Sustainability

Waste separation, resource conservation, energy-saving measures and sustainable energy management are topics that occupy us time and again, both in our private lives and at work. Everyone is invited, if not required, to make a contribution to environmental protection. On this page, we would like to show you how TOPREGAL GmbH manages to operate sustainably, to not overuse resources, and at the same time to support its employees in living their part of sustainability in and outside the company. At TOPREGAL, climate protection is close to our hearts and we try to treat our planet and the environment a little better every day. In doing so, we take concrete measures. Let us inspire you with our vision of a green company.

Dramatic, but not hopeless

The media reports daily on the catastrophic effects of climate change. Higher_{CO2 emissions} and the resulting hotter global climate are causing the polar ice caps to melt, which is additionally warming our atmosphere. The consequences of this are terribly varied. These include flooding due to rising sea levels, increasingly extreme weather conditions leading to long periods of drought and more frequent floods, and wildlife is not spared either. Currently, around one million animal species are threatened with extinction. According to the German Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU), 150 animal species disappear from planet Earth every day.

In order to slow down or even completely stop these effects, the Federal Ministry for the Environment (BMU) defined 17 goals. Among them are goals to which we as a company can make a significant contribution through our actions and decisions:

• Health and well-being
• Gender equality
• Affordable and clean energy
• Decent work
• Sustainable cities and communities
• Climate protection measures

Everyone can contribute to environmental protection. So we, TOPREGAL GmbH, have made a voluntary commitment to do our part and preserve our blue planet. We would like to present some of the measures here.

Sustainability has different facets

Sustainability and sustainable action are many things, but most of them are not easy. In business and politics, for example, there is often the impression that the complex construct of sustainability and ecology are at odds with a growing economy.

Green mindset: Green production

By ecological sustainability, most people mean a reduction in greenhouse gases such as_CO2 and methane. However, ecological action goes far beyond this.

TOPREGAL GmbH reduces its emissions through many different measures: For example, most arrangements, meetings with customers and suppliers and even within the company take place by telephone. This not only saves time, but also travel. In addition, the company started early to implement an almost paperless office, without fax machines or document filing. This saves resources on the one hand and prevents excessive waste production on the other. That is why we also reduce the production of numerous catalogs to a minimum - we would like to discontinue this medium completely, but at the request of our customers we have a small print run produced at irregular intervals, of which we only send out on request. Certainly, we will continue to reduce the number and perhaps in a few years it will be possible to offer our catalog only as a PDF, as we already do in foreign languages. So far, we have also had good experiences with this and received positive customer feedback.

As a service-oriented industrial company, you still need vehicles, functioning logistics and employees who fill the shelves and pick goods every day in warehouses. This is where the management has recognized the greatest leverage within TOPREGAL. Thus, only electric vehicles are used in our warehouses, such as electrically powered forklifts, low-floor vehicles and cleaning machines. This not only protects the environment, through lower_{CO2 pollution}, but also the individual employee, who is thus not exposed to exhaust fumes in warehouses on a daily basis. In order to promote this technology to the outside world, we offer our customers only electrically powered vehicles and equipment. In this way, we consciously decide against selling products that can only be powered by combustion engines, such as diesel generators or larger construction machines. Here we, as TOPREGAL GmbH, like to limit ourselves for the sake of the environment.

Hereby we, as a responsible organization, want to contribute our part to the energy turnaround in Germany.

Green Ideas: The sustainable attitude of employees

One thing must be clear: The green mindset starts with a company's employees. Without them, no sustainable processes can be implemented and no sustainable products can be brought to market. Thus, TOPREGAL regularly encourages its employees to develop sustainable concepts and ideas for respectful interaction with each other and with nature.

For example, some improvements have already been implemented within the organization: only electric hand dryers are used in the restrooms instead of paper towels, which would end up in the trash can after a single use. In addition, only glass bottles are used in the office and the free coffee is, of course, fair trade, to enable coffee farmers to live outside poverty.

Waste separation and energy saving are among the most important and easiest measures that can be taken to achieve a positive climate balance. For example, employees at TOPREGAL are regularly trained and sensitized to separate plastic waste from organic and paper waste, to print out and throw away as little as possible, and to turn off lights in the evening and when leaving the premises.

The environmentally friendly measures do not stop in our warehouses: We take care to produce as little waste as possible. Thus, returned products that can be repaired are actually repaired and not disposed of. In each case, the following question is asked: Can the device be repaired? If there is a possibility, it will be used. We owe this to our customers as well as to our environment. If it is no longer possible to use a device due to excessive damage, it is dismantled professionally and usable parts are reused in other devices of the same type. With the help of such upcycling measures TOPREGAL tries to act economically as well as ecologically responsible.

Green location policy

TOPREGAL's economic growth means that more and more customers are becoming aware of the company internationally, which means that delivery routes are becoming longer and longer. In order to shorten transport routes and thus improve the CO2 balance, new logistics centers are needed.

For this purpose, the newest location was developed in Pasewalk, near the Polish border. This location was deliberately chosen because TOPREGAL is generating more and more customers in the north-east of Germany. But not only transport routes are reduced by this location. The aim is to build up a new, own truck fleet here, which is exclusively equipped with the most modern and economical combustion engines (Euro 6). In the future, electric vehicles will also be used here. A charging station for trucks with electric motors is already available at the logistics center and provides 250 kW of power. TOPREGAL GmbH is thus setting new standards in the field of logistics.

But this location not only shines with its ecological vehicle fleet. The entire flat roof of the 5000 m² warehouse was equipped with photovoltaic systems with the aim of realizing a self-sufficient energy economy. With 509,062 kWh/year, this system generates enough electricity for the daily needs of the halls, for all vehicles, for charging stations for employee vehicles and social areas. During the day, of course, the electricity is used for the electric vehicles and for the operation of the warehouses. Surplus energy is not fed directly into the grid, but is bundled on site in a buffer storage with a capacity of 203.4 kWh. This is used at night, among other things, to operate the air-source heat pump and supply the janitor's apartment with electricity. In total, this innovative technology saves 320 tons of carbon dioxide that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere.

However, this green heating system is not only used in this apartment, but in all social rooms at the Pasewalk site. The electricity generated in this way is also used by employees in the form of charging stations for e-bikes and e-vehicles, thus also creating an incentive outside the company to switch to renewable energies. TOPREGAL will also switch completely to e-cars as of 01.12.2022 when it comes to employee vehicles.

Pasewalk will thus become a pioneer of green engineering in the field of warehouse logistics. Thus, a large number of trees will also be planted and many more green areas will be provided with benches and trash cans, not only to meet the ecological but also the social sustainability.

Sustainable product strategy

It is not only the company's own infrastructure that is designed to be ecologically sustainable. The industrial products are also impressive. For example, TOPREGAL's product range does not include any machines, vehicles or equipment with combustion engines. The technical products, which are motor-driven, use electric motors as drive. Here, the company even goes one step further. Many products have recently also solar panels to use solar energy. These ensure that the battery capacity is either considerably extended or that the device even functions completely without a supply of electricity from the mains. TOPREGAL takes this claim to its own products very seriously. In the future, too, customers will not be able to find any combustion engines.