BRITA GROUPS U S TA I N A B I L I T Y R E P O R T 2 02 0

SHAPINGSUSTAIN­ABLE
SOLUTIONSDear readers,
I am always surprised how quickly time flies
between each BRITA sustainability report.
But I am even more surprised and especiallyproud when I look at the journey we havemade in these past years. What new ambitions and goals we have developed for oursustainability activities and, even more
importantly, what has been implemented andachieved. It cannot be denied that the typicalcharacteristics of a medium-sized familybusiness shine through, no matter how large
and international we become. “Just do it!”,“Yes, it’s a bit over-ambitious, but look at what
we have already achieved!”, “I have an idea.
What do you think, are you on board?”, “We’ll
do that together!” are part of the thinking ofour global BRITA family, across generations
and cultures.
I think it is fair to say that we at BRITA were
sustainable long before the word became abuzz term. With our recyclable cartridges wewere paving the way to sustainability decadesago. Our regeneration system for ion exchange resin, one of the components of ourfilter materials, was a novelty. We were alsoahead of the game with the use of certified
green electricity in our production.

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Tap water and its optimisation are
clearly my deep passion. Changing
the way people drink water sustainably is my personal driver and ourcompany’s vision. And this is also
the vision and focus of every BRITA
employee.
As a global BRITA family, we are determined to make our world a little
better in this respect, with less plastic waste from mineral water bottles,
fewer emissions and simply more
responsibility.

Later on, we established ourselves over the years in the minds ofconsumers and customers as a provider of sustainable alternatives tomineral water, much of it in plastic bottles. More than ten years ago,
we calculated the impressively low first CO 2 footprint of a litre of
BRITA-filtered water compared to one litre of bottled water. But a verysignificant impulse came on our 50 th anniversary five years ago, from astudy of the Ellen-MacArthur Foundation. The study came to theconclusion: if we do not change our behaviour, by 2050 there will be
more plastic in the oceans than fish. This idea shocked not only me
but all of us at BRITA and set us in motion, together with our partner
Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC).
With our new corporate strategy “Shaping Sustainable Solutions”, weare now setting the bar even higher. We are putting sustainability at
the core of all our actions. For us, this means that we are seriously
mobilising to make our planet a little bit better. This certainly sounds
very ambitious. But we all know that “a journey of 1,000 miles also
begins with a single step.” We see our heritage as the starting point
and an impulse to officially establish sustainability as being what it
already is for me personally, for our management and for the global
BRITA family: a matter of the heart that must also be our strategic
focal point and the essence of our communication. It is incredibly
motivating for all of us to work in a company that can really embrace
this path and what it means. Of course, this has to do with the vitalnatural resource we deal with every day with great passion: water.
Just how seriously we take our path to sustainability is shown inparticular by the fact that in the future, in addition to the classic
business indicators of turnover and profit, we will also add, measure,and communicate our “Planet Contribution”. This indicator is about ourcontribution, about what we achieve with large and small measures inour company and with our range of products and solutions. The“Planet Contribution” considers, on the one hand, BRITA’s own carbon
footprint, which we want to reduce even more consistently in the
future. And on the other hand, it measures the amount of bottled waterthat is replaced by people using BRITA product solutions. This second
quotient is already impressive today and it drives us to achieve evenmore: every year we replace more than 4 billion bottles. An incredible
number. If placed end to end, these could circle the equator 35 times.
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Our goal is to increase this number to 6.5
billion bottles saved per year by 2025. And toachieve this, we have set ambitious goals forourselves. We want to show you what thosegoals are and what we are already working onin this report. Have fun reading!
And finally, let me end with a personal appeal:“We want to change the way people drink
water sustainably.” That is our vision. We
celebrate everyone who joins us on this quest
and very much hope that we will succeed inthis (r)evolution, not least for the generations
to come.
Warm regards,
Markus Hankammer

21
EXCHANGE WITH
STAKEHOLDERS

28
SMART MARKETING –ENCOURAGING A GLOBALRETHINK
29
THE BRITA BRAND AS
PERCEIVED BY CONSUMERS
31
INFINITELY VALUABLERESOURCES – RECYCLING AT
BRITA PROFESSIONAL
33
BRITA WINS THE 2021
GERMAN INNOVATION
AWARD

34
FACTS AND FIGURES

39“NEW WORK” AT BRITA:
THE WOW! EFFECT42
BRITA VITAL: HEALTH
AS A TOP PRIORITY
43
THE CORONAVIRUS
PANDEMIC: A SEVERETEST FOR THE GLOBALBRITA FAMILY
45
VISIT TO BRITA X:
AN INSIGHT INTO THEINNOVATION LAB
47#BRITaid – WORKINGTOGETHER FOR A GOOD
CAUSE
49
LEADERSHIP POTENTIALFROM OUR OWN RANKS50
FACTS AND FIGURESE D I T O R I A L // C O M P A N Y // P R O D U C T // P E O P L E // P L A N E T

56
NEW BRITA PRODUCTION
BUILDING IN BAD CAMBERG:
EVERYTHING UNDER ONESUSTAINABLE ROOF

# 04 PLANET

17
SUSTAINABILITY
AT BRITA

27
GOOD PARTNERS INSUSTAINABILITY# 03 PEOPLE

06
WE ARE BRITA

23
IT‘S NOT THAT SIMPLE:
THE LONG ROAD TOSUSTAINABLE PRODUCTS# 02 PRODUCT# 01 COMPANYCONTENT60
LESS IS MORE: OUR
CONTRIBUTION TO
CLIMATE PROTECTION63
WDC AND BRITA: WHALES,WATER, WORLDWIDE
EFFECT
65
REUSE MEANS ADDED VALUE
67
GLOBAL PASSION FOR THE
ENVIRONMENT68
FACTS AND FIGURES

# 01
COMPANYE D I T O R I A L // C O M P A N Y // P R O D U C T // P E O P L E // P L A N E T

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WE ARE BRITA
BRITA is the world-renowned expert in the area of drinking water optimisation and customisation. With his invention of the water
filter jug in 1970, Heinz Hankammer discovered a market niche and then consistently created the market for it. His son Markus
Hankammer successfully shaped the medium-sized family business into a global multi-product company with financial indepen­
dence and a long-term mindset. Today, from our headquarters in Taunusstein near Wiesbaden, we operate four production facilities in Germany, the UK, Italy and China, 30 national and international subsidiaries and are represented in 70 countries on all fivecontinents.
We are a unique company, with our own DNA – our own identity. To make this visible to everyone, in 2020 we developed a BRITA
identity in addition to our vision and mission and presented it to our employees.
This statement describes who we are: a German company that is internationally oriented and sees diversity as an added value.
A company that has the ambition to really make a difference and that optimises drinking water at the point of use with focus andpassion. A company that wants to make the world a little better – with less plastic, fewer emissions and a long-term focus.

As a family-owned business, we have always strongly andconsistently championed values. Despite the company’s swift
advances and strong growth, nothing has changed in this regard – and so it will remain in future. The management and allof the employees know that values are fundamental and contribute just as much to the company’s success as businessstrategies do.

Our values

LATITUDE
TEAM SPIRITIDENTITYVISIONMISSION“Wir sind BRITA. A global family.
Committed to creating a positive andsustainable impact in the world of water.”“We will change the way people
drink water sustainably.”“We offer to everybody the best drinking
water experience according to their individual
expectations.”

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TRUSTOPENNESS
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CONTINUOUS EXPANSION OF THE PRODUCT RANGE
Our mission is “to offer everybody the best possible drinking water experience according to their individual expectations”. To this end, we have been consistently expanding our product portfolio
for several years. The goal for every product is to be a leader in terms of technology, quality and design. We market our products under the brand names BRITA, VIVREAU and MAVEA.

Consumer products for at home and out of home

Professional products

●
●
●
●

● F
 ilter solutions for commercial use: coffee and espresso machines, vending machines,
combi steamers, conventional ovens and dishwashers● P ipe-connected water dispensers for filtered, chilled, carbonated and hot water for the target
groups Corporate (e.g. offices, industry), HORECA (e.g. upscale gastronomy, hotel industry,catering) and Healthcare (e.g. hospitals, care homes, doctors’ offices)F ilter jugs with corresponding cartridgesD rinking bottles and carafes with matching filtersK itchen taps and pipe-connected water dispensers with filter solutionsS parkling water maker for carbonated water at the touch of a button

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Always innovating
We continuously adapt our products and services to the expectations and needs of ourcustomers. To this end, in recent years we have also launched new and innovative products
such as the MAXTRA+ Expert cartridge for particularly hard water or the new Flow water filter

But existing products are also being further developed and optimised. For example, we havelaunched an improved version of the OnTap, a filter add-on system for the existing kitchen tap,
as well as our optimised BRITA mypure 3-way tap, which replaces an existing kitchen tap andprovides great tasting, freshly filtered water in addition to unfiltered. The product was awarded
the Green Product Award Editors Choice in early 2021. In addition, our water dispensers suchas the BRITA VIVREAU Aquarite and Top 15 have been equipped with a natural refrigerant,
which is not only better for the environment, but also makes the water dispenser even moreenergy efficient.

The line of pipe- connected water dispensers is growing continuously.

station with a capacity of more than eight litres and a tap spout for precise portioning. In theProfessional Filter range, we have developed PROGUARD Coffee, a patented reverse osmosis
system with mineralisation technology that provides customised water for great tasting coffee
while guaranteeing optimal machine protection.
In recent years, we have realised the largest product development project in the company’s
history for our pipe-connected water dispensers. With BRITA VIVREAU Top 50/85, Extra
I-Shape, Extra C-Shape and Fill, several products for the highest fresh filtered water demands
and for professional applications have been launched on the market.

In 2020, we also took a first step into another segment. With the acquisition of Filltech GmbH,the world’s most modern company in the production and filling of CO 2 cylinders, we have not
only secured the supply for our water dispensers, but are now opening up the very interesting
market of sparkling water makers. Consequently, in spring 2021, we launched the first BRITA
sodaONE sparkling water maker on our home market Germany.

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8OPERATING ON ALL FIVE CONTINENTS
The BRITA Group includes not only BRITA GmbH which is headquartered in Taunusstein. A total of 30 subsidiaries around the world equally contribute to our progress and growth.
In total, our products are present in 70 markets.

BRITA GmbH, Germany (Headquarters)
BRITA Water Filter Systems Pty. Ltd., Australia
BRITA China Co. Ltd., China
BRITA China Manufacturing Ltd., China
BRITA Hong Kong Ltd., Hong Kong
BRITA France S.A.R.L., France
BRITA Water Filter Systems Ltd., UK
BRITA Italia s.r.l. Unipersonale, Italy
BRITA Japan KK, Japan
BRITA Korea Co. Ltd., Korea
BRITA Polska S.p.z.o.o., Poland
BRITA Turkey Su Cözümleri Limited Sirketi, Turkey
BRITA OOO, Russia
BRITA Wasser-Filter-Systeme AG, Switzerland
BRITA Iberia S.L., Spain
BRITA Taiwan Co. Ltd., Taiwan
MAVEA LLC, USA
MAVEA Canada Inc., Canada
BRITA Italia Manufacturing Srl., Italy
BRITA Vivreau Limited, UK
Vivreau USA LP, USA
Vivreau Canada Inc., Canada
BRITA Vivreau B.V.B.A., Belgium
BRITA Vivreau B.V., Netherlands
BRITA Vivreau GmbH, Germany
BRITA India Water Solutions Private Ltd., India
BRITA Nordic A/S, Denmark
Filltech GmbH, Germany

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9SUCCESSFUL THROUGH A YEAR OF CRISIS

494 m euros

474 m euros

548 m euros

617 m euros

In total, the turnover of the BRITA Group in 2020 amounted to
617 million euros (after exchange-rate adjustments: 622
million euros). This represents growth of 12.6 per cent (after
exchange-rate adjustments: 13.6 per cent) compared to theprevious year (2019: 548 million euros). We recorded 83 percent of total turnover outside Germany.

Annual turnover of the BRITA Group469 m euros

After the historic result of 2019, 2020 was another record year
in our company’s history. The main reasons for this continued
success: a clear pandemic strategy that ensured production
and logistics worldwide, an immense response from consumers who, particularly at this time, appreciate convenient, safe
products that make it easy for them to have great tasting
drinking water at home, and an ever stronger commitment tosustainability and against single-use plastic as a major driverof environmental pollution.

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

Our consumer products accounted for 462 million euros, or
75 per cent of the Group’s total revenue (2019: 379 million
euros, +21.5 per cent). Our three largest markets in thissegment were once again China, Germany and the UK. The
Professional segment with filter solutions for hotels, restaurants, catering and vending machines as well as withpipe-connected water dispensers for offices, schools,
hospitals and gastronomy was impacted by the numerous
lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, thisbusiness unit generated a turnover of 155 million euros(2019: 169 million euros, -7.6 per cent) and thus 25 per cent of
total turnover. As in the previous year, the largest markets forthese products were Germany, the UK and Switzerland.

“Our strong brand, the only truly global brand in drinking water
optimisation, is simply our greatest asset. This has been
proven once again, especially during the coronavirus pandemic.
Understandably, the need for great tasting drinking water athome – without having to constantly go to shops to buy bottlesof mineral water – increased immensely. People all over theworld simply trust BRITA because they know they can expect
product quality and safety as well as easy and reliable
functionality,” says Markus Hankammer, BRITA Group CEO
and second generation at the helm of the family-owned
company, explaining the success.

Impressed with the success and team spirit exhibited in the pandemic year 2020
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10LONG-TERM PROSPECTS AND INVESTMENTS IN THE FUTURE
Over the past five years, we have rapidly realised our declared strategic goal of creating a “second home” for ourselves. After Japan, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong and the first promising steps on
the Indian subcontinent, the young BRITA team in Korea launched its first full business year in 2018. Korea is a very interesting market for BRITA. Koreans, who are particularly quality andtechnology conscious, are fans of a German brand product: the classic BRITA filter jug, which for the first time offers them a smart “simple way” of optimising drinking water. We will continue tobuild on the success of our expansion in Asia in the future.

Historic investment project for future-proof
infrastructure
In 2018, we launched the largest investment project in our
history with the aim of expanding the infrastructure at ourheadquarters. The project, with a total investment volume ofat least 80 million euros, takes a holistic approach to production, logistics and administration. The expansion takes ourcontinuous growth into account. In addition to the necessary
adaptation to the currently foreseeable needs for the future,
we are also looking to make our location in Hesse sustainably
future-proof by being as forward-thinking as possible.
However, the first step was taken in Italy. During 2018, we built
another modern and expandable manufacturing facility here inEurope. BRITA Italia Manufacturing, the production company forthe product segment of the pipe-connected BRITA VIVREAU
water dispensers, was relocated from Altare near Genoa andhas since been based in Arsago Seprio in Lombardy. Production initially started here with four production lines and 69
employees.
In 2020, our new European distribution warehouse in Beselichnear Limburg began operations. With 17,000 pallet spaces,
proximity to our production site in Taunusstein and goodconnections to one of Europe's most important transport hubs,
we can thus ensure efficient supply chains and deliveries forour customers.
Following extensive renovations, our Swiss employees were able to move into a new, modernised building.

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Also in 2020, we began relocating our production facility from Taunusstein to neighbouring Bad Camberg. By the end of 2020, an
ultra-modern, highly sustainable production facility was built there on the available 35,500 square metres as a timber hybrid with
the necessary offices and around 100 workplaces. Thanks to this new site, the planned growth of the existing BRITA portfolio
and the associated volume increases can be managed. At the same time, the production line remaining in Switzerland was
relocated to Bad Camberg and the small manufacturing facility there was closed. All our Swiss production employees received
alternative offers for tasks in the Swiss sales company. They, too, moved into a new, sustainable building in 2021.

Groundbreaking: The energy- efficient new production site in
Bad Camberg, Germany, is a timber hybrid building.

IMPORTANT INFRA­STRUCTURE PROJECTS© Arup/ Visualisation: NH Studio

Sustainable and with a view to the future: A new office building will be constructed at the BRITA Campus in Taunusstein, Germany.

In addition to logistics and production, capacities at our headquarters in Taunusstein-Neuhof are also being expanded andpositioned for the future. Starting in 2021, the administrative building will be extended to the south to create space for 250
additional workplaces. Furthermore, the existing building at the same location will be completely renovated. The office conceptof both buildings will be adapted to the idea of “New Work” and, again in cooperation with the Fraunhofer Institute, both buildings will be equipped with flexible, state-of-the-art workplaces that promote communication. The home office concept, which
was implemented very successfully during the pandemic, will also be able to play a critical role in the future.

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New dispenser production in Italy
2020	New central warehouse in Beselich,
Germany
2020	New filter cartridge production in Bad
Camberg, Germany2021
New office building in Switzerland
2021	Renovation and new construction of officebuildings at headquarters in Taunusstein,
Germany

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FAMILY BUSINESS THROUGH AND THROUGHBRITA GmbH was founded on 1 July 1966 by Heinz Hankammer. Today, we are an autonomous and financially independent family-owned business that is incorporated as a limited liability
company (GmbH). The company’s operating activities are pooled in BRITA GmbH. Until August 1996, the company’s founder Heinz Hankammer was the sole managing director. In August 1996,
Heinz Hankammer’s son Markus joined the management team. On 1 January 1999, Heinz Hankammer then assigned the sole management responsibility to Markus Hankammer, who today is
CEO of the BRITA Group. In addition to Markus Hankammer, Dr Rüdiger Kraege and Stefan Jonitz are registered managing directors of BRITA GmbH and also members of the Executive Board.

The Executive Board●●●M arkus Hankammer, Chief Executive Officer BRITA GroupS
 tefan Jonitz, Chief Financial Officer BRITA GroupD
 r Rüdiger Kraege, Chief Sales Officer BRITA Group

The BRITA Executive Board (from left to right): Stefan Jonitz,
Markus Hankammer and Dr Rüdiger Kraege

During the reporting period, the Executive Board was reducedby two positions (Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Operational
Officer). The responsibilities and duties of these two positions
were assumed by the other members of the Executive Board.

