines for commercial users). As we already successfully apply many of the principles of the circular economy for our high-quality commercial machines, such as repairability etc., we have a solid foundation to build on.

In order to measure the sustainability of our electrical appliances, we have been using our MISSION eco & care grading and labeling system since 2013. The system, which was (further) developed together with external experts, analyzes products in terms of their production (e.g. materials used, resources consumed, packaging), their usage (e.g. energy efficiency, product safety, service life) and their end of life (e.g. recyclability of product and packaging). In 2022, we comprehensively updated this system, taking into account the latest standards and findings. In the coming years, we intend to further develop MISSION eco & care so that we can also apply this grading system to other products of our company.

After systematically integrating numerous sustainability requirements into our product development process in 2020, we are currently working hard to improve the repairability and durability of our smaller electrical appliances. To this end, we set up the “FCM Repairability” working group in 2022 to develop and implement ideas for an economically viable expansion of our repair service for filter coffee machines. We made progress in this field in the past year, particularly with regard to the standardization of components and parts. Moreover, various bio-based and recycled materials were examined to determine their usability and availability.

In 2022, we also examined numerous alternative resources and materials for the manufacture of our electrical appliances. One area of focus was the use of recycled plastic for our filter coffee machines. We also worked on solutions to make the packaging of our electrical appliances even more sustainable. We will continue these highly promising tests in 2023 and then gradually make the necessary changes.

What we achieved in 2022

• Comprehensively enhanced our MISSION eco & care grading system
• Started “FCM Repairability” working group to test and improve the repairability of filter coffee machines
• Began analyzing the use of alternative resources and materials (especially plastic recyclates) for the production of our filter coffeemakers
• Started analyzing the use of more sustainable packaging for our electrical appliances

What we are currently working on

• Development of solutions to increase the repairability of our filter coffeemakers
• Expansion of our repair service
• Further analysis of using alternative resources and materials for the production of our filter coffeemakers
• Further analysis of using more sustainable packaging for our electrical appliances
• Launch of a next-generation project “Mission Eco & Care 2.0” with a focus on materials, transparency and digitalization, energy and water consumption, raw material consumption (e.g. cleaning chemicals), recyclability, and CO₂-free life cycle