GOOD PRACTICE EXAMPLE

Country:	GERMANY, Bavaria
Product group:	Green electricity and Office Devices
Name of the institution:	memo AG

CO₂ reduction: 67 tons/year
Cost savings: 16 €/year per Monitor

Overview

Always in search of new, innovative ecological products, the memo AG belongs by now to the leading providers for office equipment. Since the formation of the company in 1990 the memo AG has been optimising not only its product assortment but also the environmental management in the own administration. With it belongs also the procurement of energy efficient office devices as well as certificated green power.

Institutional details

Procurement process

The respective team leader is responsible for the procurement of operating supply items and auxiliary material. The memo AG has binding procurement and exclusion criteria for the evaluation of products. As a supporting instrument the memo AG uses the guideline for environment-oriented procurement “Ecology in the Office”, published by B.A.U.M. e.V..

For the development and the monitoring of the management system the management established the division Quality and Environment Management, which advises and supports the functions for all quality and environmental relevant topics and which coordinates the certification after ISO 9001 und 14001.

Measures

Important component of the integrated management system of the memo AG is the procurement of all operating supply items and auxiliary material after ecological aspects. With the choice of the product, the memo AG uses a consequent comprehensive consideration for a long time: Besides the ingredients, the manufacturing processes and recycling abilities of the products are accurately tested. High requirements on an ageless design and ergonomics promise a long durability. With the evaluation of products the memo AG considers in many divisions energy labels; for office devices on Blauer Engel, Energy Star, TCO und Eco-Label.

Since January 2001 the memo AG purchases only ok-Power certificated green power. Whilst at the beginning the power consist of 50 % combined heat and power, it consists since 2003 of 100 % renewable energies.

Success

Exemplarily CRT monitors were replaced in the frame of the project “continuously optimisation of the desktop design” by energy saving TFT monitors. The energy consumption could be reduced by 65 %, which equals 120 kWh/year per device. Assuming an electricity tariff of 0.13 €/kWh this is equivalent to a yearly cost-saving of 16 € per device. With the replacement of dot matrix printer by laser printer the energy consumption could be reduced averagely by 26 %. Additionally, with the supply of green power the memo AG reduces its CO2 emissions by67,000 kg per year.