Press Release 36/2021 Works council members demand secure jobs in the circular economy

Frankfurt am Main – The goal of climate neutrality—and, in particular, a strengthened circular economy—poses major challenges for packaging machinery manufacturers. The industry must realign its product portfolio toward sustainable packaging and reusable solutions and make massive investments to achieve this. Works councils from the food and packaging machinery sectors are therefore calling on the German federal government and the European Union to take into account the impact on jobs throughout the entire value chain as they move toward a circular economy and to provide government support for the transformation of these industries.

 “40,000 employees at a large number of locations in Germany are affected by the transformation in this industry. Their jobs must remain secure in the future,” says Wolfgang Lemb, an executive board member responsible, among other things, for machinery and plant engineering, on the occasion of the publication of a statement by works councils in the industry. “Government support is needed to ensure that the transition is successful for the many family-owned businesses as well as small and medium-sized enterprises in the industry,” said Lemb.

In a statement addressed to the Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety, as well as to the Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy and the members of the Bundestag committees on the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety and on Economic Affairs and Energy, the works councils call for a long-term political strategy with clear requirements for packaging materials. Only in this way can packaging machinery manufacturers future-proof their product portfolios and invest in appropriate developments. Funding is needed to train employees, and government (research) grants must generally be conditional on securing local jobs and business locations. Therefore, such funding should only go to companies that provide good working conditions.

Furthermore, in the statement, the works councils advocate for additional measures to increase the recycling rate and reduce CO2 emissions—such as a mandatory deposit system for all single-use and reusable beverage packaging. They also support a higher proportion of recycled content in products where this is more resource-efficient. A corresponding conversion of packaging machinery must be driven forward at the political level.

You can find the full text of the statement here.

Further information and press photos of Wolfgang Lemb