Hevert focuses on nature conservation

We love nature

Hevert is committed to the conservation and continuously optimizing its processes for the careful use of natural resources.

Hevert-Arzneimittel is keen to ensure that all Hevert preparations can be prescribed, sold or used with a good conscience: and not just because they are effective. All customers can also be assured that the preparations are made by a family business that is in close touch with nature and well aware of its responsibility to the environment and society. The protective, partnership-based interaction with nature is the core of Hevert’s holistic corporate philosophy. After all, most of the active ingredients used in its preparations are derived directly from nature.

Hevert is endeavoring to become a climate-neutral company in 2022, and preparations for this were already underway in 2021. The path to climate neutrality consists of various phases, such as preparing a carbon footprint report for the company, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by implementing energy efficiency measures and offsetting the remaining emissions by buying climate certificates. In 2021, Hevert prepared a carbon footprint report together with the climate protection agency natureOffice. Based on this carbon footprint report, an operational climate protection plan was devised for implementation in 2022.

„Production in harmony with man and natur“

Following this principle, special emphasis was placed in the mid-1990s, with the construction of the new headquarters in Nussbaum, on employee-friendly, light-flooded work spaces and a discreet but effective integration into the natural surroundings of fields and vineyards. By constructing a large park with ponds and paddocks and by planting vegetation on all of the roofs, the building was incorporated harmoniously into the landscape.

A photovoltaic system was installed on the green roof of the state-of-the-art pharmaceutical building in 2006, with extra modules added in 2019. A smaller installation on the roof of the Hevert Daycare Center has increased the amount of Hevert’s in-house energy use that is covered by green power. In addition, the family-run company only uses electricity derived 100 percent from renewable energy sources such as hydroelectric power. With this Hevert wants to actively contribute to the energy revolution.

In 2014, Hevert-Arzneimittel began cultivating its own medicinal plants at the company headquarters in Nussbaum. This was necessary because Hevert homeopathic preparations contain around 30 different species of fresh plants which the company requires in amounts ranging from a kilogram to a ton. The plants are then processed into original mother tinctures. Numerous plants now come directly from the company’s own cultivation program. In addition to gathering expertise on the growth, care and harvesting of medicinal plants, quality assurance is of paramount importance. In 2017, Hevert initiated an organic certification process both for its medicinal plants and for viticulture near its headquarters. The first batch of wine made using organic farming methods was produced in 2020.

Fields of blooming medicinal plants, an extensive park and an in-house organic vineyard provide an ideal home for various species of insects. An insect hotel in the park now provides sanctuary for the smallest beneficial organisms right next to several beehives. Beekeeping and insect hotels are great additions to the environmental plan to stabilize the small ecosystem surrounding company headquarters and, most importantly, raise awareness among the many visitors of the sensitivity of habitats. A beehive in the leafy garden at Hevert’s Berlin office also creates a buzz. A charity called Stadtbienen (Urban Bees) looks after this bee population on behalf of the pharmaceutical manufacturer.

For several years, through the Hevert Foundation, Hevert-Arzneimittel has supported Naturschutzbund Deutschland e. V.- NABU, which has advocated for the preservation of the diversity of our native flora and fauna for over 100 years. Hevert would like to help NABU successfully advocate for man and nature.

Sustainability along the entire value chain

For years, Hevert-Arzneimittel has been actively committed to environmental protection and sustainable business practices, with its entire value chain in mind, from the cultivation of medicinal plants to the finished preparation as delivered to customers. Here are a few of the milestones that have been reached:

Pharmaceutical excipients: In the manufacture of Hevert preparations, the company is constantly looking for environmentally-friendly substitutes for conventional methods. For several years now our mother tinctures are being produced using organic alcohol 96% Ph. Eur. which is extracted from special wheat cultures. Once fermented, distilled and rectified it meets all pharmaceutical standards of conventional alcohol. The only difference is how the wheat is grown: Absolutely no genetically modified organisms, pesticides or highly soluble mineral fertilizers are used; consequently, with its environmentally friendly procurement policy, Hevert is protecting the environment at the point of production. Instead of palm oil, Hevert only uses environment-friendly magnesium stearate in its own production facilities at the Nussbaum, which is produced with the aid of sunflower oil. The high global demand for palm oil has led to the clearing of entire rainforests in order to establish palm oil plantations. This is gradually depriving many animals of their habitat, and the effects on the climate are severe.

