You probably never heard of Werner and Mertz, but maybe you know Rainett or Greencare PROFESSIONAL, the ecological cleaning products. Born more than 150 years ago, Werner & Mertz is a 100% German family group, pioneer in the manufacture of maintenance and cleaning products respecting people and the environment. Let’s meet with Joséphine Copigneaux, the energetic marketing director France of Werner and Mertz Professional.
Where does your positioning on sustainable cleaning products come from?
Everything started in 1986 for Werner and Mertz. We were coming out of Chernobyl, starting to talk about sustainable development. At this time, Reinhard Schneider, our CEO, realized that Werner & Mertz could preserve our environment and our resources for future generations while growing the business. So, we started by identifying and seeking to control the environmental impact of our factories through ISO 14001 and EMAS certifications. Every year, we publish our results and our progress in environmental matters.
Until then, all is well, you improve your environmental profile. What drives you to go further?
Indeed, Werner & Mertz was already well ahead in terms of sustainability when I joined the group in 2006. I came from the marketing department of Colgate Palmolive. As a manufacturer, I only felt concerned by the development and production side of a product. I thought we were already doing a lot for the environment. We were engaged in an Ecolabel certification process to reduce the impact of our products on the aquatic environment. We went even further than the Ecolabel criteria, since we had drafted an internal charter for our formulas, committing ourselves to using renewable, bio-sourced, phosphate-free ingredients. Then I realized with surprise that, certainly, we were “doing things better” but we kept on applying a model of linear production, from “cradle to grave” which would eventually head for disaster. The real solution was to rethink our design and production model and “do the right things”, that is, move to a circular production model, integrating end-of-life and recycling into our thinking.
The cradle to cradle approach for greencare PROFESSIONAL
In concrete terms, how did you engage in this “cradle to cradle” approach?
First of all, we set up raw materials passports for all components of our products and we evaluated them on three criteria: ecotoxicity, human toxicity, recyclability. Objective: zero pollution, 100% reuse. The professional range of Werner & Mertz, marketed under the brand Greencare PROFESSIONAL, got all hands on deck in the project to turn it into a real sales differentiation.
Today, our ingredients are biobased, we even use highly biodegradable by-products from the European agriculture, including linseed, rapeseed, and olive oil. We have also removed micro-plastics polluting the aquatic environment from our formulas. We were the first to make recycled plastic bottles (PET then HDPE). The most difficult part was to find suppliers, there were not many at the time, the prices were higher and the quality was not always there. We have contributed a lot to the development of this sector. Today the whole profession is looking into the possibility of using recycled plastic and that’s good!
And today, what conclusion can you draw from this approach?
This approach allowed us to revitalize the company and the brand and find a competitive and unique positioning.
We reclaimed ownership of our products, by demanding a high transparency to our suppliers on all the raw materials we use. Each of them is evaluated by our research and development vs its respect for the environment and the users. At Werner & Mertz, we do not innovate, we try to bring progress to our customers by taking into account all of their aspirations, such as health, for example.
This has also allowed us to improve our market share and to develop our offer significantly: more environmentally friendly natural ingredients , innovative and recyclable packagings and especially new services like our calculator, which allows our customers to assess their potential savings and help them differentiate too.
It also ensures that we are on the safe side of the upcoming regulation. I am thinking in particular of the use of recycled plastics.
A really proactive corporate initiative now bearing fruits: the Greencare PROFESSIONAL range has registered a significant growth in France and Werner & Mertz is internationally recognized as a pioneer in sustainable development. An example to follow!
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