Werner & Mertz is Circular Solution Leader 2024!

Mainz cleaning products company honored for patented stand-up pouch

Werner & Mertz has been designated a Circular Solution Leader and honored with the Circularity Champion Award 2024 in the category Innovative Solutions for its exemplary contribution to the circular economy. The world’s first fully recyclable stand-up pouch impressed the seven-member jury of representatives from business, science and society. Werner & Mertz owner Reinhard Schneider received the award at the Responsible Leadership Conference on 13 November.

“These projects set new standards for responsible business and impressively demonstrate how companies can effect lasting, positive changes with innovative circular economy models,” the jury said about the innovations of the award-winning companies.

“We are very pleased to receive the jury’s recognition. It’s important to us, as an innovative, sustainable company, to be a pioneer of a new ecological market standard. Other providers in our detergent and cleaning products sector have followed our lead and put our technology to use. Together we show that a functioning circular economy and climate protection go hand in hand,” said Schneider as he accepted the award from jury member Isabel Gomez.

In cooperation with its partner Mondi, Werner & Mertz put the patented flexible stand-up pouch of a monomaterial on the market at the end of a multi-year development project. Designed according to the Cradle-to-Cradle® Principle, the pouch is forward-looking and sustainable. It can be completely recycled mechanically and, for the first time, 85 percent of its total weight can be recycled to a high quality standard. The complete recyclability was certified by the independent Institute cyclos-HTP and Interseroh.

The development of the stand-up pouch played a part in the design of sorting facilities. In the past, plastic film pieces smaller than letter-sized paper were incinerated because there was no way to sort and recycle them. Such plastic pieces make up approximately 40 percent of the Yellow Bag contents and represent enormous, previously untapped potential for CO2 avoidance. With the Design for Recycling in mind, the cooperation partners set out to develop a stand-up pouch that was completely recyclable not simply in theory but in practice. In the design of the sorting equipment in Gernsheim—one of the most modern sorting facilities in Germany—the pouch is recognized by the machine and then fed into material recycling processes.

The development of the pouch has influenced the cleaning products sector too. With the eco brand Frosch, the Mainz manufacturer has earned its reputation as a pioneer for refillable products and now offers more than 26 products in 10 product categories in refill pouches. A pouch with 70 percent less packaging material than a bottle with the same amount of product greatly reduces plastic consumption. Consumers and competitors alike have taken notice. As the demand for refillable pouches keeps growing, increasingly more companies are switching to pouches for their products.

The Circularity Champion Award, initiated by Cradle to Cradle NGO and F.A.Z.-Institut, honors companies for innovative approaches and outstanding achievements in the circular economy. In 2024, seven companies were selected from 85 applicants as award winners in three categories. The awards ceremony took place during the 13th Responsible Leadership Conference in Frankfurt am Main on 13 November.