The Supervisory Board
The Supervisory Board of Hanvest Holding GmbH, the holding
company of BRITA GmbH, was established in 1999. The
founding members were Heinz Hankammer, Prof Gerd Walger
and Moss Kadey. Heinz Hankammer took over as chairman until
December 2013. He was then appointed honorary chairman. The
Supervisory Board advises and monitors the management ofHanvest Holding GmbH and, indirectly, the affiliated companies. It consists of at least three members who are appointed
by the shareholders of Hanvest Holding GmbH. The current
Supervisory Board members are:●M
 oss Kadey
Chairman of the Supervisory Board, member of theSupervisory Board since 1999, President and CEO of
Mossco Capital Inc., an angel investment company●P rof Dr Gerd Walger
Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board, member of theSupervisory Board since 1999, Managing Director of theInstitute for Entrepreneurial and Corporate Development(IUU), which he founded●B rita Hankammer
Member of the Supervisory Board since 2002, shareholder
of Hanvest Holding GmbH and Managing Partner of Golf
Resort Hofgut Georgenthal●A ndreas Land
Member of the Supervisory Board since 2019, Managing
Partner of Griesson - de Beukelaer GmbH & Co. KG)

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The Super visory Board of Hanvest Holding GmbH consists of (from left toright) Moss Kadey, Brita Hankammer, Andreas Land and Prof Gerd Walger.

The Supervisory Board meets at least three times a year to
discuss business developments, to present, deliberate,
discuss and adopt corporate strategies and specific topics aswell as budget and investment planning.

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VALUE-ORIENTED BUSINESS:CORPORATE COMPLIANCE
Corporate compliance at BRITA means more than simply adhering to rules and laws. A
fundamental part of the corporate culture at BRITA is responsible behaviour conducted withintegrity, and it is expected equally from all employees, right up to the Executive Board. To thisend, the compliance function develops and implements preventive and reactive measures aspart of a risk management in order to avoid damage or detect it at an early stage. Nevertheless, the management staff have a special role: They are obligated to set an example for theiremployees. Violations of law, codes and standards are pursued consistently and, if necessary,through disciplinary actions.
Compliance is a central function at BRITA and is implemented locally in the different business
units. The compliance function is part of the functional unit Group Legal & Compliance which isbased at the Taunusstein headquarters and reports directly to the CFO. The central compliance function coordinates training sessions and seminars, monitors compliance with internaland external regulations, and supports the implementation of globally binding internal stan­dards. If a violation of compliance rules is suspected, the function conducts an internal investigation. Our Financial Directors act as local compliance officers in the various countries and are
responsible for implementation of the measures.
To make compliance comprehensible and understandable for everyone, BRITA has developed
two central documents: the Ê Code of Conduct and the awareness brochure “Compliance –Let’s all come to the table”. The documents are currently available in twelve languages.
Compliance, however, is brought to life not through documents but through the value-based
actions of our employees. Internal communication and interactive workshops are designed tomotivate and empower employees to conscientiously deal with compliance questions.
But good corporate governance goes beyond compliance. For BRITA, it also means making avaluable contribution to society as a company – through secure, well-paid jobs, through open
and honest dialogue with financial and tax authorities, customers, suppliers, employees andpartners, and through a fair, financial contribution to the regions in which we manufature, workand live. BRITA, therefore, pursues a tax strategy geared towards sustainability and rejects
pure tax optimisation based on aggressive tax planning.

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Code of Conduct
Verhaltenskodex

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A LOOK BACK: MILESTONES IN BRITA HISTORYBRITA GmbH
(formerly Chemie BRITA
Geräte) was establishedon 1 July 1966 by
Heinz Hankammer

Start of international sales

Heinz Hankammer
becomes chairman of
the newly establishedSupervisory Board

New product segment:
Professional water filters

Markus Hankammer takes
over management

Entry into a new market
segment: pipe-connectedwater dispensers

Start of cooperation with
Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC) to protect theoceans and their fauna fromplastic waste

1980

1999

2010

2016

1966

50th company anniversary

1970

1992

2004

The first householdwater filter

Filter cartridges
are recycled for the
first time

Launch of BRITA Integrated
Solutions (BRITA water
filtration technology inkitchen appliances)

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2015Organoleptic division with laboratory
at the Taunusstein headquarters
BRITA paving the way to its“second home” in Asia

2020
2025 strategy“Shaping Sustainable
Solutions” places
focus on sustainability

15

A LOOK AHEAD: SUSTAINABILITY AT THE HEART OF THE NEW STRATEGY

pe

r

4 bn

6.5 bn“Shaping Sustainable Solutions” brings with it yet anothermilestone. In the future, and in addition to the classic
business management indicators of turnover and profit, we
will use a sustainability indicator, our “Planet Contribution”,
as a central management KPI. Because it is about making
measurable and visible what we achieve with large and small
measures in our company and beyond with our range of
products and solutions.

r

a
ye

The corporate strategy, which continues to focus on strong
growth, relies on our excellent market position in certain productsegments and pursues a consistent path to success based on aclear sustainability message. Corresponding regional, market
and product-specific strategic initiatives and goals are derived
from the corporate goals. By linking business management andsustainable corporate goals, “Shaping Sustainable Solutions”
thus creates, for the first time, very clear incentives for the entire
organisation to embed sustainability in all corporate processes
and decisions, thus ensuring BRITA’s long-term success. ■les saved

Markus Hankammer, CEO BRITA Group: “With our recyclable cartridges we were paving the way to sustainability at the
beginning of the 1990s; our regeneration system for ion
exchange resin, one of the components of our filter materials, was a novelty. And we established ourselves over theyears in the minds of consumers and customers as a provider of sustainable alternatives to mineral water, much of it inplastic bottles. Now we are seriously mobilising to make ourplanet a little bit better. That certainly sounds very ambitious,
but we all know: even a journey of a thousand miles begins
with one step.”

One example: the number of bottles saved thanks to our
product solutions. “The status quo is already impressive today
and continues to drive us forward,” says Stefan Jonitz, our
CFO. “Already well over 4 billion bottles are saved every year.
Placed end to end, they would reach 35 times around theequator. Our goal is to increase this number to 6.5 billion
bottles saved per year by 2025.”

tt
Bo

In the five-year strategy period up to 2020, we set ourselves
the goal of growing from a Europe-centric to a global company
and becoming a multi-product company beyond the classic
BRITA filter jug. We achieved both. Now we are putting
sustainability, once and for all, at the centre with our new
strategy “Shaping Sustainable Solutions”.

2020

2025

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SUSTAINABILITY AT BRITA
WHAT WE ARE WORKING ON● Specification and further expansion of internalreporting on sustainability

With our product portfolio, we have an excellent starting
position to fulfil our vision. We offer environmentally friendly
alternatives to bottled water that are proven to protect resources and avoid waste and emissions. But our responsibility
does not end there. As a company, we contribute to climatechange and resource consumption through our activities –but we have started our journey to reduce or completely avoid
these effects. We know that we still have a long way to go. We
are motivated, though, and will get there one step at a time.

● Development of additional know-how in the entire
organisation for better coordination of sustainability
topics● Stronger internal communication through new
intranet presence, participation and information
formats for employees● Regular review of focus topics with the involvementof external stakeholders

We want to change the way
people drink water sustainably.
In our corporate vision, sustainability and corporate responsibility are already firmly anchored as part of who we are, ouractions, and beliefs. For our CEO Markus Hankammer, this iswhere the values of BRITA and the self-image of his family as
owners of the company converge, namely in bearing responsibility. Responsibility not only for employees, for safe andhealthy jobs, for innovative and high-quality products and forthe long-term success of the company. But also for the planet,
the people who live on it, and a viable future for the next
generations. Our definition of corporate responsibility is set
out in the Ê BRITA Global Commitment.

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17SHAPING SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS –A CORPORATE STRATEGY FOR THE FUTURE
With our new corporate strategy “Shaping Sustainable Solutions”, introduced at the end of 2020, sustainability finallyarrived at the forefront of our activities. By 2025, we want to be the provider of sustainable drinking water solutions andthus meet not only our own expectations, but also the growing demands of our customers, consumers, partners and ofsociety at large. Concrete key initiatives and goals with which we want to pursue this path are derived from this strategy
for all product segments, central functions and markets.

TURNOVER

PLANET CONTRIBUTIONPROFIT

In order to show how seriously we take the sustainable approach, wehave created an additional key performance indicator, which functions
as a control parameter along with turnover and profit – the Ê Planet
Contribution. The Planet Contribution measures both the ProductImpact, i.e. the positive impact of our products through the avoidanceof bottled water and emissions, and our Company Carbon Footprint,
which measures the environmental impact that we cause through ouractivities. Our goal is to increase the Product Impact, while reducing
the Company Carbon Footprint as much as possible.
In a next step, we will specify the key indicators of the Planet Contribution and include them in our internal reporting. With regards to ourcompany carbon footprint, we will define a long-term path to net zero
emissions as well as medium-term reduction targets.

WHAT IS “NET ZERO”?

PRODUCT
IMPACT
Initiatives for more sustainable products
and replacement of bottled water throughthe use of our products

COMPANY CARBON
FOOTPRINTi

Net zero emissions means that as many emissions as possible,
for which a company is responsible along the value chain, areminimised and gradually neutralised through compensation
projects or carbon storage.

Initiatives to reduce our carbon footprint
and resource consumption

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SUSTAINABILITY CHARTER – OUR PATH UNTIL 2025
The BRITA Sustainability Charter sets the guidelines for our journey until 2025. It defines our central fields of action and clear goals, the achievement of which we measure and manage withspecific key figures. At the same time, it is intended to provide orientation and to be a guiding principle for both employees and managers.

MATERIALS

PACKAGING

REUSE & RECYCLINGEMISSIONSOUR AMBITIONS

Our products help prevent waste andemissions. To further improve theirpositive impact, we will reduce ourdependency on virgin plastic anddecrease the footprint of our products.

Packaging waste is a global problem.
We will reduce our footprint by using
less packaging, replacing virgin plastic
and using more sustainable materials.

We prioritise reusing materials in
our products and ensuring high-quality
recycling over lesser forms of disposal.
We want our product materials to live
a valuable second life.

Reducing our company carbon
footprint is a key contribution to help
fight climate change. We will achieve thisby minimising emissions and by offsetting what we cannot avoid.

OUR GOALSIn 2025 we will replace more than 6.5 billion water bottles and prevent 1 million tonnes of CO 2 through our products. But we know we need to do more to protect our planet –and we are: by pursuing clear ambitions in four sustainability focus areas.

• Reduce virgin plastic in our signature
product portfolio by 30 % by 2025

• Eliminate 5,000 tonnes of
packaging by 2025
• Eliminate virgin plastic in new
packaging from 2025 on• Ensure our packaging is 100 % recyclable
and supports the circular economy• Increase the share of returned ion
exchange resin to 20 % by 2025
• Implement a dispenser refurbishment
concept by 2023

• Make emissions from Scope 1+2 aswell as logistics, fleet and travel carbon
neutral from 2023 on• By 2023, define our road to net zero
emissions

The Sustainability Charter reflects the topics with the greatest strategic relevance for BRITA, which were collected and prioritised in a survey of internal stakeholders. The results of our materiality analysis from 2017 were also considered. Following this initial priorisation, the insights were then enhanced with survey results from our market research, general trend studies on sustain­
ability and other findings from the exchange with customers and other interest groups. In close cooperation with the Executive Board, we then set concrete targets for 2025, which are set out in
the Sustainability Charter. In the future, we want to intensify the exchange with our key stakeholders and regularly obtain feedback on the focus of our activities from customers and partners.
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LIVING SUSTAINABILITY AS A TEAM
As a company, we can only achieve our goals if we all pull
together. In order to ensure the continuous implementation of
our strategy and the Sustainability Charter, we have set up
fixed structures and committees at various managementlevels.
All overall strategic decisions are brought together at the
Executive Board. Together with relevant stakeholders andinternal experts, it sets strategic goals, parameters and forms
basic decisions. This ensures a holistic view of sustainability
within the strategic and economic context of BRITA. The
Executive Board, headed by CEO Markus Hankammer, also
supports the continous development of the BRITA corporate
culture towards a sustainability mindset through its role model
function. A particular focus here is on the integration of the
new company key performance indicator Planet Contribution
into critical decision-making processes at the highest level.

In the newly created BRITA Sustainability Forum, so-called
Sustainability Ambassadors come together from all departments and subsidiaries to ensure the efficient coordination ofactivities at the operational level. Along with the Sustainability
Ambassadors, there are sustainability experts, for example,
from the Health, Safety & Environment department, who areoperationally responsible for certain topics and thus support
the central function. The Sustainability Ambassadors are also
the central points of contact for questions about sustainability
in their departments. They support the implementation of thestrategic initiatives and help to build the sustainability mindset
throughout the company.
All BRITA employees play a central role in achieving ourcompany goals. Through their behaviour, ideas and expertise,
they contribute to making us a little better every day. In orderto ensure that they can also have even better ownership in our
success, we will organise further participation formats andevents in the future and regularly communicate information
about our progress internally. ■The leadership of the strategic business segments andcentral functions at headquarters, as well as the management
teams of our subsidiaries, are responsible for the implementation of the corporate and sustainability strategy. They plan,manage and coordinate the key initiatives and report regularly
to the Executive Board.
The central function of Strategic Sustainability & Corporate
Responsibility has been part of the Corporate Development
team since last year and is directly linked to the CEO Markus
Hankammer and the Executive Board. From there, theimplementation and further development of sustainability
activities is supported and coordinated in cooperation with thespecialist departments at headquarters and our local market
organisations. The function also heads the BRITA Sustainability
Forum and reports regularly to the Executive Board.

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EXCHANGE WITH STAKEHOLDERS
Regular exchange with our various stakeholders is an important part of our success. Especiallywhen it comes to sustainability, this is the best way to stay on top and to be able to identify
expectations and requirements at an early stage. With customers, business partners andsuppliers, for example, we use annual review meetings or customer appointments to stay
informed about relevant developments and discuss opportunities for cooperation. We also work
closely with them on projects, for example, in the further development of sustainability requirements for products, materials and packaging.
Consumers can contact us directly via social media or our hotline. We collect and discussanswers to consumer or customer-specific questions in consumer surveys and market research. At conferences, trade fairs and other events, we seek exchange with customers andsuppliers, but also with public authorities, non-profit organisations and other stakeholders. We
maintain a professional and trusting relationship with local authorities, administrations and thepress.
In many places, sustainability issues are already an integral part of our stakeholder dialogue,
for example, in market research or supplier surveys. In future, we want to organise the exchange with relevant stakeholders on these topics in an even more structured way. Internal
communication on sustainability will also be expanded, with the help of an information hub on
the intranet.
BRITA is active in various national and international networks, associations and organisations
related to our core business. This both helps the exchange with important stakeholders andalso serves to expand our expertise, for example, through participation in expert bodies andcommittees. ■BRITA MEMBERSHIPS (EXCERPT)i

Aqua España
British Home Enhancement Trade Association (BHETA)
Federal Association for the German Vending Industry (BDV)
German Association of Companies in the Gas and Water Sector (figawa)
European Drinking Water
European Tea Association
European Vending & Coffee Service Association (EVA)
Foodservice Equipment Association UK
Forum del Café
Forum Trinkwasser e.V. (Drinking Water Forum)
German Watercooler Association (GWCA)
Industrial Association of House, Heating and Kitchen Technology (HKI)
Japan Water Purifier Association
German Federation for Food Law and Food Science
Markenverband e.V. (The German Brands Association)
NSF International – The Public Health and Safety Organization
Society for Hospitality and Foodservice Management (SHFM)
Speciality Coffee Association (SCA)
Union des professionnels du traitement de l’eau (UAE)
Watercoolers Europe (EWCA)
Water Quality Association USA (WQA)
German Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers’ Association (ZVEI)E D I T O R I A L // C O M P A N Y // P R O D U C T // P E O P L E // P L A N E T

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# 02
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IT’S NOT THAT SIMPLE: THE LONG ROAD TOSUSTAINABLE PRODUCTS“What is the carbon footprint of your products?” “Why is
the filter jug packed in more than one box when I order it
online?” “Do you recycle your products?” More and moreconsumers, retailers and distributors want to make moresustainable choices – and they want to know about acompany’s environmental policy. At BRITA, we have been
involved with sustainability and the responsible use ofresources for many years now. Specifically, this means:
we develop strategies and solutions for more sustainableproducts. While some of our measures and innovations
are effective, in other cases regulatory hurdles or hygiene requirements make implementation difficult, orthey require long-term, intensive research and development efforts. In conclusion: it is not always easy, butevery improvement is meaningful. That is why we areconsistently pursuing alternative approaches. But what
does that look like in practice?

An online purchase has many advantages for the customer:
convenient ordering, delivery at home, round-the-clock
availability. But it also involves more transportation andpackaging than purchases from your local retailer. Last year,
we stepped up our efforts to reduce our packaging.
A filter jug which is ordered on a platform such as Amazon, forexample, is packed by BRITA in a typical carton box andsubsequently packed in an additional shipping carton by theAlternative packaging materials – no progress
without setbacks

More sustainable without shipping boxes
As an internationally operating company, we distribute our
products almost everywhere in the world, in-store and online.
Our online business in particular is growing steadily: “To give
you an example, 80 per cent of our business in China, ourlargest and fastest-growing market, is now online,” explains
Pauline Swaagman, Product Manager for Consumer Marketing.
“It’s similar in Europe, where the online share of business
now accounts for more than 50 per cent of our total volume.”
Driven by the coronavirus pandemic, overall global e-commerce
grew once again at a staggering rate in 2020.

bundles, which offers a specific set of products for a limited
time. The carton box interior was specifically designed to fit
these products exactly. “These cartons have to pass extensive
transportation tests to ensure the products arrive undamaged
at the consumer,” explains Isabel Gorges, Product Manager
for Classic Filtration. To meet the standards of the internationally respected ISTA test procedure (International Safe Transit
Association), the packaging was thoroughly tested – including
treatment on conveyor belts, transportation by truck and alsousing drop tests.

online seller. But there is a better way: instead of two boxes,
only one will be used in future. This “Ships in Own Container”
principle (SIOC) was initially developed with online retailer
Amazon in Europe and launched in 2021. To do this, wedeveloped new SIOC packaging for one of our promotion

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To safely protect them from any contamination or damage,filter jug, lid and funnel are all packed in a carton box andwrapped in airtight, ultra-thin polypropylene bags. We are also
exploring the use of alternative materials in this area togradually reduce plastic in our packaging. “We have experimented with fleece, soft paper, cartons coated with ananti-scouring agent, cotton, waxed paper and even fruit
netting, but none of the materials we have tested come close
to being as sustainable in their production and as protective
as the plastic bags we use today,” says Isabel Gorges, who isintensively searching for alternatives with her colleagues in
the packaging team.
One option under consideration was a carton box coated on
the inside with soft cellulose fleece, “but it couldn’t even pass
the vibrating table test without causing scratches on the jug.

