"The protection of natural resources is one of the most pressing tasks of our time. We have a duty to act in an environmentally-responsible manner."
Quote: Alfred Ritter and Marli Hoppe-Ritter
At RITTER SPORT, the protection of the environment has been of great importance for many years - as this quotation from our 1991 Company Mission shows. We are convinced that timely investments in this area pay off in the long term and we continue to work on improving production methods, products, packaging and logistics. As part of our continuous emission-reduction efforts, we pursue energy-saving measures as new investments, when these do not generate costs that are 10% higher than traditional methods. In isolated cases, however, our investments clearly exceed this threshold. In 1996 we were the first company in the sweets industry to organise environmental protection at a company level, within the framework of a comprehensive management system.
What's close to our heart:
Lightweight
Five years before, in 1991, we had already created the first environmental-performance evaluation for sales packaging and, as a result, switched from composite material to fully recyclable single-material packaging made out of polypropylene. Instead of the 4.5g wrapper for a traditional long bar, the packaging of a RITTER SPORT chocolate square weighs only 1.4g nowadays - year for year, that saves approx. 1000 tonnes of packaging for just the 100g squares, and corresponds to about 50 full lorries of environmentally-damaging materials.
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Cacaonica
Our involvement
in cocoa farming.
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Chocolate Shop
Our own power plant
In 2002, with the construction of a combined heating and power station on our company premises in Waldenbuch, we were able to continue on our environmentally-friendly course. Annually, we save 12m kWh of primary energy, and within two years we have halved our CO2 emissions. Today, we produce 30% of our power needs ourselves.
We make up the remaining 70% through electricity from Schönau power station. Nuclear-free electricity, energy savings and the promotion of "rebel power stations" is at the fore of the EWS. These are requirements that we at RITTER SPORT consider important and support.
The heat that is created in our combined heating and power station during the generation of electricity meets, as a welcome "waste product", 70% of our heat requirements and is used for heating purposes.
Through our combined heating and power station we can thus reduce CO2 pollution by an annual total of 6,800 tonnes, roughly the equivalent of burning 1m litres of heating oil.
Renewable energies
The importance of the environment to Alfred Ritter and Marli Hoppe-Ritter is shown through their commitment to renewable energies. Alfred Ritter is a founding member of the Freiburg solar energy plant; he was property developer of the solar-powered village created by Freiburg architect Rolf Disch, and proprietor of an environmentally-friendly business park near Karlsruhe (which included energy-saving passive housing). Sustainability was also carefully considered in designing the RITTER MUSEUM, which was inaugurated in 2005 by Marli Hoppe-Ritter (architect: Max Dudler). Natural resources like solar energy, groundwater cooling and ground heating were innovatively used in the construction, thus reducing energy needs and CO2 emissions. And then there is also PARADIGMA Energie- und Umwelttechnik GmbH & Co. KG (PARADIGMA Energy and Environmental Technology) with its subsidiary Ritter Solar GmbH. Founded in 1988 by Alfred Ritter, the company now has just over 1000 employees in Germany, Europe and China (here as a joint venture) and is the forerunner for environmentally-friendly heating systems.
Award winning
Sustainability is worthwhile. In 1997, Alfred Ritter was named "Environmentally Friendly Manager of the Year" by Capital magazine, and was distinguished by the WWF (World Wildlife Fund for Nature) for his commitment and environmentally-conscious policies; the year 2000 followed with the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and 2003 brought "The German Solar Prize" from EUROSOLAR (European Association for Renewable Energy). Awards such as these are naturally not the reason for commitment to sustainability, but they are an encouragement to continuing on this important path.
