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SLV Light on Sustainability

The manufacturer of indoor and outdoor lighting products SLV understands sustainability as the balanced interaction of the three areas of economy, environment and society. SLV is committed to providing its customers with environmentally friendly and resource-efficient products while minimising the impact on the environment and the climate.

SLV‘s way to more sustainability:

Compact Packaging

In 2020 SLV GmbH bought a compact packaging machine by PACKSIZE (On Demand Packaging®). The packaging machine optimizes the use of cardboard by adjusting the size to the product volume: The empty space in packaging is reduced. As a result, SLV has to use less cardboard and filling material and has lower costs.

Positive impacts on the environment:

Less environmental impact due to reduced use of resources (cardboard, filling material)
Less greenhouse gas emissions due to increase of logistic efficiency and less material use
Less waste for costumers and SLV: Lower impact on landfills

Positive impacts besides sustainability:

Less complaints of costumers: Elimination of empty space reduces possibility of damage.
Increase of customer satisfaction: Customers do not like oversized boxes for their orders and tons of filler.
Less money spent on cardboard, filling material, logistics etc.
Optimized logistics: More products fit into the same truck.

Fact and figures:

Approximately 40 % empty space in average packaging (according to PACKSIZE)
SLV: 40 % reduction of filling materials
SLV: > 200 k packages/year with 30 % volume reduction
SLV: 17 % more products fit in the same truck
SLV: > 30 t CO2 saved per year

Tec Value Range

A new product range with more technical products will be released by SLV in 2023. The Tec Value Range is a pilot project for more sustainable packaging in a modern and minimalistic design. The packaging will be just a brown box with a sticker on it (no paint, no varnish). With the pilot project, SLV wants to test the new packaging and the possibility of extending it to other products.

Positive impacts on the environment:

Less environmental impact: Paints often contain polymers.
Easier to recycle: Varnished boxes often can not be recycled.

We are particularly proud of our ECOVADIS Gold Sustainability Rating, which we have achieved for the second time. The award is a confirmation of the sustainability strategy we have consistently pursued.

Mark Körner | CEO

Group Sustainable Packaging framework

The Group Sustainable Packaging framework was published in 2021 for the whole SLV Lighting Group with recommendations for more sustainable packaging:

using recycled material (best case fsc certified), avoiding plastics, avoiding stickers, optimizing packaging size, reusable for returns, VOC-free colors (limited to 2 colors), avoiding shiny colors and varnished or laminated boxes.

Energy transition

The energy transition is both a challenge and an opportunity for SLV and the industry: Long transport routes, lack of charging infrastructure for electric vehicles, high costs for solar panels and heating pumps are all challenges that companies have to face.

Nevertheless, challenging times require innovative solutions: SLV increases the circularity of products, which means resource efficiency, recyclability, repairability, and modularity. The company improves the energy efficiency of products and help customers to save energy. Moreover, SLV increases share of European suppliers and reduces transport distances.