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Packaging avoids returns and a waste ofresources
By the way, the polypropylene we currently use is not all bad.
The main advantage: it can be recycled, re-integrated into thematerial value stream and used in other products. Not only
that, the products get optimum protection and arrive undamaged at the consumer. This avoids product returns, whichsaves unnecessary transport emissions and prevents thepotentially necessary disposal of returned items and thus awaste of resources. “The only major disadvantage withplastics is that they are made from fossil fuels, so they do notdecompose if they aren't recycled,” Birgit Degeler-Weitbrecht,
Senior Manager in the Industrial Engineering Packaging
department, acknowledges without hesitation. “At the end of
the day, our goal is to package our products entirely without
fossil-based virgin plastic, using only materials such as
recycled cardboard or bio-based materials.”

We use plastics in professional filter cartridges, for example,
to ensure the pressure stability of the cartridge housing,
because materials used must be certified for drinking water
applications and because they need to be light-weight. The
cartridges must also comply with regulatory requirements
which vary from country to country. “PURITY C cartridges, forexample, require between five and ten certifications in Europe
alone,” explains Dr Sabine Lang-Dreß, Senior Manager
Research & Development Filter Media & Cartridges. Conclusion: “The search for an alternative PP material is a real
challenge, because we have to create a standardised productthat is identical all over the world and meets all the requirements in all the countries where we are on the market.”

We still have a long way to go, but even small steps will
ultimately lead us to our goal. And every small victory
counts. One example is our successful introduction of a
packaging material made from recycled corrugated board to
replace Styrofoam as a stabilliser for the filter jug duringtransportation.
Viewed under the microscope, the seemingly soft, smoothsurface showed fine fibers sticking out, which caused thedamage.” A key problem: as of today, recycled plastic materials from traditional recycling systems still do not meet therequired standards. This is because the filter jug comes incontact with drinking water and, therefore, food hygiene
requirements apply – finding recycled plastics that meet themis a challenge. Yet even though the search for sustainable
alternatives does meet with setbacks, giving up is not an
option. Technical innovation in the area of sustainable packaging is moving at a rapid pace, and potential new solutions arecontinually becoming available for our evaluation. That is why
we are optimistic about reaching our goal to eliminate fossil
fuel-based virgin plastic from our packaging step by step.

The challenging search for a plastic substitute
In addition to packaging, our in-house experts are also
searching for alternative, more sustainable materials for our
products. The PURITY and PURITY C filter cartridges are agood example, since they represent approx. 90 per cent of the
cartridges for our hospitality and large customer business.
PURITY, which is used for the filtration of large quantities ofdrinking water, and PURITY C, launched in 2008, havedifferent operating concepts, but are made using mostly
identical materials – plastics such as polypropylene (PP) andpolyethylene terephthalate (PET), glass fibre, ion exchange
resin and activated carbon.
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Strategic partnerships for sustainable filter media
Filtration technology is at the heart of our products. An
important filter medium for this, the ion exchange resin, iscurrently still fossil-based. We have now launched a promisingresearch project with a specific goal: a shift from fossil-based
to renewable resources. The first phase of the project isstarting as a collaboration with selected partners such as
suppliers or universities, where the use of alternative materials is investigated in research and doctoral theses. “Oneexample of what we are looking at is whether basic chemicals

for ion exchange resin can be produced from biomass, waste
fats or other waste materials. It is a complex project, so at the
moment we are in the early stages,” Dr Lang-Dreß stated.
“But if we want our products to be truly sustainable, we must
be willing to tackle challenging projects like these.”
The same is true for the activated carbon, which we havebeen using as a filter medium for more than 50 years. Unlike
the ion exchange resin, our activated carbon is per se anenvironmentally friendly material, because it is produced fromcoconut shells that are accrued as a by-product in the coconut
harvest. But we still see opportunities for more sustainability.
“One of the things we want to make sure is that our activatedcarbon comes from a sustainable and responsible source,”
explains Meike Rapp, responsible for Strategic Sustainability
at BRITA. “Today this is ensured through our supplier management. But true transparency, all the way back to the
coconut plantation is difficult to obtain, especially for a
medium-sized company like ours.” At the same time, ourcustomers and consumers are becoming more curious. They

want to know where our materials are coming from and what
the production conditions are like. One potential solution could
be to cooperate with our supply chain partners in developing asustainability certification, similar to what already exists forpaper or chocolate. Existing certification schemes currently do
not apply to activated carbon. Of course, we still need toevaluate if such a plan is possible, but what is certain is that
we have many ideas on how to make our products moresustainable.
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Identify sustainability potential with the productcarbon footprint
Since 2015, we have been measuring our annual company
carbon footprint, in other words, the amount of greenhousegas emissions we generate through our business operations. We use the information collected in this process to
identify additional potential emissions savings in ourbusiness activities. Last year, we launched a similar projectto identify potential savings in our products as well by
calculating the product carbon footprint (PCF) for a numberof our commercial products. “We took a two-pronged
approach there,” explains Nina Steimmel, Senior ProductManager for Marketing Dispenser. “Initially, we focused ourefforts on two filter cartridges – PURITY C1000AC and
CLARITY Protect 100 – which are both installed in vending
machines and water dispensers. The PCF values determined in this way will now be adapted and calculated forother filters, with the ultimate goal of obtaining the PCF fornine BRITA filters. In mid-2020, we also started to calculate
the carbon footprint for a BRITA VIVREAU Top 50 HygienePlus water dispenser.”Our goal was to use this detailed emissions analysis
throughout the entire product life cycle to determine how
sustainable our dispensers already are compared to bottled
water and how to make them even more sustainable in the
future. Some of the results are definitely surprising. For awater dispenser, the production, transportation, packaging
and disposal only amount to approx. 6 per cent of the total
emissions over the entire life cycle. Close to 60 per cent of
the emissions occur at the customer, where the appliance isconnected to the electricity supply for long periods – eventhough the electricity consumption of the water dispenser issimilar to that of comparable appliances. As is typical forelectronic devices, the manufacturing of the materials andpurchased components contribute close to 35 per cent of
total emissions, despite over 70 per cent of our materials
being purchased in Europe.
25

using green electricity to operate
the dispensers.”
With regard to the cartridges usedin the water dispensers, the solutionis already clear. “We know from the
PCF study that a recycling of the
carbon block cartridges makes a lotof sense ecologically. But we arealso thinking about a fundamental
improvement of the products them­selves,” Ms. Steimmel related. “On
the one hand, this means that wehave to design the components ofthe cartridges in such a way thatthey are easier to separate fromone another. On the other hand, itmeans developing new products
from more environmentally friendly
materials.”

As a result, there are several issues we need to address. “On
the one hand, we can help reduce the environmental impact of
the upstream processes – for example, by utilising components made from more sustainable materials, by making
refurbishment concepts a higher priority, or by persuading our

suppliers to switch their production to green electricity,” Nina
Steimmel says. “On the other hand, we can also make ourcustomers more aware of the role they can play in product life
cycles and develop ideas together for how they can contributetoward more sustainable water dispensers, for example, by

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We want to be the provider ofsustainable drinking water solutions. And even if our products
already make an important contribution to a more livable planet today,
we will make our own offerings
more sustainable, climate-friendly
and ecological. This is our clear
goal, our aspiration and is at theheart of our corporate strategy. We
have already started this journey inmany areas of our business and will
successfully reach a number of milestones in the coming
years. It might not be possible for us to achieve everything weenvision. Still, we are convinced that we are on the right pathwith determination, commitment and working together with ourpartners, customers and suppliers. ■26

The Dutch coffee supplier Fortune Coffee emphasises theadvantages of our water filters in two ways: “It’s fantastic to seethat recyclable water filters make sure that the lifespan of a
Fortune Coffee machine gets prolonged. This way we’re twice assustainable and every cup of coffee tastes great. We collaborate to
be ready for the future: sustainable and environmentally conscious
in coffee and coffee machines.”
Many of our filters reliably eliminate limescale from the water andthus also ensure an extended service life for equipment. For partners like Fortune Coffee, thishas the advantage of minimising machine downtime and reducing the need to purchase new
equipment, which in turn saves resources. Secondly, the softer water improves the taste of thecoffee, which means satisfied customers. Our products also offer this advantage to the French
company Maison Lyovel, a service provider for professional beverage distributors.

GOOD PARTNERSIN SUSTAINABILITY
Business customers around the world use our filter cartridges and water dispensers to perfectly
complement or optimise their goods or services, for example, by using our products to help refine
the taste of their coffee. We have been working with many partners for a very long time and havebuilt trust-based relationships with many. But it is not only the quality and performance of our
products that impress – we often make an important contribution in terms of sustainability too.

Marie Larguier, Corporate Responsibility Officer at Maison
Lyovel, also praises BRITA’s sustainable products and ourresource-conserving mindset: “At Maison Lyovel, we’ve always
developed our activities in a sustainable way. This is particularly
important when we select our partners. Our longstanding filter
supplier BRITA has always had sustainability in its DNA: since the beginning of our partnership
15 years ago, BRITA recycles the cartridges that we use, which is a great support to limit theenvironmental impact of our operations.”
Our long-standing partner BSH Hausgeräte GmbH also thinks that
our commitment to sustainability has a positive effect on our cooperation. BSH uses BRITA filter cartridges in its fully automatic coffee
machines. “Transparency and reliability are the basis for the trustfulcooperation between BRITA and BSH. BSH greatly appreciates
BRITA’s efforts to take responsibility for the environment, e.g. in termsof reducing carbon emissions.”
This positive feedback from our partners not only makes us proud, but also motivates us tocontinue giving our all for our customers, our products and our planet. ■E D I T O R I A L // C O M P A N Y // P R O D U C T // P E O P L E // P L A N E T

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SMART MARKETING –ENCOURAGING A GLOBAL RETHINKFor some years now, we have been trying to make the switch frombottled water to sustainable tap water more attractive with various
marketing campaigns. To support this, we want to provide consumers
with tips and tricks on how to achieve optimal water enjoyment with
their domestic tap water. Our message is very clear: every individual
can make their everyday life more sustainable by paying attention to afew simple things. A good first step is to reduce your own plastic
consumption by switching to BRITA-filtered tap water.

initiatives and BRITA’s corporate responsibility in general.

everyday life of the young family easier in a sustainable way and givethem optimal support in their individual water consumption.

Our Polish marketing campaign “BRITA.
Lubię ją”, or “BRITA. I like it” is somewhat
different. We received some well-known
support to get the message out. Olga Frycz,
brand ambassador for BRITA Poland, promoted BRITA water filters as a sustainable
lifestyle product in the campaign, which wasbroadcast on TV and online. In the commercial, the self-confident young mother advocates filtered water from the tap at home.
What is obvious: our water filters make the

BRITA UK has had Joanna Lumley, a well-known actress and passionate environmental ambassador, on board for some time. Together withformer rugby player and presenter Gethin Jones, she spoke out against
the problem of rising plastic consumption in the “Just Tap” campaign of2020. This year we continued to work with Joanna in the UK as anenvironmental ambassador. This time she talks about “green guilt” – thefeeling of guilt for not doing as much for the environment as you could.
It is important for us to raise awareness that even small steps can makea big difference, which we did in our Greening Good Guide: with 10
simple tips on how everyone can make their everyday life more sustainable in order to actively combat “green guilt”. ■Our local markets use different approaches in their marketing campaigns to send this message. A good example is the large-scale#hahntrinker (“tap drinker”) campaign played out in Germany. It
illustrates how useful it is to switch from bottled water to water fromthe tap, filtered with a BRITA filter. Not only for the “tap drinker”
himself or herself, but also for the environment.
At Ê hahntrinker.de consumers can tell others why they have becometap drinkers. We thus offer an active platform for people who want toshow their enthusiasm for the sustainable consumption of water. On
the website you can also find out more about our current sustainability

Campaign image featuring Joanna Lumley
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THE BRITA BRAND
AS PERCEIVED BY CONSUMERS
In 2020, we conducted a representative Usage & Image (U&I for short)consumer survey in 30 countries in cooperation with the market
research institute Ipsos. The aim of the study was to collect theessential key figures for the “water filtration” category, but, of course,
also for BRITA and our competitors. In addition, the study provides aninsight into consumer behaviour not only with regard to water consumption, but also the use of BRITA products.
From the point of view of our consumers, BRITA stands first andforemost for trust, but also for quality and reliable performance. These
criteria play a central role for consumers when they make a purchasedecision for water filtration products. The particularly high importanceof trust is due to the fact that although consumers are generally
satisfied with the quality of their tap water, they are still uncertain or
have concerns about possible contamination.
These concerns are often triggered by rumours or media reports that
repeatedly address the content of pesticides, microplastics, drug
residues or other contaminants. Consumers, on the other hand, canoften only be really sure about lime, chlorine and metals because they
can see or taste them. This makes it all the more important for them tobe able to rely on a strong brand that offers optimum product quality
and reliable filtration performance.

BRITA speaks foritself! BRITA would
no longer exist if
they developed bad
products.

BRITA is the No. 1 filter
brand and I trust that they’d doa good job.

BRITA ‘filters’
all worries andgives us peaceof mind.

BRITA stands for filtration.
If the filter disc would notwork well, they would nothave developed it.²

I would buy BRITA
because I’m assured
that it’s a good product since it’s madeby BRITA.1

BRITA knows what they do – they
have been producing water filters
for many decades. If anyone cando it, then BRITA can.

1
2

E D I T O R I A L // C O M P A N Y // P R O D U C T // P E O P L E // P L A N E T“Bottle Study”, qualitative study in UK, JP, CN, 2018
“MiDi Empowerment”, ethnographic study in D, 202029

Sustainability more often afocus topic for consumers
In addition to trust and quality, sustainability
has been an important user demand for sometime and increasingly so. BRITA is alreadyperceived as a sustainable brand because
consumers have recognised our products as an
ecological – and economical – alternative tobottled water. This change in water consumption, our stated vision, can curb the rapidly
growing plastic waste problem worldwide,caused among other things by single-use
plastic bottles.
Furthermore, consumers pay attention to
product characteristics such as the use ofsustainable materials or the reduction of plastic
packaging material. The consumer is, therefore,
first of all in favour of measures that support
him or her as an individual in reducing plastic
consumption. Here, too, we want to stand by
our users and are working on this complex
issue, as we point out in several articles in thisreport.
Only in a second step, according to the findingsof the U&I, do the majority of consumers also
take the common good into account in theirconsiderations: measures to protect the climate,
the oceans, rivers and inland waters, or ourplanet itself. It is striking that in countries where
sustainability has been part of the public discussion for alonger time, there is a broader understanding of these issues.
In these countries, consumers often expect more and theirdemands on companies go beyond mere plastic avoidance.
Rather, they want companies to act sustainably in their actions
as well, for example, by reducing their own carbon footprint.

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In 2021, the Usage & Image study will be conducted for thesecond time for 15 countries to determine the change in metrics
over time and the impact of COVID-19 on consumer behaviour. ■30

INFINITELY VALUABLE RESOURCES –RECYCLING AT BRITA PROFESSIONAL
We want to give the materials in our products
a valuable second life. That is why there isalways a new beginning at the end of the life
cycle of a BRITA Professional filter cartridge.
Exhausted cartridges can be collected on site
after use and then returned to us. In the next
step, we separate the different components ofthe filter cartridge. The ion exchange resin isregenerated and used as an admixture in new
filter cartridges. So 100 per cent of it goesback into the cartridge cycle. Every year,
almost 2,000 cubic metres of ion exchange
resin and activated carbon are recoveredfrom used cartridges.

The plastics and fibreglass mixtures of the
cartridge housing are 100 per cent recyclable. “They are processed into granules,
turned into new products and used, for example, for parts in the automotive industry,” says
Marc Pagenkopf, who knows the Professional
filter recycling inside out and wants to keep

The used cartridges come back in different ways and are collected and broken up in the separation plant.
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The returned cartridges are opened and emptied manuallyand the filter material is prepared for the regeneration
process.

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Our customers and partners also benefit:
waste disposal is eliminated and “they gain
green credentials,” adds Marc Pagenkopf.
“They can also communicate that to theircustomers, the end consumers.” In the
future, we want to offer further incentives toencourage the return of even more cartridges. For example, we are currently exploring
the possibilities of an incentive programme
to motivate our partners to return cartridges
to us. A great commitment to recycling can,for example, be rewarded with a certificate,
which can then be used by our customers
for PR purposes.
The recovered ion exchange resin undergoes a complex
regeneration process in which it regains its original material properties.

improving it. Only in the small head part ofthe cartridge are various plastic parts in‑separably welded together. They must be
disposed of thermally.
Since 2016, we have increased the amountof recycled cartridge mixture by almost 20
per cent. A trend that will only increase in
the future. “However, different legal requirements and restrictions make it difficult toreturn exhausted filter cartridges. One
example is Italy, where only authorised
service providers are allowed to send thewaste back to us.” At some subsidiaries,
things are simpler. The cartridges can behanded in at a parcel shop or – even morepractical and convenient – collected in
special BRITA recycling boxes and picked
up directly on site by haulage companies.
But this recycling-oriented approach does
not only offer us considerable advantages.

With this approach, we want to take anotherstep towards our major goal: to keep the
impact of BRITA products on the environment as low as possible and to reuse as
many resources as possible through thecircular economy.

NOT JUST FOR
PROFESSIONALSi

Exhausted household cartridges canalso be collected and returned directly to us for recycling. Many countries
where BRITA products are sold already offer a recycling programme,
and more will follow. Additional information about the collection process
can be found on BRITA’s country
websites.
At the end of the recycling process, the filter material has the same quality as new material. By using it in new cartridges weclose the material cycle and save valuable resources.

