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Success stories from North Rhine-Westphalia

Jokey Group – On the way to a circular economy

Since 1968, Jokey, headquartered in Wipperfürth, has been producing injection-molded plastic packaging, such as paint buckets and yogurt cups. The company uses exclusively polypropylene, a single material, and avoids material blends because this offers advantages in recycling. Jokey is continuously increasing the proportion of recycled material used and is also increasingly focusing on the circular economy.

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The challenge

Plastics are indispensable in our daily lives. But they also pose a problem, as they are petroleum-based. And they pollute the environment if they are not disposed of properly, or better yet, recycled. Recycling, in turn, is an enormous challenge, since many composite plastics are used today, which can only be separated and recycled with enormous effort after use and disposal by end consumers . Jokey has therefore been taking a different approach since its founding: The family business in the Bergisches Land region produces injection-molded plastic packaging. The product range is enormous, extending from the 1-kilogram yogurt cup – Jokey's best-selling product – to large buckets for paint, food, or pet food, for example. However, the starting material is almost always the same: polypropylene (PP). "The founder was extremely forward-thinking," says Christof Kölschbach, managing director and one of four managing directors of the medium-sized company. Jokey has grown steadily and now produces over three billion containers annually in a total of 15 plants. From September 2023, Jokey will also have its own plant in England. The production of these products uses approximately 160,000 tons of PP (polypropylene) each year. The company aims to continuously reduce this amount and has relied on recycling for many years to sustainably reduce the quantity of single-use material used. Jokey produced its first bucket made from 100 percent recycled material back in 1990. An important interim goal: By 2025, 30 percent of the raw material should be recycled, i.e., reused PP. That would amount to around 50,000 tons. "Waste is a valuable raw material for us ," emphasizes Kölschbach.

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  • Photos: Jokey Group/ Wolfram Schroll
  • Text: Lothar Schmitz, business journalist, Bonn
  • Publication: March 2023
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Christof Kölschbach, CSO

“Therefore, we do a lot of educational work with retailers, tradespeople and restaurants, but also with private individuals.”

The innovation

To reach its goal, however, the path doesn't lead solely through the yellow recycling bag. "It simply doesn't yield enough recyclable PP," laments Kölschbach. Therefore, the company is in the process of establishing its own recycling loops. One example is the collaboration with a Cologne-based waste management company. With its nationwide network of certified waste disposal companies, used Jokey plastic buckets from retailers, tradespeople, and restaurants. These are then sorted, processed, and mechanically recycled into a secondary raw material: recyclate. Jokey uses the recovered secondary raw materials to produce new packaging, which is then reintroduced into the recycling loop. "This saves enormous resources and significantly reduces CO2emissions," explains Kölschbach. Another example: Many used plastic buckets also accumulate in canteens. Here, Jokey collaborates with a company in southern Germany that collects the buckets, processes them, and converts them into reusable plastic granules. One of the many challenges on the path to a more circular economy is fostering the necessary understanding among all stakeholders, including end consumers. "That's why we do a lot of educational work with retailers, tradespeople, and restaurants, but also with private individuals," reports Kölschbach. Jokey uses a mobile roadshow to visit schools, customers directly, and even DIY stores to raise awareness that items like buckets are not waste, but valuable raw materials.

More about the Jokey Group
2.000
Employees
14
factories
160.000
Polypropylene in use

The NRW effect

As a family-owned company, Jokey is as deeply rooted in its founding location and headquarters in Wipperfürth, North Rhine-Westphalia, as it is now with 2,100 employees and 14 plants in twelve countries. The founding Kemmerich family – now in its third generation of ownership – comes from Wipperfürth and started production in a small village nearby in 1968. From there, the company grew to its current size. "That's why we still have strong ties to this region and the town of Wipperfürth, as well as to the Bergisches Land," emphasizes Christof Kölschbach. "This connection is further strengthened by our locations in Fähnrichstüttem and Gummersbach, and we have an excellent network." Jokey also benefits from this in recruiting. The company engages with local schools and vocational colleges, as well as the Gummersbach campus of the Cologne University of Applied Sciences, and collaborates with local and regional initiatives. Furthermore, the company cooperates with the Institute for Plastics Processing at RWTH Aachen University. “We benefit greatly from the excellent higher education and research landscape in our home state of North Rhine-Westphalia,” Kölschbach praises.

This success story of an innovative transformation was published in March 2023. No updates or reviews of the information have taken place since then.

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Background of the publication series

The publication series “Transformation through Innovation” aims to illustrate how companies in North Rhine-Westphalia have been able to write successful innovation stories thanks to the framework conditions created by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

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