Neckarsulm / Ostrach (Lake Constance), August 3, 2024. Dr. Andre Baumann, State Secretary at the Ministry for the Environment, Climate and Energy Sector of Baden-Württemberg, visited the Hahnennest Energy Park today as part of his summer tour. While there, he gained some insights into how the cup plant or “Silphium perfoliatum” is cultivated and used. Dietmar Böhm, Executive Board Member of PreZero Dual, Intragroup Services & New Business PreZero International, explained to State Secretary Dr. Baumann how the plant fibers can be used to produce paper, ultimately ending up with customers and end consumers in the form of packaging.
Under the OutNature brand, PreZero, as an environmental service provider for Schwarz Group, develops silphium-based fiber and paper products. The Group's retail divisions, Lidl and Kaufland, are already using silphium-based packaging in their own brand versions of fruit and vegetables, fish and natural cosmetics. Brands outside Schwarz Group, such as Ariel and Kneipp, are also using silphium-based packaging. The silphium plant is particularly resource-efficient as it is produced regionally, which leads to shorter transport routes. The plant offers sustainability prospects to farmers, too, as it is insect-friendly thanks to its long flowering period from July to September, grows back over many years, stores CO2 equivalent in the soil, and protects it from wind and water erosion.
PreZero is already working on refining the silphum paper to give it additional protective properties against water and grease. Potentially, this paper could also become a replacement product for plastic packaging. “We, as the environmental division of Schwarz Group, want to conserve resources and not waste them. That’s why PreZero is always on the lookout for new raw materials, processes and concepts that combine ecology and economy in the area of packaging,” explains Dietmar Böhm.
“Bioeconomic approaches are already being successfully applied and established in practice at the Hahnennest Energy Park: The bioeconomy is being implemented in an exemplary fashion at the Ostrach site. Here, the transformation from a linear to a circular economy is tangible. This is an example of how a resource-conserving packaging transition can succeed,” explains State Secretary Dr. Andre Baumann. With the rise of the bioeconomy, the sustainable production and utilization of biological resources is becoming increasingly important. Background: The federal state government of Baden-Württemberg signed off on the state’s “Sustainable Bioeconomy” strategy in 2019. And just a few weeks ago, the federal state government decided to update this strategy for the years 2025 to 2029. Baden-Württemberg is set to become a leading region for bio-based and circular economies.
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