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BRITA WINS THE
2021 GERMAN INNOVATION AWARD
The Ê German Innovation Award is an international prize forsolutions or products that distinguish themselves by addinguser centricity and higher value compared to existing solutions. Supporting BRITA’s way to innovative solutions, theinnovation lab BRITA X is working with the design thinking
approach, putting the user first.
BRITA was honored aswinner in the Household Appliances andDesign Thinking
categories for its
HEIMATWASSER
project. This is because
the business model and brand of the HEIMATWASSER
project were developed in a user-centered design thinking
and lean start-up approach. We discussed the project with
Thomas Hörning, intrapreneur in the BRITA X innovation
lab until June 2021 and now Director Strategic Marketing
Professional Filter.
Thomas, since the innovation lab was first established,
you have been working on projects and innovative ideas
for the development of new business models. Everybody
is talking about innovation, but when is something truly
innovative?
Innovation exists when three elements come together:
desirability on the part of the user, technical feasibility, andcost-effectiveness. Let’s take a look at streaming services.

They are a great example of a tangible innovation used bymillions of people on a daily basis. The desirability of films andseries on demand clearly exists and the growth of broadband
connectivity makes this technically feasible. Last but not least,
you can make good money in that business. This would also
cover cost-effectiveness. At BRITA X, we work on developing
new business models with a user-centric, exploratory approach.
To reach this goal, we apply the design thinking process to ourwork. And that is also why we won the prize in the “Design
Thinking” category.
What exactly is design thinking?
Design thinking is a method or a process for developing new
products, services or business ideas and is driven by acustomer-centric approach. This means we don’t start withideas for solutions, but always with user needs and problems,then flexibly adapt the solution to reflect the new insights.
What is your award-winning HEIMATWASSER project allabout?
HEIMATWASSER is a subscription-based drinking water concept
for multi-unit apartment buildings. It features a centrally-locatedwater dispenser in the building that can be used by the subscri­bers around the clock. As part of our design thinking process, wetested the subscription in real time and we verified that there is ademand for this solution and it is technically feasible. However,real-time testing could not guarantee long-term cost-effectiveness,
which is why we eventually shut down the project.

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Thomas Hörning was one of the founding members of the innovation lab BRITA X
in early 2020. In June 2021, he became Director Strategic Marketing Professional
Filter within Group Strategic Marketing.

What were your key takeaways from this project?
All the needs and problems that we were able to either
validate or refute in the course of this project can be applied
to our future projects. Specifically: projects related to theconsumption of beverages. ■33

FACTS AND FIGURESWHAT WE ARE WORKING ON●	Building new skills and resources to achieve oursustainability goals and support digital products●	Strengthening operational excellence: development of the Bad Camberg plant into a global flagship plant with a focus on effective organisationand efficient value streams●	ISO certification of water dispenser production in Italy●	Ensuring compliance with the requirements of new
supply chain legislation and further expansion ofsustainability aspects in supplier management

PRODUCT QUALITY IN FOCUS
The high quality of our products, for which our company is
known throughout the world, does not happen by chance.
A comprehensive quality system guarantees the monitoringprocess, from raw materials all the way to the finished end
product.
Continuous, optimum quality and safety are the most important criteria in the selection of our raw materials, which ultimately form the basis for our high-quality products. Especiallywith the suppliers of our most important raw materials, we rely
on long-term cooperation and detailed contracts to ensure ourquality standards. Each of our suppliers guarantees in writingthat their goods conform to our strict specifications for raw
materials as well as the applicable legal requirements.
Incoming raw materials pass through the incoming goods
laboratory and are, among other things, subjected to micro­
biological testing through random sampling. A similarlycomprehensive test is also carried out on the share of ourion exchange resin, which is recovered as part of the cartridge recycling process in the in-house regeneration plant.
Anything that does not pass this test is excluded from further
processing. High quality and especially hygiene regulations
also apply in production. Adherence to these is ensured
through detailed process documentation as well as inspections at appropriate checkpoints. Traceability is guaranteed
even after delivery.
We ensure comprehensive quality standards not only for ourmaterials, but also for our end products. Finished products
are regularly tested in our own test laboratory. For additional
quality and approval tests, we work together with various
renowned, independent institutes and laboratories that enjoya very good reputation in their respective countries.
Our comprehensive quality assurance programme is continuously refined and improved. Worldwide, a wide range of
product certifications also strengthen consumer confidencein BRITA.

Selected product certifications1(as of December 2020)
TÜV Octagon

TÜV SÜD – Test mark for food safety (Germany)

KTW - Valuation
Basis

Plastics in contact with drinking water (Germany)

ACS

Attestation de conformité sanitaire (France)

ICIM

Cer tifichiamo oggi per il domani (Italy)

WQ A

Water Quality Association (USA)NSF

National Sanitation Foundation (USA)WR AS

Water Regulations Advisory Scheme(United Kingdom)

KC

Korean Product Safety Requirements (Korea)

WaterMark

WaterMark Cer tification Scheme(Australia, New Zealand)

HSO/NHFPC

Hygiene Cer tificate for Water Filtration
Devices (China)

PZH

Narodowy Instytut Zdrowia Publicznego (Poland)

DIN Cer to

Cer tification for bio-based products (Germany)

AN OPEN EAR FOR THE
CONSUMER
The ambitious standards we set for our products are also
reflected in the way we communicate with our consumers.
They can contact us via the service area on the website,through our social media pages on Facebook, Instagram,
LinkedIn and YouTube, as well as on the hotline to receive
reliable answers to their questions about our products andtheir use.

1

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Not all certifications apply to all products.

34

WATERPROOF COMPETENCE
Water is simply our passion. As a globally renowned expert
for drinking water optimisation and individualisation, we
have extensive and in-depth knowledge in this field. Thus,
among other things, we operate a modern laboratory with
12 employees, which resembles that of a waterworks. Our
chemistry laboratory analyses which substances (such ascopper, lead or chlorine) are reduced by our filters. The filter
life cycles are also determined based on this analysis. In
addition, local or regional drinking waters from across theworld are tested in order to achieve an optimal compositionof the filter mixture for the respective regions. Our microbiology laboratory works to the same hygiene standards as thefood industry. Here, for example, the appropriate cartridge
exchange frequency for reasons of hygiene is examined.
Furthermore, the microbiology laboratory ensures that all
raw materials meet our ambitious hygiene requirements.
Testing technology as a further, separate field of expertiseis currently staffed with eight employees. Here, materials,
components and finished products are tested for, among
other things, stability, leakage, function during continuous
operation and contact with cleaning materials. This ensuresthat the products reliably meet our standards with regard tofiltration properties, mechanical strength and durability.

In-house sensory laboratory
Since 2015 we have had our own sensory laboratory under
the leadership of a trained water sommelière. Here, taste
research for water, coffee and tea takes place alongside thesensory analysis by several trained test panels. In a highly
professionally equipped tasting room with space for twelve
testers, up to 15,000 glasses of water and other water-based
drinks are tasted each year, among other things. The results
feed into the further development and improvement of our
product range and support the continuous strengthening of
our expertise.

BRITA is a member of the German as well as the European Sensory Science Society in order to keep pace withthe latest scientific trends. Its own research activities also
ensure a knowledge advantage. Currently, CO2 perceptionin sparkling water is an important topic for our staff in thesensory lab. We want to understand to what extent theamount of CO 2 in mineral water, the bubble size of the fizz
and the sensory perception of the water are connected. The
water sommeliers also look at the influence of water composition on the taste of coffee and gather insights gained in theprocess.

WE PASS ON KNOWLEDGE

i

Together with the UK Tea Academy (UKTA), we
have developed recommendations for optimal tea
water. During a joint workshop, different types ofwater were boiled and the tea prepared afterwards
was tasted. Clear result: tea tastes best with filtered water because it allows it to unfold its full
flavour undisturbed.

Sensor technology also plays an important role in quality
control. Specially trained employees carry out a sensory
evaluation of the incoming materials and thus ensure thatthe BRITA quality standard is achieved with regard to taste.
To ensure that these incoming goods inspections take placewith identical quality standards, independent incoming
goods control panels are being established at our plants inGermany, the UK and China under the guidance of the sensor technology department since September 2017.

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BEST: OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE
Our guiding principle in production: it can always get better.
This is why we take the subject of operational excellencevery seriously. In 2009, we introduced the BRITA Excellence
System, or BEST, in production and logistics. Since then,improvement teams in all production areas have been working to avoid waste and increase added value. Together withcolleagues from Plant Engineering, who are responsible for
equipment technology, they are developing devices to makeworkplaces and processes more efficient, more ergonomic
and safer. In doing so, we consciously involve the employees and sometimes pursue very creative paths: for example,
employees in Italy hold a weekly competition in which theaim is to beat the assembly time of the previous week in a
playful way and thus eliminate weak points in the process
together.
However, BEST not only helps us achieve sustainableimprovements, it also contributes significantly to employee
satisfaction. With BEST, our employees are involved in the
improvement process from the outset and develop solutions
in such a way that they meet the requirements of the company and employees alike.
Since 2019, they have been supported in this regard by
factory-specific improvement plans. BEST’s aspiration is thatevery employee knows the vision and goals of production
and what personal contribution they can make. In future, employees will also be more involved in the preparation of the
improvement plans.

35

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
To maintain our edge as one of the leading experts in drinking water optimisation and customisation, we invest four
per cent of our turnover in research and development every
year. Over 100 employees work continuously on new productand water filtration technologies, on new applications andon potential uses of new materials. More than 550 granted
patents worldwide prove our innovative lead.

FULL OF IDEASiRegular idea workshops on various issues are held,in which employees from different departments,
but also suppliers and customers, participate. From2018 to 2020, more than 500 ideas were documented and evaluated, even if not every idea makes thelong journey to the retail shelf.

When designing new products, our customers’ needs areparamount. Innovative approaches such as the BRITA X
innovation lab and an agile and resource-efficient innovation
front-end process help us to discuss ideas in a non-bureaucratic way and to evaluate and develop them iteratively.
When these ideas then move into the actual product development process, many fundamental questions have alreadybeen clarified and the project can be implemented in atargeted manner.

Already today, sustainability aspects are taken into accountduring product development, for example, by defining specific requirements for the product in the specifications. With
the clear objectives of our new Sustainability Charter, we will
anchor sustainability even more firmly in the product development process, for example, in the form of clearly defined
design and material requirements.

CERTIFIED MANAGEMENTSYSTEMSWe have introduced systems for quality, environmental andoccupational health and safety management that help us
to control and continuously improve our procedures andprocesses. Alongside quality, our customers and business
partners also place increasing value on environmental
protection, a more efficient use of energy and on concern for
employee welfare through certified management systems.
The production sites for our filter cartridges in Germany,
the UK and China are certified according to the recognised

ISO 9001 quality management standard. They also meet therequirements of ISO 14001 for environmental management
and ISO 45001 for occupational health and safety. As thelast of our production sites, the water dispenser production
in Arsago Seprio (Italy) is also to be certified according tothese three standards in the near future.
The subsidiary Filltech GmbH, acquired in 2020, which fills
CO 2 cartridges for carbonator systems, also has an ISO
9001 certification. Here as well we are examining whether itmakes sense to expand the management systems as part ofthe ongoing integration into the BRITA Group. Regardless ofcertifications, uniform requirements for quality, occupationalsafety and environmental protection apply at all our locations.
To ensure that we meet further customer requirements, thefilter cartridge production facilities in Germany and the UK
also undergo annual external audits in accordance with the
BRC (British Retail Consortium) Global Standard for Consumer Products and the SMETA Standard for Sustainable
and Ethical Business Conduct.

Overview of certifications at production sites(as of December 2020)
Filter cartridges

Water dispensers

CO 2 cylinders

BRITA (DE)

BRITA (UK)

BRITA (CN)

BRITA (IT)

Filltech (DE)ISO 9001

●

●

●

(●)

●

ISO 14001

●

●

●

(●)

ISO 45001

●

●

●

(●)

BRC

●

●

SMETA

●

●

●

(●)

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planned36

RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE
SUPPLY CHAIN
As a producing company, we obtain important raw materials
and components such as technical water filtration and electrical parts from a global supplier network. We foster cooperative and often long-term business relationships with our
suppliers. The suppliers of production-related raw materials
and important product components are, for the most part,based in Europe and Asia.
Our suppliers are selected on the basis of strict criteria. In
addition to quality and process requirements, there are also
requirements for hygiene, environmental protection, occupational safety, working conditions and social compliance.
Suppliers of production-relevant materials who exceed acertain purchase volume are obligated to provide us withregular information about their activities in these areas. Selected suppliers are additionally audited on site by qualified
BRITA employees to check compliance with our requirements.
If we identify deviations from our minimum stan­dards, wework together with our suppliers to find a long-term solution.
Audit activities, which were severely curtailed last year due
to the COVID-19 pandemic, will be resumed with a special
focus in the future.
Our international growth and the continuing development of the
product portfolio, particularly in the area of pipe-connectedwater dispensers, means that our supply chains are becoming more complex and diverse. At the same time, the due
diligence of companies is coming more into the focus ofcustomers, legislators and the public. We stand by our re-sponsibility for the effects of our business activities throughout the supply chain. The central principles formulated inthe Ê BRITA Code of Conduct with regard to internationallyrecognised human rights, dignified working conditions andcompliance are elementary components of our corporate
culture and our identity. Only suppliers who comply with ourrequirements in this respect can and will work with us in thelong term.

OBJECTIVE 2018

ACHIEVED

Consideration of sustainability inproduct design and development●●

Standardisation and further
development of shopfloor
management●

Certification of the new
Chinese production site●●●
Stronger integration ofsustainability issues in suppliermanagement

Through a risk-based, structured approach, we aim to prevent any form of modern slavery and human rights violations
in our value chain and identify any risks at an early stage.
We summarise our activities in our annually publishedÊ Modern Slavery Statement. Employees who suspect oridentify a violation of our Code of Conduct at the company
or by a supplier can report this anonymously and without any
fear of consequences. ■STATUSI ntroduction of a sustainability checklist in
the product development processS ensitising project and product managers tosustainability aspectsS tandardised control loops introduced at
the DE plantP ilots for digitally supported shopfloor
management introducedI nitial ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001
certification successfully completed in 2019
First review audit passed● A daptation of the supplier selection process● I ntegration of supplier self-assessments into
the selection process● A nnual audit plan revised● N
 o audits due to COVID-19 pandemic in
2020
Objective achieved

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Objective partially achieved

37

# 03
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38

“NEW WORK” AT BRITA: THE WOW! EFFECT“New Work” is now becoming a central concept in the life of companies. New environments, new instruments and new methods in professional life are the main things that
initially spring to mind here. However, the term actually implies so much more. And at BRITA, we have been looking into this very intensively and have drawn our own specificconclusions. There is a good reason why we have assigned this topic under the slogan “WOW! – Way of Working at BRITA”. We are convinced that our individual, BRITA-specificand new strategic directions will once again raise the team spirit of the BRITA family, the enthusiasm for our work and thus also the success of our company to a whole new level.

What is “New Work” really?
Ultimately, “New Work” is the collective term for a novel,
forward-looking, agile and at the same time meaningful way ofworking, for which an innovative, values-based environment
needs to be created. It is about combining life and work, andalso about a new culture of work.
It means replacing conventional concepts, e. g. in terms ofplace, time and organisation to create a combination of mobile
and office working with flexible workplaces – with many
advantages. Mobile working from home, or potentially any
possible location outside the company, makes it easier to workin a particularly concentrated way, but also at the same timeto integrate personal and family needs into the daily routine. In
contrast, the office will in future be the place for cooperation,
collaborative creativity, real interpersonal relationships andlived corporate culture. All of this goes hand in hand with acorrespondingly modern understanding of leadership, which ischaracterised by equality, appreciation, more coaching andless instructing.

Our path to “New Work”
Looking back, we started early on the path to the new world ofwork at BRITA. We already set an example with the design ofour headquarters at the BRITA Campus in Taunusstein in
2009/2010. Back then, in collaboration with the Fraunhofer

BRITA employees during a video conference

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39

Institute, which is again playing a major role in the current
redesign, we systematically developed a so-called “openspace office landscape”. The main idea was that it should
enable openness, communication and shared innovation. At
the same time, it should be oriented towards the specificneeds of employees with different areas of responsibility: forexample, concentrated work, or a separate room for “frequentcallers” in our Silent Boxes, individual offices for colleagues
dealing with particularly confidential content, such as inhuman resources, the legal department or accounting, hightables and kitchen lounges for spontaneous or informal
exchanges and a wide range of meeting rooms in different
sizes for meetings and project groups.

The first spaces in which we deliberately tried out creative andinnovative approaches and methods as part of our BRITA X
innovation lab added further building blocks for a new type ofcollaboration. We also report on our innovation lab in thispublication. Our early entry into networked, digital working
supported that development further.
With the sudden onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, this was
the only reason we were able to send our office and field staff
to work from home almost overnight and successfully maintain
operations at the same time.

Pandemic conditions as amplifiers andaccelerators
Numerous offices in Germany have been largely deserted
since the coronavirus pandemic began in March 2020. The
BRITA offices in Wiesbaden and Taunusstein have not beenused since then either, or only under strict occupancy restrictions with hygiene and distancing precautions. Meetings,
workshops and even the announcement of the new corporate
strategy were held in digital form, informally, but extremely
effectively and successfully – a development that would
certainly have taken a little longer under regular circumstances.
Stefan Jonitz, Chief Financial Officer of the BRITA Group and assuch responsible, among other things, for IT, human resourcesand our major infrastructure activities, i. e. new construction andconversion projects, is certain: “Despite the coronavirus-induced
trend towards mobile working, the office as such will not disappear in the long run. However, office working environments willchange once and for all. The workplace of the future – a mixtureof mobile working and office time spent in flexible office space –will become more variable and thus meet the increasing demands for an adaptable, modern workplace and agile working.
This is also our concept for the future – and as always, we are
implementing it consistently and early.”This means that the need for the continuous use of an office
workplace decreases accordingly. Therefore, our management has decided to implement this new office use concept
not only for the campus extension in Taunusstein that has justbegun, but also as part of the construction and modernisation
measures planned for this year in the existing main building.

Our office in Shanghai already implemented the principle of “New Work” in the last renovation.

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Our CEO Markus Hankammer underlines the incredibly
positive experiences with this new way of working, for which
there was no alternative under pandemic conditions: “We have
had simply fantastic experiences with our culture of trust,which has now grown even stronger. The entire BRITA family
has been pulling together from the very first day, really going40

Absolutely essential: staff involvement and lotsof communication
For any change that has such a major impact on employees,
their involvement or participation is an indispensable prerequisite
for the acceptance of the new concept. The new workplacemodel at BRITA first incorporated the knowledge gained so far
from the coronavirus pandemic and also from an employee
satisfaction survey related to working from home. In addition, thecross-functional project team held workshops with representatives of the individual departments. The department-specificrequirements and occupancy planning were developed here.
Angela Heese, Senior Manager HR Business Partners andresponsible for change management in connection with “NewWork”, clarifies: “Of course, the transformation towards New
Work –¬ which is indeed a gradual, sensitive change – isaccompanied by an ambitious change management process
and appropriate communication.”

