The Blue Angel can provide guidance in this area because it also awards an ecolabel to “environmentally friendly printers and multifunction devices”. One company that offers printers certified with the Blue Angel is HP – which has been using this ecolabel since 1997. Printers that have been awarded the Blue Angel must:

• consume a low amount of energy
• operate with low emissions and noise
• and be durable

As part of our series of interviews, Dr. Tim Karg from the HP team answers three questions about the Blue Angel.

We stream films instead of buying DVDs. We write emails instead of letters and we meet in video conferences instead of travelling from A to B for an appointment. Shouldn't this save a lot of CO₂ and resources? The correct answer to this is: Yes and no! It is true that this saves greenhouse gases and resources, but not all of them. Because just because something takes place digitally doesn't mean it has no impact on the environment. 

The cooperation between the certified label holder FairCup and the family-run company Bergmann already started in Thuringia last year. Drinks are sold in FairCup cups at all 50 branches of the bakery. Customers are informed about the Blue Angel and FairCup via displays installed at the sales counter. Stickers on the windows also make people outside the bakery aware of the offer and also demonstrate that the Bergmann bakery supports reusable items and is committed to sustainability. Both the environment and customers benefit as a result.

Printing consumes resources – but it is also possible to print in an environmentally friendly way. This is why we award the Blue Angel to printed matter that   

Especially with these things, which are usually produced and used in particularly large numbers, sustainability should definitely be kept in mind - and recycled paper should be preferred. When comparing systems from an ecological point of view, paper products made from recycled paper perform much better in terms of resource consumption, waste water pollution, water and energy consumption than paper products with a predominantly primary fibre content. Compared to conventional virgin fibre paper, the production of recycled paper saves*:

New environmental label:
Underwater coatings and other antifouling systems

The submerged part of a ship – the hull – will over time become overgrown with water organisms such as algae, barnacles or muscles. This fouling increases the frictional resistance of the ship, which reduces the speed and increases fuel consumption. In addition, fouling can damage the hull itself or effect the manoeuvrability of the ship.

Christoph Eßer-Ayertey, Head of RAL Environment, awarded the Blue Angel certificate to the company last Saturday (9 April 2022) at the “Green World Tour” sustainability trade fair in Frankfurt am Main. das Unternehmen.

Separate collections for used textiles will be compulsory across Europe from 2025. But what should happen to these textiles? Kristin Stechemesser from the Blue Angel Team provided input from the perspective of the German Environment Agency and the Blue Angel for Textiles. Other participants from Germany and the Netherlands included textile manufacturers, retailers, mail order companies, recyclers and representatives from the world of politics.