280 years of success: Müller Kerzenfabrik GmbH was founded in 1744 and is now one of the oldest and most important manufacturers of quality candles in Europe. What started as a small workshop has grown into an international group of companies that now employs more than 1,000 people in several European countries and produces over five million lights and candles every day. It is still a family-owned company – now in its eighth generation.

When it comes to candles, quality and safety are of the essence: the flame should burn evenly without sooting, and of course the candle must be non-drip. Müller ensures this through constant product research and improvement and as a founding member of the RAL Quality Assurance Association, which awards the corresponding quality seal. Sustainability is also an important topic for Müller when it comes to packaging. The company is therefore working to continuously improve the recyclability of its packaging.

Der Grüne Punkt is a competent partner in this regard, providing in-house training on topics such as Design for Recycling (D4R). Der Grüne Punkt expert Andrea Preil conducted the first training session at the main plant in Straelen: “The interest of our colleagues at Müller was very high, and the discussion was intensive. The desire to integrate the topic even better into our daily work was clearly noticeable.” The success of the training led to another workshop, this time at the group's Polish site in Grudziądz, south of Gdansk. Preil's colleague Antje Kauffmann traveled there for the workshop, which was held in English.

The participants, who came from a range of different business areas including sales, controlling, production, purchasing and management assistance, were very interested and asked a wide range of questions on the topic of D4R. “In particular, the information on what information needs to be obtained from the packaging manufacturer in order to carry out an assessment was of great interest to our Polish colleagues,” said Antje Kauffmann.

More and more companies are implementing D4R in their processes, especially in view of the increasing requirements of national and European legislation. Der Grüne Punkt provides support in the form of advice, packaging analyses, software provision and training. Read more here

Andrea Preil (left) and Antje Kauffmann from Der Grüne Punkt also provide on-site in-house training on Design for Recycling (Image: Der Grüne Punkt).