Different workplace concepts are combined in the design of the new, modern offices.

far above and beyond expectations once again for our company and its success, in difficult and complicated times. The
result: 2020 was a record year, with many obstacles anddifficulties which we overcame together. It’s simply a special
team, it was a unique experience.”

A first look behind the scenes –not yet definitive, but an impression
The flexible office workplaces currently being created allow
agile working in an attractive environment. The office space isdivided up in such a way that each department has its own“home base”. Existing team structures are thus preserved.

The work options offered in the flexibly usable areas are thenassigned for concentrated individual work at shared workstations, for creative work in a project team or for spontaneous,
informal exchange, to name but a few. A key factor in the newconcept is also the use of sustainable or recycled materials,
true to our strategic focus on sustainability.
Professional, standardised IT equipment in the office or formobile working rounds off the concept. For example, each
employee will receive noise-reducing headphones and theirown keyboard and mouse. Lockable storage compartments
will provide space for personal belongings.

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Regular verification of the concept or its individual elements,and making any necessary adjustments, are part of theimplementation. Firstly, the new workplace equipment istested in the form of a proof-of-concept (PoC for short) witheight hybrid workplaces in Taunusstein. Employees canalready use these test workplaces today and give direct
feedback via a questionnaire. This allows us at this earlystage to give employees an initial vivid insight into the technical possibilities of the future “Way of Working at BRITA”, andto find out together which hardware components are optimallysuited to make daily work at BRITA even easier in the future.
This is then followed by a test run of the hybrid workspaces.

Working witha WOW! effect –we are really looking
forward to it! ■41

BRITA VITAL: HEALTH AS A TOP PRIORITY
Our employees are the most important
foundation for our success. This means that
their health is our top priority and a central
aspect of our corporate responsibility.
Occupational health management, therefore,
supports and encourages our employees tomaintain their physical and mental wellbeing.
Since 2018, all topics related to employee
health and wellbeing have been bundled
under the umbrella of BRITA Vital. Different
departments, such as human resources,

BRITA KEEPSYOU MOVINGin Taunusstein were able to find out about awide range of health topics in presentations
and workshops. Concrete preventive checkups, such as a cardio-stress index measurement, were supplemented by counsellingoffers on topics related to nutrition or stressmanagement as well as sports and yoga
exercises. The participants’ response to thehealth day was very positive.
BRITA Vital also offers a wide range of
products to promote and maintain wellbeing.
For example, a confidential and free counselling hotline is available to our staff, offering
support for everyday questions or serious
crises – whether health or family concerns,
stress or legal issues. Health protection in theform of free flu vaccinations or preventive
check-ups is just as much a part of this as amonthly newsletter that provides employeeswith information and tips.

i

BRITA GmbH employees can lease
their personal bicycle of choice conveniently and inexpensively with JobRad –whether they prefer a city or mountainbike, an e-bike or even a cargo bike.
The benefit for BRITA? Healthier, active
and happy employees! Since August
2019, almost 200 bicyles have alreadybeen on the roads.
occupational health and safety and also theworks council work closely together on thisand offer a wide range of support services. At
the first BRITA Health Day in November 2019,
employees of BRITA GmbH at headquarters

Holistic support – even inpandemic times

Leg power for a healthy snack: a BRITA employee
cycles on a smoothie bike at the first BRITA Vital
Health Day.

The pandemic year 2020 posed previously
unknown and very unique problems for BRITA
Vital. Preventive care services could not takeplace as usual, and lockdowns, school
closures and home schooling, as well asworking from home, placed an additional andnovel burden on many employees. BRITA
Vital also provided support here. A total of

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seven webinars were offered on topics such as“Staying Healthy while Working from Home” or“Long Distance Leadership”. Active lunch
breaks motivated employees to exercise. The
kilometres run were converted into donations
for BRITaid and a blood donation campaign
raised 500 euros for the local food banks.
Together with yoga during lunch break or
online cooking sessions – even in times of thepandemic, BRITA Vital tried to set healthincentives, which the employees accepted
enthusiastically. And even if the coronavirus-­
related restrictions will hopefully be lifted soon:
the health of our employees will remain thefocus of BRITA Vital. ■BRITA REMAINSVITAL IN THE
FUTUREi

We have more activities planned:●	Specialist lectures on topics suchas resilience or caring for relatives●	Initiatives for more activity and better ergonomics in the home office●	A wide range of preventive examinations such as skin cancer screenings●	Training of production workers onnutrition or healthy sleep whenworking shifts

42THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC:A SEVERE TEST FOR THE GLOBAL BRITA FAMILY“In a crisis you see what people are made of.” This quote fromformer German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt proved to beparticularly true during the COVID-19 pandemic. Like all othercompanies, we were initially surprised by the extent of thepandemic and were not quite prepared for all the suddenchanges. Nevertheless, in January 2020, we established aninterdisciplinary pandemic team with colleagues from healthand safety, human resources, the works council and corporate
communications. This cross-departmental cooperation is oneof the main reasons for BRITA’s successful management of
the pandemic.
All the members of the pandemic management team looked at
the issues from different perspectives to find the best possible
solution for the employees and the company. The trusting andconstructive cooperation between human resources and theworks council should be particularly emphasised. It ensured ahigh level of acceptance of the measures decided on by our
employees and always took into account the concerns of
employees and especially the production workers.
The development of the pandemic was characterised by ahigh dynamic, which finally led to the transfer of all office jobs
to the home in our domestic market of Germany within one
day on 16 March 2020. Thanks to the enormous commitmentof our IT department, the transition from office to working fromhome was carried out smoothly. This is especially noteworthy,
because network capacity had to be increased, additional
software and licences had to be procured and regulations

Contact tracing, hygiene rules and no visitors: the deserted lobby of the headquarters in Taunusstein during the pandemic

agreed, so that employees could take screens and desk chairs
home, for example. The rapid transition to working from homealso presented new challenges to our company management

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and demanded a consistent culture of trust. This again
demonstrated the strong sense of cohesion that makes BRITA
stand out, particularly in difficult situations.

43Communication strengthens cohesion
In close coordination with the Executive Board, the following
principles were adopted and consistently applied at the
beginning of the pandemic: protecting the health of ouremployees is our top priority, and maintaining operations is
our second priority. For employees who worked on site, acomprehensive hygiene concept was developed. Measures
such as safety distances and masking requirements were
continuously adapted to the respective state of the pandemic.
Special precautionary and protective measures as well as acomprehensive hygiene and safety concept were introduced
for the employees in production and logistics.
Communication to the national and international workforce
played a major role from the beginning. Our aim was to reducefears, to provide clarity, to give support and also to address
the specific concerns and needs of the BRITA family as far as
possible. For this purpose, a separate email account was set
up, via which everyone could contact the pandemic team
directly with all questions and problems. Almost all of thenearly one thousand enquiries received to this address
between March 2020 and the end of May 2021 were answeredby the pandemic team within one day. All employees were
kept informed through a continuously updated Corona information hub on the intranet. Emails were also sent to all
employees in the event of important and urgent changes. In
addition, the pandemic team informed the managers in theweekly BRITA Leadership Forum about new developments.
Particularly the videos by CEO Markus Hankammer, whotalked about the situation in a calm and inspiring way, had astrong effect, gave orientation and above all conveyed
confidence to employees.

Cohesion and mutual support across continents
How strongly our corporate identity “Wir sind BRITA. A global
family” is felt by all, is demonstrated most specifically by theexample of the masks that suddenly became so highly sought
after: when masks were urgently needed at the beginning of
the pandemic in our Chinese subsidiaries, the German

Chinese colleagues prepare a delivery of protective masks for BRITA
employees in Germany.

headquarters quickly and without bureaucracy sent more than
3,000 masks to our Chinese colleagues. As masks became
increasingly scarce in Germany at a later stage of the pandemic,
the Chinese BRITA employees sent masks to Germany to help
their colleagues.
The international cohesion of the BRITA family was also
demonstrated in a video campaign with the hashtag#WESTANDTOGETHER: video messages from subsidiaries
and various headquarter divisions about the pandemic andhow we were dealing with it were published on the intranet.
They served to maintain contact to colleagues, to givecourage and thus to promote team spirit in a moving way.
So, despite the fact that the pandemic has presented us with
unforeseen challenges, it has definitely strengthened thecohesion of the BRITA family. ■Masking up with a statement: before medical masks were legally required,employees were able to purchase these cloth masks to show support for our
NGO partner Whale & Dolphin Conservation (WDC). CEO Markus Hankammer
set a good example.

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VISIT TO BRITA X: AN INSIGHT INTO THEINNOVATION LABAt BRITA, many different personalities together make up astrong team that upholds shared values. Whether at theheadquarters in Taunusstein, Germany, a newly-foundedsubsidiary in India, or production facilities in northern Italy –the BRITA identity is a recurring theme throughout the entire
company. This is true at BRITA X, since although the statedgoal is to bring together as many different personalities, skills
and perspectives as possible in the cross-functional team, themotto is still: we are BRITA. A global family.

BRITA X was launched at the start of 2020 as an innovation lab,taking an agile approach to the development of user-centricbusiness models for BRITA. Our corporate values of latitude,
personal responsibility, team spirit, respect, openness and trust
are ideal prerequisites for such a self-organised team. Timo
Kreuzsaler has experienced first-hand why having a strong
identify is crucial when forming teams. Having worked in
production at BRITA since 2005, most recently as an assistantteam leader, he moved to the innovation lab for the launch of
BRITA X. “BRITA is BRITA, whether we are talking in a production environment or right now in a context similar to a start-up,”says Timo. “The biggest difference is how and what we areworking on. That feeling of family and the values are, however,the same.” So, how does a modern innovation lab work?

Having an identity creates meaningful work
“We have seriously grappled with BRITA’s vision and mission.
We have specified the mission in terms of our role,” explains
Timo. “For us, it is like a compass that guides us when we tap
into new business ideas.” As a result, the team has questioned the why and the purpose behind the work. “Clarifying
the ‘why’ has given us an emotional investment in the achievement of our goals. It has generated for us a sense of feelingand acting responsibly.”

They develop and test new business ideas in a start-up like environment:
the team of the BRITA X innovation lab.

BRITA X has developed a shared understanding and guidelines relating to how the team works together. In this way, therules are clear, such as making decisions jointly, for example.
In addition, responsibilities are independently distributed via
roles in the team, like finance and budget management, or
procurement of working materials.
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The big think tank wall in the team room is one of the many creative tools
and agile work methods used by BRITA X.

Working in a user-centric way means testing,testing, testing – and sometimes also failing
Developing new, user-centric business models entails researching human needs and issues, developing new ideas forsolutions, testing and further development. “Shortly after thelaunch of our team, we spoke with people outside supermarkets and beverage outlets to identify their needs. A few weeks
later, we were out in the pedestrian zone with a prototype
water dispenser which we had put together using cardboard
boxes. We tested out a first idea – a water dispenser sharedby consumers in their personal environment,” explains Timo.
45

This process runs through a number of iterations until the goalis achieved: a solution users want so much that they are willingto pay for it. It also has to be technically feasible and economically viable. Just six months after the initial surveys at beverageoutlets, actual water dispensers were in place in large residential complexes in Frankfurt. Customers took out a subscription
to use the water dispenser. “Ultimately, the initial businessmodel we developed was not sufficiently scalable and economically viable. Still, we take on board all of the knowledge gained
to work on other solutions,” says Timo.

The OKRs provide the framework for the goal over the next
three months. Yet, success also depends on how the teamorganises itself from week to week. “So we can focus on the
key issues, we set ourselves weekly targets every Monday
and then plan what we need to do during the week to achievethem,” says Timo. “We connect with each other every day andfrequently work collaboratively. This can also sometimes
become very fragmented.”

Essential for an agile approach to work: focus
BRITA X is aligning its approach with varying management
methods. “Initially, we develop quarterly goals – known asobjectives and key results (OKRs). You have to think of themas an overarching force that gives us increased focus overthis period,” explains Timo.

SECRET INGREDIENT OKR

ALTERNATING ROLESFOR WORKSHOPS AND
MEETINGSi

Responsibilities for certain roles change on a daily
basis. This creates new challenges and helps withpersonal development. Overall, there are six roles
that are re-assigned via an online random generator.
Moderators lead the discussion to ensure the courseof the discussion is conducive to achieving the goals.
Hand in hand with the moderator, the visualiser is
responsible for creating an appropriate visualization forthe online session. Goalkeepers intervene if the teamstrays from the actual topic. The timekeeper makes sure
we stay on schedule. A documenter records the visualisations. Cheerleaders provide the emotional element.

Digital or analogue work? The activity decides.

i

The innovation lab is activity-based. This means that the tasks
determine how we work. Planning the week on Monday
morning was initially done in a team room using a whiteboard.
At the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the weekly planningswitched to an online whiteboard. “We realised that sometasks work even better online, like planning, for example.
Some work can be switched to online, such as brainstorming
sessions, but are simply better done all together in the teamroom. Others cannot be switched to online at all, such asassembling water dispenser prototypes,” according to Timo.

Objectives and key results (OKRs) are a management
method consisting of two components: firstly, objectives, meaning the motivating goals that are usually
very ambitious, and secondly, key results. The key results are used to drive success and, compared to theobjectives, they form the measurable and highly specific part of the OKRs. They link the corporate goals to
those of the team and are used as a basis for weekly
targets. Every three months, new OKRs are drafted
and implemented.

Craftsmanship also comes in handy when BRITA X implements productideas: Timo Kreuzaler builds a prototype.

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The great advantage of an agile approach to work is veryclear for the BRITA X team. “We can work together in a waythat is overall more autonomous, more efficient and that saves
resources, plus we can design everything ourselves. This
gives us the opportunity to achieve optimal results for BRITA,”
says Timo. “This latitude is incredibly meaningful.” ■46

#BRITaid – WORKING TOGETHERFOR A GOOD CAUSE
Since our early beginnings as a company, we
have supported various charitable organisations through monetary or in-kind donations.
However, since the #BRITaid initiative waslaunched by our up-and-coming generation ofmanagers in 2018, we have also relied on thecommitment of our employees. #BRITaid hastaken up the cause of generating financial
support for the ÊFranciscan nuns from
Salzkotten in the Romanian region of Banat.
Romania is still one of the poorest countries
in Europe, where older people and disadvantaged children in rural areas often do not evenhave the basic necessities. Since 1991, theFranciscan sisters have been looking after,
feeding and supporting children and older
people from particularly vulnerable families,
for example, through educational care offers
and a mobile social service.

became more important than ever. As schools
and kindergartens were closed down, morethan 50 schoolchildren and kindergarten kids
were still able to be provided with regularmeals and care facilities through our donations. The sisters also organised the required
online schooling for children from sociallydisadvantaged families, who often have nointernet access or laptops.

For three years now, #BRITaid has beenorganising various fundraising events where
BRITA employees can get involved. The
funds collected then directly benefit theFranciscan nuns’ projects. As far as possible,
members of the #BRITaid team visit the
project, so they can get first-hand informationon the current situation and to identify
additional ways to help.
During the coronavirus pandemic, supporting
the Franciscan sisters in the Banat region

At the kindergarten in Caransebes, Francisan nuns offer educational care, warm meals and other support forroughly 30 children.

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In 2020, many thousands of euros wereraised once again together. During a campaign initiated by #BRITaid and BRITA Vital,
our occupational health management
scheme, an active lunch break was organised
in September, where employees were encouraged to go for a walk or run. For each of the
770 kilometres completed, BRITA Vital
donated two euros to #BRITaid. Furthermore,
at a garage sale held at the headquarters in

Taunusstein, employees could make adonation and in exchange receive BRITA
products otherwise earmarked for disposal.
This activity alone generated donations ofmore than 10,000 euros, which meant that in2020, we were able to provide a record
amount to implement social projects in
Romania. Looking to the future, we willcontinue to ensure together that aid reaches
those places where it is needed most. ■WE GIVE BACKOur subsidiaries around the world support local or regional charitable organisations in themost diverse ways – financially, through personal commitment or other donations in kind.
Below is a selection of the organisations supported over the past two years:

BRITA Gruppe

Whale & Dolphin Conservation

BRITA Germany

Arche Frankfurt
AWO Taunusstein
Johanniter-Unfall-Hilfe
Jugendfeuerwehr Taunusstein
SOS Kinderdorf Frankfurt

BRITA Australia

Clean Up Australia

BRITA France

No Plastic In My Sea
Whale & Dolphin Conservation

BRITA Hong Kong

Salvation Army

BRITA India

Shanti Bhavan

BRITA Japan

Kameoka City, Kyoto
NPO Acorn ClubWWF Japan

BRITA Poland

Domydziecka.org
Ronald McDonald Charity Houses

BRITA UK

Keep Britain Tidy
Whale & Dolphin Conservation

Vivreau USA

Charity Water
Ocean Wise

The sisters support the Caritas social service in caring for the sick and elderly, who often have no support system.

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LEADERSHIP POTENTIAL FROM OUR OWN RANKSOur goal is to fill as many leadership positions
as possible internally and thereby provide our
employees with real opportunities for promotion and further training. Over the last few
years, we have managed to fill around 60 per
cent of vacant management positions withinternal applicants – a strong signal, especiallyin times of consistent growth. There arevarious reasons for this encouraging development. Firstly, we promote a continuous andproductive exchange between specialist
departments and human resources, particularly the business partners, the recruiting teamand personnel development. In this way, we
can identify at an early stage which employees
are ready to take on a leadership role.

