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Sustainability at Eppendorf

Our commitment to people and the environment

To achieve sustainable success, we consider not only financial but also environmental and social aspects in our business activities and strive to harmonize these three dimensions.

Sustainability has always been an integral part of our company:

Our products are becoming ever more sustainable and help ensure that research can be carried out optimally all over the world. We are continuously working on protecting the environment and are aware of our significant responsibility as an employer towards our employees. Our commitment to society manifests itself in many ways and is closely linked to our core competencies.

Compliance with laws and regulations is more than a matter of course for us:

We actually exceed them by setting even higher standards for ourselves. We also commit our suppliers and service providers to standards that exceed the legal requirements and apply to us globally.

For a Livable World – Today and Tomorrow

Our mission “to improve human living conditions” requires us to positively transform the Eppendorf Group to operate safely within the planetary boundaries and respecting humanity: we shall become climate neutral, minimize the use of natural resources, and improve human well-being throughout our value creation. Learn more about it!

Discover our vision

Ergonomics

Learn more how our PhysioCare Concept^® improves working conditions in the lab

Corporate Citizenship

See where Eppendorf and our employees support the society

Commitments

Be inspired how Eppendorf constantly improves its environmental and social footprint internally

Goals

Check out what we expect from ourselves as well as from our partners

Products

Discover the product improvements within the product life cycles

Articles

Find out answers about open questions

Are You In?

Sustainability Report 2022

In our Sustainability Report for the 2022 fiscal year, we inform about the handling and implementation of our four key strategic sustainability themes: climate change, natural resources, social compliance and social well-being and, moreover, we share information about the social engagement of the Group of Companies.

Read the Report here

»Eppendorf should be synonymous with customer- oriented processes, innovative technologies, and premium products and services to improve human Living conditions.«

This is how our founders Dr. Netheler and Dr. Hinz described the company mission in 1970. This mission has motivated and inspired us at Eppendorf ever since then. As a mid-sized company, we have always been – and will continue to be – very aware of our responsibility to all human beings. This is why we welcome both the heterogeneity and individuality of our employees and customers as well as the diversity of their cultures, world views and personal biographies. Every day, we discover new potential and opportunities for improving our efficiency on the market – and heightening our mutual respect and esteem.

Sustainability covers the three columns of environmental, social, and economical aspects. The environmental area is still the most known aspect of sustainability in public. Eppendorf strives to reduce its environmental footprint by constantly reducing the raw material usage a well as energy consumption and to optimize the environmental impact of our business operations and the products we produce. Environmental aspects are joined by social and economical aspects within Eppendorf but also when our products are used by our stakeholders. None of these challenges can be solved quickly or easily. But all of them demand that we listen to one another and work together. That we focus on caring for the environment and the future of all of us. We know where that road leads: We aim to make our contribution and reduce the CO₂ footprint together.

The Challenge

In respect to lab environment, there is a special situation: Security of the scientists combined with safety for the samples, embraced by sustainable progress. Consumables like tubes and tips are mandatory in labs due to purity and risk of samples – by this, scientists produce enormous amounts of plastic waste which -until today- can not be recycled in a proper way. There are ideas and promising research projects but a reliable and robust recycling method is currently not available. As centrifuges run only several minutes to hours per day, their power consumption is lower than for devices with 24 h per day running time (freezers, biosafety cabinets, incubators, etc.).

Nevertheless, by applying new, innovative technology, the power consumption of every lab equipment can be optimized. Even improvements at already low consumption levels do benefit the environment. We must pursue every opportunity for progress. Still, we do not compromise in respect to sample safety, meaning, we insist on exact temperature conditions for your samples. For example, when you put the setting to 4 °C for a spinning run of highly sensitive protein samples, you have the right to expect temperature accuracy. Temperature accuracy is directly related to reproducibility and data reliability.

Learn more about our products

New Product Development

In accordance with this goal, Eppendorf has decided that newly developed products have to focus on reduced energy consumption: within our production process as well as at your lab bench at daily usage.

This work is never over, it is an on-going journey. That’s why, at Eppendorf, we started to focus on completely new technologies in respect to green products. All of us have to change, to adapt to new technologies to fill the gaps we still have to save the environment.

"Sustainability is a matter close to our hearts and our understanding of ourselves as a responsible company."

Eva van Pelt
Co-CEO and Chief Commercial Officer