Page 106 - AMEFT Journal 2021-4

PROCESSING & PACKAGING
Bad Meinberger and KHS: A sustainable decision
Bad Meinberger is a taste of home. Since the age of Goethe, the spring that made the farming village on the slopes of the Teutoburg Forest a spa has lent the Bad Meinberger brand its name. The mineral water bubbles 160 meters up from the rock of this low, for- ested ridge of hills. In Germany’s West- phalia, the Bad Meinberger brand (of- ficially called “BAD MEINBERGER DIE QUELLE seit 1767”) is drunk at the din- ner table, after sport and during work breaks. Besides the popular regional brand for North Rhine-Westphalia, the traditional family-owned company also markets calcium-rich FORSTETAL600 Calciumquelle mineral water, par- ticularly in the north and east of Ger- many. With 600 milligrams of calcium per liter, it contains an extremely high percentage of the trace element that is so important for healthy bones and muscles. German consumer magazine ÖKO-TEST has awarded it the top mark of ‘excellent’ for its high calcium and low sodium content. Bad Meinberger
106 AMEFT 4 2021
is also a contract filler for the popular soft drink brand Thomas Henry.
The bottling plant’s philosophy on quality is as clear as its water. In the words of its Managing Director, Volker Schlingmann, “Our mineral water is a natural product that we make high quality demands of. The packaging has to meet these, too.” What Sch- lingmann finds particularly important is the concept of environmental pro- tection and the circular economy. The mineral water bottling plant therefore pursues an ambitious sustainability strategy that incorporates every single aspect of the company – such as the choice of packaging and the machine technology. For this reason, Bad Mein- berger only uses returnable bottles that are “ecologically advantageous”. Since May 2021 both the company and all Bad Meinberger products have been climate neutral throughout the entire product life cycle. For its out- standing commitment to sustainabil- ity, in 2019 the mineral water bottling
plant was heralded as a pacesetter at the KlimaEXPO.NRW exhibition.
To revamp or to invest
Until recently, Bad Meinberger filled its products on two lines: a returnable PET and a glass bottle line. However, the increased demand for mineral water and soft drinks in glass bottles called for a radical restructure. “We’ve been seeing a massive growth in this segment since 2013. In the long term, we saw no alternative but to increase our glass capacities,” says Schling- mann. The question was whether the plant needed to invest in a new line or whether one of its existing lines could be revamped so that it could cope with the higher demand. Bad Meinberger then approached KHS in this mat- ter. This was not by chance: the two traditional companies have enjoyed a long and trusting cooperation for many years now, with their history of development and success inextrica- bly linked. “We not only share a bold
(Source: Bad Meinberger / KHS)
www.ameft.com