We owe BRITA’s long-term success primarily
to our employees. Their commitment, skills
and motivation to implement our vision andmission are the most important reason for our
phenomenal development in recent years. In
addition to great employees, a strong leadership team is also essential. Here, above all,we rely on young talent from our own ranks.

managers. By offering a dual study programme
at BRITA, we secure specialist expertise that isdifficult to find on the job market. Our BOLD
programme for high potentials specificallydevelops up-and-coming managers who havealready internalised the BRITA culture throughtheir work with us. Our new tool, Success
Factors, will support the human resources
department in future when it comes to a better
recognition of employee potential, or identifying in advance where we run the risk of losing
a well-qualified employee.
Appointing leadership positions internally has
many benefits for us as a company. Ambitious
employees with a desire for advancement are

motivated and rewarded for their dedication.
As a result, employees with potential aremostly retained for a long time, because we
can show them a specific career perspective
and development opportunities. This keeps
turnover low over the long term, facilitates
sustainable staff recruitment and also
promotes employee satisfaction. Motivatedand satisfied employees are also the greatest
advocates for our company.
Employee loyalty and long-term employment
relationships make us attractive to external
candidates in the job market and also
strengthen the BRITA brand as an employer.
It’s a real win-win situation for both parties! ■Secondly, we directly approach suitable
employees when it comes to upcoming
recruiting processes for management positions. If internal candidates have the necessary background and potential for the newrole, they are preferred over external applicants. This includes promoting and supporting our internal candidates so that they cansettle into their new position early on, even if
there are external candidates available whoare potentially better qualified.
In addition to focusing on the promotion ofsuitable candidates, we also rely on theconsistent development of specialists andE D I T O R I A L // C O M P A N Y // P R O D U C T // P E O P L E // P L A N E T

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FACTS AND FIGURESWHAT WE ARE WORKING ON● Ensuring the social, mental and physical wellbeing of our employees through appropriate
services and the BRITA Vital health management system● Developing the skills and abilities of our employees through structured competency models● Further development of the mindset necessary for“New Work” among employees and managers● Further implementation of the OneHR programme
for the digitalisation of recruitment, talent management and employee data, including the international rollout of the corresponding IT modules.

PEOPLE AS THE MOSTIMPORTANT RESOURCE
The basis for our success is not only innovative, high-quality
products, but also our enthusiastic, well-trained employees,
who significantly shape our company and its developmentwith their commitment and ideas. We want to preserve thisvery special success factor. That is why we are always
working to create an inspiring, stimulating and pleasantworking environment. The BRITA values – freedom, personal
responsibility, trust, team spirit, respect and openness – form
the guidelines and basis for cooperation among employees aswell as between employees and managers.

Generous benefits and appreciation
We expect a lot from our employees and require them to behave responsibly towards consumers, customers, colleagues,
society, and the environment. In return, we want to create aworking environment in which a spirit of cooperation, mutual
respect and appreciation are the determining factors. In carrying out their duties and responsibilities, our employees are
given the freedom and opportunities they require in order towork productively. Wherever possible, we offer development
perspectives that fit their individual ideas.
Worldwide, we pay fair salaries that are competitive in thelocal market. Performance assessments are carried out
regularly and on the basis of job-specific requirements, in aprocess that is objective and without the influence of diversity
factors.
In addition to financial remuneration, we offer many voluntary
benefits, which may vary depending on the country andthe respective local conditions. Flexible working hours thatcan be adapted to the employee’s personal life situations,generous arrangements for working from home, extensive
health care offers, modern workplaces, and free hot and cold
drinks are examples of how we create an appealing working
environment. In this way, each subsidiary finds its own waysof appreciating, motivating and retaining its employees.

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VOLUNTARY FRINGE
BENEFITSi● Company pension scheme● Voluntary health insurance● Working-life time accounts● Study while working options● Free healthcare● Subsidised public transport tickets● Subsidised canteen or meals● Allowance for sports and fitness activities● Christmas or holiday bonus● Birthday and anniversary gifts● Staff discountNot all services listed apply at all locations.

Partnership-based human resourcesmanagement
Many of the comprehensive employee benefits are the resultof the close and constructive collaboration between management, the human resources department and the works
council, which has been committed to the interests of theemployees since 1999 and today represents the employees at50

the headquarters in Taunusstein, as well as at the sites in Bad
Camberg, Beselich and Wiesbaden. The collaboration ischaracterised by respectful conduct and appreciative and fairinteractions, in which all parties place an appreciative cultureof discussion and goal-oriented solutions above all else.
Due to the growth in the number of our employees and theincreasing challenges placed on the responsibilities of the works
council in recent years, from autumn 2018, not only the works
council chairwoman but also the deputy chairwoman have forthe first time been released from their professional activities.

BOLD

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BOLD stands for “BRITA Opportunities for Leadership Development”. This refers to the BRITA programme for the promotion of the next generation ofmanagers. The name is not only an acronym, butalso describes the participants of the programme –“bold” and “courageous”.

TALENT MANAGEMENT
Our talent management involves the systematic hiring,promotion, retention, and deployment of employees in thecompany. To support talent management, a uniform process
for employee assessment and development has beenused at all BRITA sites since 2016. With the introductionof the SuccessFactors software in 2020, the process has
become even more transparent and targeted. The focus
is now on regular feedback and close interaction between
the employee and manager throughout the year, offering
the employee more opportunities for self-evaluation andpersonal development planning.
In 2017, we developed the BOLD programme, which is now
implemented globally, specifically for the advancement of
employees with special potential to take on leadership roles.
The aim of the three-year modular programme is to quickly
and purposefully develop employees into leaders throughworkshops, mentoring and solving specific business-related
tasks within the framework of a project. Participants arenominated by our Executive Board based on several criteria.

For the training and development of our employees, we offer
external, on-the-job training, as well as a wide range ofinternal training opportunities, which are grouped together
under the umbrella of the BRITA Academy. In addition tointernal learning opportunities such as soft skills training,
language courses or management seminars, the Academy
also offers learning opportunities specifically designed
for certain specialist areas, such as the Sales Academy.
In various modules, for example, employees around theworld benefit from sales-specific training and refresh andexpand their knowledge of our product range with the help of
e-learning courses.
General training for employees, such as product-related,
IT or compliance training is also offered through the BRITA
Academy. Since November 2020, the course offering has
been supplemented by virtual courses, to enable extensive
further training opportunities even during the coronavirus
pandemic.

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INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGE
For a globally active company like BRITA, an intensive
exchange and close cooperation between our German
headquarters and the national and international subsidiaries
are important prerequisites for continued success. At
the same time, it is important to communicate BRITA’s
corporate culture and values internationally and to breathe
life into them. To facilitate this process, employees fromheadquarters regularly assist in setting up structures,
systems or even production facilities at new subsidiaries.
But employees from the international branches also cometo our headquarters in Taunusstein to share experiencesfrom their markets, learn about processes and build theirexpertise together with their colleagues from Germany.
Although this trend slowed down since 2020 due totravel restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic, thisdevelopment will continue as soon as it is possible again.
Overseas postings and short-term secondments are regulated
by a posting guideline that applies a uniform standard
internationally and ensures that both transparency andsecurity for the employees are guaranteed. To guarantee that
employees receive optimal support, a cross-functional teamof HR and tax experts accompanies the process. Ultimately,
the ongoing digitalisation of instruments and processes has
also led to much closer cooperation across countries without
employees having to leave their local offices.
BRITA’s uninterrupted internationalisation is also reflectedin the BOLD programme for future managers. With thisprogramme, we are working towards promoting diversity andstrengthening international networking. This also opens up
attractive international career opportunities for the participants.

51

A GROWING, GLOBAL AND DIVERSE WORKFORCE

16 % 16 %

2020

80 %
2019

82 %

2018

83 %

2020

2019

3%

2018

2% 2%

2020

2019

Particularly pleasing: from 2018 to 2020, we were able tocontinuously reduce the rate of turnover within the BRITA
Group by almost half to below 10 per cent, and even significantly below that in Europe. In addition, we succeededin filling more than 60 per cent of the vacant management
positions at our headquarters from our own ranks during the
aforementioned period. This shows that we are on the righttrack – with attractive jobs, long-term development prospects and a positively regarded working environment. It also
proves that we can attract the right people.

Distribution of employees worldwide 1

2018

BRITA’s ongoing economic success and growth are also
reflected in the number of employees. In the past three
years, employee numbers have increased by almost 20 per
cent to 2,205, as of December 2020. This strong growth –especially last year, with a 13 per cent increase compared tothe previous year – was driven by organic growth within the
BRITA Group, but also by the acquisition of Filltech GmbHwith more than 120 employees at the end of last year.

18 %Unless otherwise indicated, the following indicators refer tothe entire BRITA Group.

Development of employee numbers

+2 %

+5 %

+13 %

2018: 1,863

2019: 1,953

2020: 2,205

The healthy growth of our workforce is spread across all
divisions and regions. Today, 80 per cent of employees stillwork at our European locations, a large proportion of themat the production sites, but also many at the headquarters
in Taunusstein, in central functions such as purchasing or
product development. However, the Asia-Pacific region is adefined growth market for us. In recent years, for example,
we have set up new subsidiaries in India and Korea andstarted up our own filter cartridge production in China. Dueto the steady increase in skills and personnel in the region,
the proportion of employees there has doubled in the last
five years to 20 per cent of the total workforce today. In

North America, we are present with smaller sales companies, but have continuously invested in a solid personnel
structure there as well. We are planning to expand this structure in the future, to further exploit market potentials.
All in all, people representing more than 50 nationalities workat our company. This cultural diversity shapes the way weinteract with each other and offers us all new opportunities totake advantage of different perspectives and valuable ideas.
This really helps us advance. At the same time, however, thedemands on managers and employees are also changing.
Cross-cultural collaboration is becoming part of daily life.
1

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All employees with active contracts; excluding Filltech GmbH52

We support this development through language courses orcross-cultural training, so that our employees get the best
preparation to master these challenges.
We offer models for flexible working hours so that our employees can balance their work and private lives in the best
possible way. Overall, around 12 per cent of our employees worldwide work part-time, although such working hourmodels are not equally popular in all countries and regions.
At 23 per cent, significantly more female employees takeadvantage of the part-time option than male employees (6per cent worldwide). At the same time, almost 20 per cent of
employees over 60 have opted for reduced working hours,
while only 9 per cent of younger employees (31-50 years)
have done so.
Like other companies, we must also be in a position to react
flexibly to certain developments and situations. Nevertheless, 84 per cent of our employees worldwide have permanent contracts, while 16 per cent have fixed-term contracts.
Among other things, this is due to regional differences in
employment practices. For example, the rate of fixed-term
contracts in China is significantly higher than in Europe.
However, our goal is always to offer our employees longterm career prospects. At 54 per cent, just over half of
BRITA GmbH employees are remunerated with a collective
wage agreement.

As in the previous reporting period, the proportion of female
employees remained constant from 2018 to 2020 at around40 per cent, which is quite high overall for a manufacturing,
technology-driven company. However, we also note regional
differences. While 37 per cent of employees in Europe arefemale, the share of women in the Asia-Pacific region is 45
per cent, and in China it is almost 60 per cent.
The age structure of BRITA employees is similarly stable.
Since 2017, the proportion of employees aged between 31 and50 has remained constant at around 60 per cent, with justunder 20 per cent of employees older than 51. Here, too, thepicture varies somewhat from region to region, influenced by
the demographics of individual countries and the labour markets, some of which are very dynamic. While in Europe about
55 per cent of employees are between 31 and 50 years old,
this age group accounts for over 70 per cent in Asia. On theother hand, the proportion of employees over 60 in Europe isalmost 20 per cent – a clear sign that we value the experienceand knowledge of older employees. Mentoring within the BOLD
programme also ensures that a knowledge transfer takes place
within the company and that younger staff members can benefit
from the knowledge of experienced colleagues.

Employee age structure 2020

20 %

59 %

18 %

3%

Workforce distribution by gender

We care about the health and safety of our employees. Our
goal is to prevent injuries and illnesses and to continuously
improve occupational safety. At a minimum, this means compliance with legal obligations and other occupational healthand safety management requirements, as well as following
additional guidelines that apply to all BRITA sites worldwide.
In the manufacturing industry, occupational safety is an extremely important issue. That is why, for example, our filter
cartridge production sites in Germany, the UK and China arecertified according to the international standard for occupational safety ISO 45001.
Using risk assessments, we check workplaces and newor changed processes for potential risks, with the aim of
ensuring the protection of our employees. Potential hazard
sources are also identified and appropriate measures are
initiated in the planning as well as the lawful operation of
new production lines or equipment. Within the organisational structure, the Health, Safety & Environment department
manages BRITA’s occupational health and safety. It organises and participates in regular inspections of the work areas,
evaluates them and, if necessary, initiates appropriate steps
together with those responsible. Occupational health andsafety also reports regularly to management, advises onfurther improvement opportunities and defines global occupational health and safety standards for the Group.
All of our employees receive regular training on health andsafety matters. Depending on the location, either online
trainings or seminars are provided for this purpose. Employees are required to consistently comply with occupationalsafety regulations, to inform their superiors about defects
and are encouraged to make suggestions for improvement.

2020
61 % male

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH, SAFETY
AND EMPLOYEE WELLBEING

39 % female

Up to 30 years 31-50 years

51-60 years Over 60 years

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Workplace accidents

Healthcare

Despite extensive occupational safety measures, there
were 30 workplace accidents in the entire BRITA Group in
2020, with a total of 449 working days lost. This equates toan accident rate per one million working hours of 8.3.3 The
majority of these accidents occurred in production, logistics
and during service activities. As in previous years, carelessness was the most common cause of accidents. We willcontinue to raise awareness for occupational safety throughappropriate measures in all areas of the company.

Healthy and productive employees are the basic prerequisite
for us to be able to continue to operate successfully andachieve our business goals. Beyond our general understanding of employee care, this is another reason why we treat thehealth of our employees responsibly. At the headquarters in
Taunusstein, but also in many subsidiaries, preventive healthmeasures are provided that go beyond the legal require-

Fortunately, there were no occupational accidents withserious consequences and no fatalities during the reporting
period. In all reported accidents, the necessary immediate
measures were initiated and appropriate remedial action
was taken afterwards in cooperation with those responsible.
Where relevant, we have provided additional safety briefings.

OBJECTIVE 2018

ACHIEVED

Expansion of the BRITA Academy
with further content●●●

ACCIDENT RATE
2018		
2019		
2020		

9.6
13.4
10.5

i

(per million working hours)1

Reportable accidents in the course of business activities with down time ≥ 1 day; basis of calculation:
1,840 hours per year per full-time employee
1

Introduction of a BRITA-specificconcept for overall cooperation
within the company●

Continued standardisation andinternationalisation of BRITA
occupational health and safety●

Internationalisation of humanresources management

●

●

●

●
●

ments. As part of BRITA Vital, our health management programme, BRITA GmbH offers, for example, flu vaccinations,general vaccination consultations and various rotating healthservices such as skin cancer screenings, heart checks or
blood glucose monitoring free of charge for all employees.
Other BRITA Vital offers include a counselling hotline for
employees, a monthly newsletter on various health topics,
as well as courses and information on sport, nutrition, resilience and a healthy work-life balance. ■STATUS

Establishment of a marketing academyE xpansion of training elements for managers(Leadership Toolbox)
Self-learning opportunities for all employeesI ntroduction of HPO (High Performance
Organisation) training and coursesP iloting of a regular and standardised
employee survey in APAC and ChinaG lobally uniform processes and definitions in
occupational health and safety introducedU se of Quentic software extended to further
locations and processesS tandardisation of relevant processes andsoftware solutions achieved at HQG lobal rollout startedU niform posting directive
Objective achieved

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Objective partially achieved

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# 04
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NEW BRITA PRODUCTION BUILDING IN
BAD CAMBERG: EVERYTHING UNDER ONESUSTAINABLE ROOF
Those who build today, build for tomorrow. Modern industrial buildings
should not only be stable, safe and functional for a long period of time,
but sustainable, too. This also applies in particular to our new production facility in Bad Camberg, which was built according to the latest
energy efficiency and sustainability standards. But for us, sustainability
goes one step further: with the new building, we want to offer our
employees an attractive working environment that optimises work
processes and procedures. And an environment where, above all, they
feel comfortable.
The site in Bad Camberg’s “Im Gründchen II” industrial estate covers 35,500
square metres. A state-of-the-art production facility including laboratories,
logistics, technology and canteen has been built over 12,500 square metres. All
BRITA cartridges from MAXTRA to PURITY C and CLARITY are produced here
under one roof by around 130 employees. The successive relocation of the
production lines, which started in January 2021, will be completed over thecourse of the year.
“Of course, we initially considered modernising the two existing production
facilities in Taunusstein or building a new one here,” says Daniela Crean,
Manager Construction Real Estate, looking back. “But firstly, there was no spacefor expansion at the previous location, and secondly the high renovation andmodernisation requirements made a new building ecologically and economicallymore sensible.” The good motorway access to the A 3 as well as proximity toheadquarters and the central warehouse in Beselich finally tipped the scales infavour of Bad Camberg.

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Environmentally-friendly timber hybrid building“The new production building is by far the largest BRITA plantin the world. And the first building in the company’s history to
be built with such a considerable proportion of wood,” Stefan
Jonitz proudly sums up. As Chief Financial Officer of the
BRITA Group, he has, among other things, overall responsibility for the numerous new buildings currently under construction. The new building can already be recognised from afar.
Not only because of its size, but above all because of its
design. Its unique feature is the special timber hybrid construction method, in which the load-bearing elements and the
majority of the building are made of certified European softwoods such as pine and larch, which come from sustainably
managed forests. In timber hybrid construction, wood andconcrete materials are used according to their respective
strengths: wood or glue-laminated timber as a sustainable,
fully recyclable building material and load-bearing element forthe building envelope, concrete as a structural element forfoundations, stairways and ceilings, for example.
Behind the concept and design is the Bochum-based architectural firm Banz + Riecks, which is known for its energy-saving,environmentally friendly industrial buildings made of timber,and has won a number of international awards for this inrecent years. As sustainability and environmental protection
are deeply rooted in our corporate principles, the choice ofwood as a building material was obvious – and so was the
choice of architect.

THE ADVANTAGES OF
THE TIMBER HYBRIDCONSTRUCTION METHODi

Small environmental footprint
Wood grows back without fossil energy consumption, issustainable and fully recyclable. At the same time, theenergy required for the production of timber, for example,
is much lower compared to steel or brick. Furthermore,wood permanently removes CO2 from the atmosphere.
Thermal insulation, energy efficiency and a goodindoor climate
Wood is a poor conductor of heat – precisely for this reason
it provides perfect thermal insulation in summer and winter, thereby increasing energy efficiency. In addition, as anatural building material, wood ensures a healthy indoor climate, optimum humidity levels and a high feel-good factor.
Flexible and faster building
Although wood is a lightweight building material, it
can absorb very heavy loads. Therefore, wood can beused quite flexibly. In addition, building with wood isenormously time-saving due to the option of prefabricating certain elements.

Intensive communication process
The planning meetings and workshops lasted a good year
before the groundbreaking ceremony took place in November
2018. “For our style of building, intensive cooperation and an
ongoing exchange with the client and all those involved in the
project are absolutely essential,” says Dietmar Riecks, thearchitect in charge. “After all, we don’t just build a simple hallwhich is then filled with production equipment, but a production facility customised for a specific use, precisely tailored tothe client’s requirements.”
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One of the requirements was to achieve the KfW 55 standard,
which was possible through sustainable planning and a focus
on energy efficiency. “This standard actually resulted from theway it was constructed, which is similar to a half-timberedhouse,” explains Dietmar Riecks. “The only difference is that
here we have 24 centimetres of thermal insulation instead of
the compartments plastered with mud bricks, and this almost
fulfils the criteria of an energy-efficient passive house.”
Energy that has already been generated is used wisely, suchas the warm exhaust air from the machines to heat the rooms.
In addition, the structural suspension was moved to theoutside, which lowers the building height and reduces thevolume of space to be heated. A special feature compared toconventional industrial construction is the photovoltaic systemcurrently being installed on the building’s roof.

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i

WHAT IS KFW 55?

Dietmar Riecks, Banz + Riecks Architekten BDA: “Planning a building poses a varietyof challenges. Sustainability in the use of resources is a very important one. Given
the longevity of buildings, construction is a process that has extremely long-term
consequences for the environment.”
A KfW Efficiency House 551 is a building with particularly low energy consumption.
This German building and renovation standard was defined by German state-owned
investment and development bank Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) and is linked
to subsidies for new construction and renovation. Standards range from 40 to 115;
the lower the number, the higher the energy efficiency.
In principle, a KfW 55 house requires only 55 per cent of the energy of a building thatmeets today’s minimum requirements for new construction. A reference building thatmeets the requirements of the Building Energy Act (GEG) serves as a comparison.
In addition, the transmission heat loss, i. e. the amount of heat that a building loses
through walls, windows, doors and roof, is only 70 per cent of the conventionally built
reference building. The structural thermal insulation is therefore 30 per cent better.
1

kfw.deAttractive working environment
Another requirement for the design was the sophisticated hygiene concept at BRITA, something that was already established even before the coronavirus pandemic. “From air exchange
rates to the supply of compressed air, steam and other media to production, the building mustmeet the needs and the safety requirements of production,” explains Daniela Crean. Decentralised ventilation systems, which can be individually controlled, were installed in all areas. In thisway, an air conditioning system was provided that did not previously exist in the almost
50-year-old production buildings in Taunusstein.
A healthy indoor climate, plenty of light and an open atmosphere with a view of meadows and fields
outside are also criteria that increase the attractiveness of the new working environment. After all,it is not only in Silicon Valley or in major cities like Berlin that employees want forward-looking
working environments with a feel-good factor. It does not necessarily have to be the gym and the

Aycihan Celik, Senior Manager Raw Materials & Production Planning, likes his new workplace in Bad Camberg.

daycare centre on the office premises. At the end of the day, a large proportion of employees rate
the attractiveness of the employer according to the attractiveness of the working environment.

Accessibility between production and administration“We initially considered structurally separating the administration wing from production,” says
Lukas Platz, Group Director Manufacturing, “but in the end we didn’t want to put up barriers.
On the contrary, we wanted to break them down.” By integrating the glass-walled offices in the
middle of production, transparency and short distances were created. In addition, interactions
among the employees are facilitated via team areas, coffee bars and the canteen. “Ultimately,
it is about encouraging and living the typical BRITA team spirit,” sums up Dietmar Riecks.
Lukas Platz adds: “When planning the work processes, the employees were involved accordingly – from taking stock of the current state of affairs to their wishes and needs.”

Building for the future“Anyone planning a house these days should not ask themselves ‘how do I build it today?’ but‘how would I build it in 20 or 30 years’?” says Dietmar Riecks. “Sustainable foresight, in otherwords.” This is also how we approached the new building: there is still an undeveloped area on
the site where, if necessary, a second production building can be built onto the existing one,thanks to the modular construction style, thus doubling the size of the structure. Planning andbuilding permission for this second construction phase have already been obtained. We are,therefore well, prepared for future developments.

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Three Questions for Lukas Platz, our Group Director Manufacturing
What was particularly important to consider whenmoving the individual production lines?
Firstly, we used the move to optimise material flow,
accessibility and operation, and secondly, we checkedwhich plant components had to be replaced due to theirage. The scheduling was also challenging, as we havenever carried out a move on this scale before. The dismantling and assembly of a production line takes between fourand ten weeks. That depends on whether it is an interlinked system, whether parts need to be renewed or whether it has been relocated from one of our other sites, suchas Switzerland. In addition, it was also necessary to factor intime for any unforeseen events that might occur, such as a
cable breakage. It then takes another eight to ten weeks until
the equipment runs as smoothly as before.
What are the material quantities involved in moving a
production line?
To give you a vivid idea of the scale of our move: the relocation of a MAXTRA+ production line from Taunusstein to Bad
Camberg, for example, required 12 trucks. In terms of theentire plant machinery, that’s a total of 160 truckloads.

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From a production point of view, what was the biggest
challenge in planning the new building?
The planning of a modern production facility that works
with the future in mind. This means thinking and planning
exactly how to get the raw materials to the production linein the best possible way – so that employees can concentrate on their work and don’t have to go looking for materials – and how to get the finished product back out of the
production hall again. At the same time, of course, how we
can offer our employees a friendly and bright environment
where they feel comfortable and communication between
all workers is optimised. ■59

LESS IS MORE: OUR CONTRIBUTION TO
CLIMATE PROTECTION
Acting sustainably means preserving the planet so that future
generations can have a life worth living on it. As a company,
we can support this in many ways, for example, by using fewer
fossil resources, promoting more recycling and less waste,
and using sustainable materials in our products. In order tomake further progress along this path, we have set goals in
our Sustainability Charter that we want to achieve in the
coming years. But our responsibility does not end there. Oneof the greatest challenges of our time is the advancing climatechange, which not only endangers animal habitats, but also
increasingly affects the lives of people in all regions of theworld.

With conviction for fewer emissions
Just like every individual, we as a company can also makedecisions in such a way that they have the least possible
negative impact on the climate. For many years, we have been
doing just that. Our filter cartridge production facilities inGermany and the UK, as well as some office locations, havebeen using certified green electricity for many years. Around50 per cent of the BRITA Group’s total electricity requirements
came from renewable sources in 2020.
Since 2015, we have had a company car policy that promotes
the use of low-emission and electrified vehicles throughadditional subsidies. More than 40 free charging stations areavailable to employees on the company premises of BRITA
GmbH – and many subsidiaries have now also set up charging
stations or are planning to do so. At our new plant in Bad

Camberg, during the renovation of the BRITA site
in Switzerland, and during the current conversion
and expansion of our company headquarters, weare consciously using energy-efficient and thus
climate-efficient construction methods and technologies to significantly reduce the footprint of thebuildings.

The long road to climate neutrality
With our current strategy “Shaping Sustainable
Solutions”, we are now taking another step. For the
first time, we are setting concrete climate protection targets. From 2023, we want to operate in a
climate-neutral manner. What does that mean
specifically? We will “neutralise” emissions gene­
rated by our business activities with the help ofcarefully selected offsetting projects.
Our target includes all emissions from Scope 1 and
2 of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. These are
emissions that result from the direct consumptionof energy such as natural gas or fuel for company
cars (Scope 1) or in the production of the electricity
we use (Scope 2). In addition, we will also offset
unavoidable emissions from business trips and thetransport of our goods. Our ambition is to reduce
emissions wherever possible, but climate neutrality
is currently not yet possible without compensatory
measures.

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However, to prevent the greatest consequences ofclimate change and excessive heating of the planet,measures that go beyond this are necessary. The
Paris Climate Agreement, which 194 countries andthe European Union have signed so far, stipulates
that global warming should be limited to below 2
degrees. This goal can only be achieved if governments, business and consumers work together andcompanies think outside the box. At BRITA, we want
to do our part and make our value chain moreclimate-friendly and climate-neutral (net zero
emissions) in the long term.
“Of course, at first glance this is a Herculean task.
How, for example, do we as a medium-sized company dictate to our often very large suppliers that theyshould use green electricity?” Meike Rapp, Manager
Strategic Sustainability & Corporate Responsibility,
explains the complexity of the ambition. “Nevertheless, there are also opportunities for BRITA. Climate-­
neutral supply chains can only be realised in partnership, through even closer and more long-term
relationships with suppliers and customers. Most of
our business partners are still at the beginning of
their own climate journey – there are many opportunities for collaboration. And because we are proactive about the issue, we can determine our own pathand set the priorities that make sense for us and takeus forward as a company.”
But it takes time: to understand what approaches we
can take, what partners we need and what milestones
we want to set. By the end of 2023, we will therefore
first define a roadmap to net zero emissions.

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Where we stand today: the BRITA company
carbon footprint
We have been recording the BRITA company carbon footprint
annually since 2015. By doing so, we are creating moretransparency about our energy and resource consumption at its
various sites and can identify where improvements are possible
and sensible. In addition to Scope 1 and 2 emissions, wecurrently record emissions from business trips, the productionof important purchased raw materials and the upstream chainsof energy generation. In 2020, a total of 31 of our properties
were covered by the company carbon footprint.

GHG PROTOCOL STANDARDiFor the assessment of our emissions, we use theinternationally recognised Greenhouse Gas Protocol
standard for the recording of corporate emissions.
It defines three so-called emission scopes.
Scope 1: all direct emissions generated by the company, e.g. energy consumption for heating, cooling,vehicle fleet
Scope 2: all indirect emissions from externally generated and purchased electricity, steam, heating andcooling
Scope 3: all other indirect emissions, such as frombusiness travel, as well as the production, transport,
use and disposal of materials and products

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Our absolute emissions in Scope 1 and 2 increased by about
one third from 2018 to 2020. About half of this increase can be
attributed to emissions from company cars, which are listed in
Scope 1 instead of Scope 3 from 2019 following a reassessment by external experts. Furthermore, higher energy consumption in production due to our very strong economic
growth and the strong increase in demand over the last two
years is a reason behind the increase in Scope 1 and 2
emissions.

BRITA company carbon footprint (in t CO 2)

Although we also saw strong economic growth from 2019 to2020, the increased energy consumption of manufacturing
was offset by reduced consumption of sales and administrative sites, where many offices only saw light use due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. In total, direct and indirect energy
consumption resulted in emissions of 8,712 tonnes of CO 2 in
2020, which represents a slight reduction compared to 2019.

2018

2019

2020

Scope 1: direct emissions

4,750

5,836

5,642

Scope 2: direct emissions

1,710

2,969

3,070

Total emissions Scope 1+2

6,460

8,805

8,712

Scope 3: other emissions

45,641

52,26961,563

Total carbon footprint

52,102

61,07470,275

13.6

16.1

14.1

Emission intensity (Scope 1+2)

2018

2019

2020

We recorded an increase in so-called Scope 3 emissions.
Here, a total of 61,563 tonnes of CO 2 were produced in 2020
– an increase of around 18 per cent compared to 2019, which
can also be explained by rising production figures. Overall,emissions from our most important raw materials, ion exchange resin and activated carbon, account for over 95 percent of Scope 3 emissions and almost 85 per cent of BRITA’s
total carbon footprint. This share is even larger than in otheryears due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as emissions frombusiness travel, otherwise also a relevant source, expectedly
fell by almost 90 per cent in 2020 to only 228 tonnes of CO 2 .
In total, CO 2 emissions in 2020 amounted to 70,275 tonnes
and about 114 tonnes of CO 2 per one million euros of sales– an increase of about 2 per cent on 2019. ■(kg CO 2 /1,000 €)E D I T O R I A L // C O M P A N Y // P R O D U C T // P E O P L E // P L A N E T

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Guest article

WDC AND BRITA: WHALES, WATER,WORLDWIDE EFFECTBRITA has been supporting the organisation Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC) since2016. Since then, whales and dolphins have become an integral part of BRITA and BRITA has
become an integral part of WDC.

“Less Plastic is More”
Time is short. If we do not manage to stop the flood of plastic, there will be more plastic thanfish in the oceans by 2050. Plastic has devastating consequences for marine life. Whales anddolphins mistake it for food and starve to death when their stomachs are full of indigestible
plastic. That is why WDC and BRITA launched the JA(HR) ZU WENIGER PLASTIK (A year forless plastic) challenge. With a questionnaire, we make it easier for participating companies totake stock of their plastic consumption, helping them to identify potential savings and set
targets. After twelve months, the results are impressive: In 2019 alone, 26 tonnes of plastic
were saved as part of the challenge.
A BRITA product promotion in spring 2020 enabled WDC to organise ten clean-ups on rivers
across Germany. This is because 80 per cent of the waste in the sea comes from the land,
Bianca König,including through rivers. At the clean-up in Wiesbaden, BRITA CEO Markus Hankammer, Ralf
Head of Communications at WDC
Schodlok, CEO of ESWE Versorgungs AG, and Wiesbaden’s Mayor Gert-Uwe Mende set an
example. Together with a total of 50 participants they cleaned the banks of the Rhine in
Wiesbaden of rubbish – including a whole rubbish bag full of cigarette butts. A frightening amount, considering that a single butt
can contaminate up to 40 litres of groundwater.
BRITA and WDC documented the waste collection campaign in short video statements and called for participation via social
media platforms and on their websites. Another nine joint clean-ups took place on the Rhine, the Main, the Spree, the Elbe, theNorth Sea coast, the Pegnitz and the Isar. The results were impressive: 311 participants collected an incredible total of 201
bags full of rubbish – including a very high percentage of plastic – which will now no longer end up in rivers or the sea.
With BRITA’s support, WDC 2021 was also able to produce a plastic report that reveals startling new findings on the global
plastic problem and also calls for action.

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The Plastic Report can be requested free of charge from WDC at
kontakt@whales.org.

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Guest article© WDC

Save whales, protect our climate
Since the beginning of 2021, BRITA has been supporting thecurrent WDC campaign THE GREEN WHALE. Because
whales are fantastic climate protectors. With their excretions,they fertilise the plankton in the oceans, which produces vast
amounts of oxygen and absorbs CO 2 . In addition, whales mix
the nutrients in the different water layers as they ascend anddescend in the ocean. When a whale dies, its body usuallysinks to the bottom of the sea, where deep-sea organisms
feed on it for years. The carbon stored in the whale carcass
thus remains in the deep sea for many decades and can nolonger combine to form CO 2 in the atmosphere. This is how
whales help protect the climate. Whale and climate protection
go hand in hand – WDC is making this clear, including at the
UN Climate Change Conference in November 2021. Thanks to
BRITA, WDC will be there for the first time as a participant,with a presentation on the role of whales in the climate
system.

Successful start of the joint clean-up activities by BRITA and WDC

BRITA’s international commitment to WDC and its conservation projects
BRITA and WDC also intensified their cooperation on an international level. In addition to BRITA DACH (Germany,
Austria and Switzerland), BRITA subsidiaries in China, France, Italy and the Benelux countries have adopted WDC
dolphins and whales. BRITA Benelux employees visited the Dolphin Centre in Scotland in 2019, where WDC protects
bottlenose dolphins. BRITA UK and WDC UK also cooperate closely and in May 2021 they presented the GREEN
WHALE campaign to the general public in the UK in an online fundraising gala supported by celebrities.
“Together we have achieved a lot. On behalf of the whales and dolphins, we would like to thank BRITA for their generous
and active support and look forward to further cooperation,” says WDC Executive Director Franziska Walter. ■E D I T O R I A L // C O M P A N Y // P R O D U C T // P E O P L E // P L A N E T

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REUSE MEANS ADDED VALUE
It is really quite simple: the best way to reduce packaging waste is not to produce it in the firstplace. This sounds logical and simple, but it is difficult to implement for the transport and saleof many goods. The solution: reusable instead of disposable packaging. In the future, we will
be focusing on this for the PURITY C cartridges and have found the ideal partner in one of ourcomponent suppliers.

One idea to solve several problems at once
Within ten years, total packaging waste in Germany has increased by 2.7 million tonnes to 18.9
million tonnes1. This corresponds to a per capita consumption of more than 227 kilograms per
year. Almost half of this is paper and cardboard packaging. At BRITA, too, the production of
PURITY C cartridges alone generates a lot of packaging material year after year. Over 2.5
million cups and lids were delivered for production in Taunusstein in 2020. Protectively
wrapped in polyethylene plastic bags and packed in cardboard boxes that are disposed of after
the parts have been removed. “Just throwing away almost new cardboard boxes has been
breaking our hearts for some time now,” says Robert Wrobel, team leader of PURITY C
production. That is why, at the end of 2019, he and his colleague Silke Leiacker really pushed
everyone to think specifically about a new packaging system.
In addition, the delivered cartons have to be taken individually from the pallet, cut open andtaken to the next production step. This not only takes time, but also carries the risk of cuts.
With our new production facility in Bad Camberg, the packaging issue took on a new urgency,
as the production lines there are no longer located in separate clean rooms. “This made itnecessary for us to rethink the handling of the cardboard boxes as well as production waste,”says Brigit Degeler-Weitbrecht, Senior Manager in the Industrial Engineering Packaging
department. Together with Robert Wrobel, Silke Leiacker and Narek Vardanyan, who is leading
the project, different systems were considered and evaluated. The comprehensive analyses
finally led to a solution: reusable cardboard boxes.

Delivered cartridge parts must be removed individually. The new solution makes handling easier.

1

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German Federal Environment Agency (2018)65

A positive startWith perfect timing, it turned out that the main supplier of the cartridge parts was alreadyworking on a returnable cardboard solution at the same time. Together, prototypes for all
PURITY C products have been developed and tested since June 2020. At the moment, thecardboard boxes are in their sixth rotation – the aim is to have a shelf life of at least 10
rotations. “The boxes still look like new, despite the high stress caused by all the loading andunloading,” the project team is pleased to confirm, “so, they definitely meet the requirements.”
Instead of, for example, 23 cups per carton for the PURITY cartridge C150, there will in future
be 275, in correspondingly larger and more robust cartons. The cartons can be opened byhand, without the use of safety knives, and are easily folded and stacked to be returned to the
supplier to save space. In addition, larger, reusable plastic bags will be used. As well as costsavings in packaging materials estimated at around 80,000 euros per year, we achieve asignificant CO 2 reduction of over 22 per cent based on previous delivery quantities. And we arealso reducing the quantity of packaging cardboard by more than 65 tonnes annually. Since weare making work easier and saving costs, the project thus makes a direct contribution to our
corporate goal of eliminating 5,000 tonnes of packaging material by 2025.
Stacked to save space, the reusable cardboard boxes are loaded for return transport to the supplier. Similar solutions
for other production components are already being worked on.

Success makes you want more
The rapid implementation from the idea to the prototype within a few weeks, the high level of
acceptance by supervisors, and the successful test phase are paving the way for further
projects. For example, with our BRITA core product, the MAXTRA cartridge. The manufacturing plant in China is also currently working on introducing reusable cardboard boxes for
MAXTRA components. When implemented, almost 70 per cent of the emissions and almost 80
tonnes of materials can be saved per year. And in Germany, using reusable packaging for the
MAXTRA cartridge components is now also under consideration.

The reusable cardboard boxes are folded to save space and returned to the supplier. They can be reused up to
10 times. The plastic bags are also used several times.

What Birgit Degeler-Weitbrecht particularly likes about the current project is “the alertness andsensitivity of the employees for innovative, sustainable ideas, having a competent supplier at
our side and the short chain of command to the Operations department and the management
above us”. Robert Wrobel especially cares about his colleagues, for whom he sees the enormous reduction in workload as the greatest advantage. Plus, it is an active contribution toenvironmental protection. So, reuse clearly creates added value – for the environment, foremployees and for BRITA. ■E D I T O R I A L // C O M P A N Y // P R O D U C T // P E O P L E // P L A N E T

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GLOBAL PASSION FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
At BRITA, sustainability is not just something that concerns the headquarters in Germany. We want every one of our employees to share with us the passion for preserving our planet.
Our subsidiaries all around the world are already doing a great deal towards this goal, as the following examples illustrate.

The “Caring Team” in Hong Kong

Together against plastic bottles in China

BRITA Hong Kong runs an ambitious sustainability programme. In 2020, the team started apartnership with the Green Council, a local not-for-profit environmental organisation. Employees learnt more about various approaches to sustainability in several seminars, and then also
put specific activities into practice themselves. As a result, the recycling concept in the office,for example, was expanded and improved and employees were encouraged to try reusable
lunchboxes. Another element of the programme is a collaboration with the local Salvation
Army, which gave employees an insight into the everyday lives of lower-income families. As
part of a home-visit programme, BRITA was able to distribute filter jugs and a year’s supply of
MAXTRA+ cartridges to 500 families.

Colleagues from BRITA China Trading are also very committed when it comes to sustainability
matters. That is why the team set up a cartridge recycling programme for consumers. Since
2017, our colleagues have also already been actively out and about on so-called Green
Saturdays, where they talk directly to their local communities about the negative impact of
single-use plastic bottles. Anyone bringing 30 single-use plastic bottles for recycling can
exchange them for one BRITA product. Sustainability has also been made a reality in our own
offices. There is now a waste sorting facility to separate and recycle the waste that accumulates in the Shanghai office as well as possible. Furthermore, BRITA China Trading adopted“Happy” the dolphin as its sponsored animal at our long-time partner, Whale and Dolphin
Conservation, and through this is also doing its part in the fight against single-use plastics andthe resulting environmental pollution.

To support the sustainability programme, aso-called “Caring Team”
was also set up, which
is made up of employees and is now forging
ahead with activities inthree core areas:
environmental protection, social responsibility and employee
welfare. Then in
February 2021, BRITA
The BRITA Hong Kong Caring Committee (from left to right): Angela Wong, Shelene Wong, Hong Kong was also
Larry Qi, Karin Chow, Angelo Di Fraia, Olivia Chan, Katherine Lau und Kiko Tso
officially recognised by
the Hong Kong Councilof Social Service as a “Caring Company” – great motivation for the team to continue promoting
sustainability. Further activities and measures are already planned for 2021, such as a partnership with the Green Earth Organisation, various seminars on sustainability and workshops tostrengthen the resilience and health of employees.

“Make life better with BRITA” in the UK
It is not just our Asian subsidiaries, our European offices are also
driving sustainability forward. BRITA in the UK is deploying anenvironmentally friendly fleet of vehicles, among other things. At
the start of 2019, BRITA Vivreau UK purchased five new electrictransport vehicles which are used in the London area for service
calls. The environmentally friendly vans not only contribute to alower carbon footprint, but also help to reduce air pollution in thecity. However, the BRITA UK team is going one step further. As
part of the internal initiative, “Make life better with BRITA”,
employees first gathered ideas for fostering sustainability. From these ideas, specificprojects are currently being developed that will then also be incorporated into the annual
employee goals.
These and numerous other campaigns show what is extremely important to us at BRITA:
committed, motivated employees and responsible management, so we can jointly achieve oursustainability goals. ■E D I T O R I A L // C O M P A N Y // P R O D U C T // P E O P L E // P L A N E T

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FACTS AND FIGURESWHAT WE ARE WORKING ON● Further reduction of our Scope 1 and Scope 2
emissions as part of the goals of our Sustainability
Charter● Expansion of the company carbon footprint to include further Scope 3 emissions and continuous
optimisation of data collection● Creating additional transparency on environmental
impacts through optimised and target group-oriented
reporting● Stronger involvement of the subsidiaries in achieving
our sustainability goals and regular communication
on success and progress

GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL
MANAGEMENT
We have been using certified environmental management
systems to demonstrate our environmental protection
measures for almost 10 years. Our production sites forfilter cartridges in Germany, the UK and China are certified
according to the ISO 14001 standard for environmental
management. Especially in production, where small measures can bring about a big ecological improvement, ourmanagement systems help to make organisational andtechnical processes more efficient and uniform. In this way,
they contribute significantly to systematically implementing
environmental protection throughout our entire company.

Using an assessment of environmental aspects, we have determined energy, water, waste, chemicals and noise as ourpriorities. In these areas, we are working particularly hard
to continuously reduce our environmental impact and shrink
our footprint. The goals set out in our Sustainability Charter
support us in achieving this. By collecting consumption andkey figures from our worldwide operations, we can monitor
developments, check progress and – if necessary – define
additional measures.
The implementation of ISO 14001 requirements is checked
annually by external auditors. In addition, our Health, Safety& Environment department accompanies the annual review
process through internal audits and steers the continued
development of the management system. To this end, thedepartment maintains a regular exchange with top management, the sustainability manager, the coordinator of theBEST programme for continuous improvement in production
and logistics, as well as with other internal experts and HSE
officers at the international sites. Our corporate goals inenvironmental protection are set by management.

Energy management
Responsibility for maintaining the energy management
system and metering infrastructure at BRITA GmbH lies withthe energy manager in our Group Real Estate division. He or
she ensures that legal requirements such as regular energy
audits in accordance with DIN 16247 are carried out properly – for example, most recently a few months ago at ourGerman BRITA GmbH sites in Bad Camberg (production),
Beselich (logistics centre), Taunusstein (company head-

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quarters), and at Filltech GmbH in Warburg. Together withcolleagues from the operational areas, he or she identifies
potential for improvement in ongoing operations and in new
construction and renovation projects.
In 2015, we also achieved certification of the energy management system in accordance with ISO 50001 at the
production sites in Taunusstein (Germany) and Bicester(UK). This helped us improve our energy efficiency by about
20 per cent by 2019. After extensive consideration, wehave, nevertheless, decided not to renew this certification.
Of course, we will continue to maintain an effective system
to support and ensure the achievement of our emissions
targets. The move to a new production building and a newcentral warehouse, as well as the further modernisation
measures at the BRITA Campus, are an excellent starting
point for a new phase of our energy management efforts.

10 YEARS OF ISO 14001

i

We have been committed to environmental protection from an early stage. Back in 2011, BRITA GmbHpassed the first ISO 14001 certification audit at the
Taunusstein site. Since then, other sites and certifications have been added. And more will follow.

68

VARIOUS MEASURES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
Environmental protection has not just become a focus for us with our current strategy. While our production sites, due to their larger environmental footprint, are very systematically committed toresource conservation and against waste with the help of management systems, the subsidiaries also make an important contribution through very different measures. In doing so, we go aboveand beyond the legal requirements and do a lot to inspire our employees to be more sustainable.
With our Sustainability Charter, we are now addressing the issues in an even more focused way and are also working together regionally. For example, the subsidiaries in the Asia-Pacific region
are considering which sustainability initiatives they can implement across their national borders. In Europe, our colleagues are working together on new ideas for our cartridge recycling. And in
day-to-day operations, since 2018, many effective measures have already been implemented or are planned, as the following examples show.

SELECTED ACTIVITIES SINCE 2018

ESTIMATEDSAVING(PER YEAR)

SITE

EnergyDE

Renovation and new construction of office building

DE (ongoing)

1,100,000 kWh

Move to a LEED-certified building

US

Continuous conversion to LED lighting

JP
FR
UK
ES

55,000 kWh
1,500 kWh

Optimisation of the compressed air system

UK

5.5 t CO 2

Installation of a PV system

UK

15,000 kWh

Conversion to green electricity

DK

Mobility

Charging stations for electric vehicles

Ecological company car policy

SITE

ESTIMATEDSAVING(PER YEAR)

Resources

New Bad Camberg building according to KfW 55 standard

Electric service fleet

SELECTED ACTIVITIES SINCE 2018

UK
US (planned)
DE
UK
FR

Conversion to paperless office

PL
AU
DE
JP
ES

95% paper

Conversion to recycled paper

IT

Waste separation and recycling

BE
CN
FR

Plastic-free office

DK
US
ES

1,500 bottles
190 kg disposable cups
12,000 coffee capsules

Reusable cups at trade fair stands

FR

10,000 disposable cups

Reuse of packaging material

PL
KR

Other activities

BEFR
ES (planned)

Planting 600 Oxy trees

PL

Recycling of waste electrical equipment by an integrative provider (DEFABNORD)

FR

Collecting discarded plastic bottlesIN

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600 trees

3,300 bottles
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Energy consumption (in MWh)1

We get a large part of our direct energy, for example, forheating or the operation of plants and equipment, from natural gas. Among other things, gas is primarily used in production for the generation of steam and refrigeration. Increasing
production figures, therefore, also initially mean increased
consumption, which we are trying to compensate for througha variety of measures to better control consumption.
In 2019, we recorded a strong increase in direct energy
consumption in the form of fuels. This is due to the fact that,
following a reassessment by external experts, the consumption of company cars has been listed since 2019 as a directenergy consumption. In 2020, the pandemic was noticeable
in the total consumption of fuels, which fell by about 20 per
cent compared to 2019.

SAVING RESOURCES WITH
DIGITALISATIONi

In 2020, 90 per cent of incoming and 79 per centof outgoing invoices were paperless. With this andmany other measures, we are driving forward the
avoidance of paper, waste and emissions together
with suppliers and customers.

2019

2020

Direct energy consumption

16,672

26,245

26,202

Stationary fuels (natural gas, heating oil)

13,335

14,264

16,513

Fuel for vehicles

3,337

11,981

9,688

Indirect energy consumption

11,37815,427

15,528

Conventional electricity

2,642

8,041

7,744

Renewable electricity

8,510

7,256

7,614

226

130

171

28,05041,672

41,730District heating
Direct and indirect energy consumption

In 2020, 50 per cent of our electricity needs were coveredby certified green electricity. Among other things, our filter
cartridge production facilities in Germany and the UK, which
are among the largest consumers of electricity in the BRITA
Group, use electricity from renewable sources. In line with
our emissions target, we will continue to push ahead withthe switch to certified electricity. In 2018 to 2020, major
remodelling and relocation projects, in addition to our strong
economic growth, contributed to increased electricity demand with an increase in consumption of about one third.
The increased demand for direct and indirect energy led to
an increase in energy intensity to 76 kWh per 1,000 euros ofturnover in 2019. Despite further strong growth, we were able
to keep energy consumption stable in 2020 and thus achievesignificantly improved energy efficiency (67.6 kWh/€ 1,000
turnover). The increased energy demand for production waslargely offset by lower energy consumption at the office locations, which were sparsely occupied or temporarily closed altogether due to the pandemic. With the move to more efficientbuildings and additional efficiency measures, we expect tofurther improve our energy performance in the coming years.
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Energy intensity 2

67.6

Energy2018

76.0

The focus on sustainability in our corporate strategy also
results in new requirements for the collection of key figuresand reporting. We will make further optimisations across thecompany in this area in order to achieve even better transparency regarding our environmental performance.

59.2

OUR ENVIRONMENTAL KEY
FIGURES

2018

2019

2020
(in kWh/1,000 €)Energy data is based on the reported energy consumption of the individual sites and some estimates.
Energy intensity means the ratio of the total direct and indirect energy consumption to group turnover.

1
2

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WaterWaste and wastewater

We obtain our water worldwide from local drinking watersupplies. The largest consumption is in steam generation
for the sterilisation of our filter cartridges and through office
operations. The largest consumer within the BRITA Groupis the filter cartridge production in Germany, where the regeneration plant for recovered ion exchange resin obtained
from recycled cartridges is operated. Since 2018, overallwater consumption has increased by around 24 per cent, adevelopment that is in line with our strong economic growth.
Water consumption has remained constant in relation toturnover.

Most of our waste is generated during production in the formof paper and board, residual waste or plastic films. We are,therefore, developing new ways to reduce this resource consumption, for example, by using reusable cardboard boxes
for delivered materials. In the event that goods that havealready been packaged need to be disposed of, we ensurethat materials are separated according to type. This helps
achieve a higher recycling rate and disposal costs are reduced. The little hazardous waste that is generated at BRITA
mainly consists of production residues from the regeneration
plant and operating materials for equipment and machines.

Water consumption (in m³)

Amount of waste by disposal method (in tonnes)

Non-hazardous waste total

3,734

4,221

3,659

Recycling

3,287

3,519

2,422

300

422

456

Incineration

2

2

2

Landfill

40

48

54

106

230

634

-

-

91

Hazardous waste total

55

82

70

Recycling

19

10

30

Incineration (with energy recovery)

0

37

31

Incineration

33

33

8

Other/unknown

2

2

1

3,789

4,303

3,729

104,9592020

94,141

201984,823

2018

Incineration (with energy recovery)

0.18

0.17

0.17

Reuse
Other/unknown

Water intensity (in m³/1,000 €)
2018

2019

2020

A total of 3,659 tonnes of waste was generated in 2020,
about 2 per cent less than in 2018. The interim increase in2019 can be explained by the various new construction andrenovation projects and the preparations for the relocationof production to Bad Camberg. More than 80 per cent of
the waste generated was recycled in 2020 or, such as withpallets and cardboard boxes, given to third parties for further
use. Nevertheless, there are still opportunities to reduce theamount of waste through creative measures. For example,
we are currently examining the use of reusable cardboard
packaging for additional purchased products.

Grand total

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71Responsibility for waste management lies with the waste
management officer at our Health, Safety & Environment
department at BRITA GmbH. He collaborates closely with
Production, Group Real Estate and other departments tocoordinate waste management. There is an officer at each of
the other production sites, who in turn exchanges ideas withthe waste management officer at headquarters on topics
relating to the optimisation of waste management.
In 2020, 101,432 m³ of wastewater was generated worldwide and sent to municipal wastewater treatment plants. The
water used in the regeneration plant at the Taunusstein site
is treated in an internal treatment plant before it is discharged
into the sewage system. We ensure permanent monitoringand strict controls of the limit values of the water. In addition,
an external and independent test institute checks compliancewith the values several times a year. Thus far, there has been
no incident where a body of water has become contaminated.

81,572 m³

88,412 m³

101,432 m³

Wastewater discharges to municipal
wastewater treatment (in m³)

2018

2019

2020

NETWORKING FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
Since 2013, we have been participating with BRITA GmbH in ÖKOPROFIT, a voluntary consulting programme funded by municipalities that works with and supports companies in the effective implementation of corporate environmental protection. Since
2014, we have been a member of the ÖKOPROFIT Club for participants with a certified environmental management system.
The regular exchange with our fellow participants under the leadership of the City of Wiesbaden gives us important inspirationand suggestions for new environmental protection measures. ■OBJECTIVE 2018

ACHIEVED

Achieving the BRITA energy
target: -20 per cent by 2020●●

STATUSI mplementation of various efficiency
measures within the framework of energy
managementR eduction of energy intensity by 20%
achieved in 2019

Regular calculation of the BRITA
company carbon footprint● A nnual evaluation of Scope 1+2 and selected
Scope 3 emissions● S etting a climate target as part of the
Corporate Strategy 2025

Expansion and standardisationof environmental indicators●●

Specification of group-wide
objectives●●

Integration of further locations into thesustainability indicator system
Need for further optimisation identifiedI ntegrating sustainability into the corporate
strategyS etting sustainability goals in the
Sustainability Charter
Objective achieved

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Objective partially achieved

72

ABOUT THIS REPORTThis report documents the activities of the BRITA Group as part of its corporate responsibility(CR) and presents approaches, objectives and actions. Our target audiences are BRITA
customers, as well as employees, suppliers, business partners and interested members of thegeneral public. The last Sustainability Report of the BRITA Group was published in October
2018. The current report covers the years 2018 to 2020.
The Sustainability Report is published on a regular basis; the next issue is set for publication
for the financial year 2022. The report’s content is based on the Global Reporting Initiative(GRI) standard, but we do not claim to fulfil its requirements at this time. BRITA strives toconsistently and meaningfully improve its sustainability reporting.
In this current report, which applies to the entire BRITA corporation, we use the term “BRITA
Group”. This does not denote a legally binding corporate entity but brings together BRITA
GmbH and all of the subsidiaries for better clarity. Unless otherwise stated, the key figures inthis report apply to the BRITA Group.

BRITA GmbH
Heinrich-Hertz-Strasse 465232 Taunusstein
Germany

We ask for your understanding that, for reasons of legibility, no consistent reference to male,
female and various gender designations has been made. Of course, all texts refer in the same
way to all gender identities. ■Date of publication: November 2021

Press enquiries
Dr. Sabine Rohlff
Director Group Corporate Communications
Telephone: +49 6128 746 5743
Email: srohlff@brita.net
Sustainability
Meike Rapp
Group Strategic Sustainability & Corporate Responsibility
Telephone: +49 6128 746 5295
Email: mrapp@brita.net

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