Packaging Materials: For paper products, Hevert is committed to using paper and cardboard materials obtained from sustainable forest management and which contain the highest content of recycled paper possible. All packaging and package inserts of Hevert preparations are made of FSC^® (Forest Stewardship Council^®) mixed paper. Alongside this, Hevert is working on converting tablet blisters and caps of liquid medicinal products to bioplastics. The requirements are ambitious: it must be a biologically based and biodegradable plastic that does not affect the shelf life and quality of the preparation

Printing: When printing advertising and information materials, as well as all product packaging, Hevert uses printers certified by natureOffice. The natureOffice process for climate-neutral printing calculates all CO2 emissions arising during the production of printed materials and compensates for this by purchasing recognized climate protection certificates.

Shipping: In its daily mailings, Hevert uses the GoGreen shipping service of the German Post/DHL. The objective of the GoGreen shipping service is to measure the CO2 emissions resulting from the transport and processing of mail and to compensate for them with climate protection projects. Even the packing material used in all Hevert shipping packages comes from sustainable resources. For years, Hevert has been using packing material made from the renewable raw material corn starch, which can be disposed of as organic or household waste.

Mobility – reducing emissions

Hevert-Arzneimittel has been using a heavy goods vehicle powered by natural gas for transportation between the sites in Bad Sobernheim and Nussbaum. Natural gas is clearly superior to conventional fuels in terms of environmental performance, and is used as an environmentally friendly alternative to petrol and diesel. By providing electric cars and e-bikes for business journeys between the sites, Hevert can further reduce its emissions. In the context of occupational health management, in conjunction with its partner Bikeleasing, the family-run company has been giving employees the opportunity to lease conventional bicycles as well as e-bikes since 2019. They can use them to commute to work, if they live near enough, as well as for their own personal use.

Also in 2019, three vehicles in the existing Hevert fleet were replaced with Tesla electric vehicles. The plan is to gradually switch all company vehicles to electric vehicles. This means that even longer distances can be covered in an environmentally friendly manner.

As a rule, business trips are to be made by public transit, and unnecessary travel is to be avoided, with meetings held via video calls and teleconferencing instead. If this is not possible, employees fall back on the Hevert company car fleet which consists of very fuel-efficient models. In order to drive as sustainably as possible, employees take part in eco-driving training.

If flights must be booked, an emission calculator is used to determine how many climate gasses the trip causes and a corresponding financial contribution for a recognized climate protection project is made.

New approaches required for commitment to green methods

Since 2016, all events hosted by Hevert are climate-neutral. This means, all emissions that result from the event and cannot be prevented or reduced in advance to the event will be compensated by planting trees via the “Plant-for-the-Planet” initiative. By the way: Meals for guests and the food at company events were switched to organically grown products. Wherever possible, Hevert tries to obtain regionally produced food. Modern water filters in all break rooms provide all employees with unlimited access to drinking water, thus reducing the use of PET bottles at the workplace, for instance.

Hevert employees have been surfing sustainably with the search engine Ecosia since 2019. Ecosia invests 80 % of its profits in worldwide reforestation programs. On average, 45 searches fund one tree. The search engine is pre-installed as the standard search engine on all Hevert computers, making it another small part of the family-run company’s sustainability concept.

A company-wide pilot is currently under way, involving switching certain projects over to grass paper. Making paper from grass, based on grass fiber, a sustainable raw material, uses fewer resources and thus helps to achieve a better carbon footprint than conventional paper.

We Love Nature

To give expression to the numerous Hevert activities for naturopathy and environmental protection, the “We love Nature” campaign was started and an attractive logo was drafted in-house. Since then, the logo has adorned Hevert work apparel made from organic cotton. The company’s connection with nature is also widely communicated to customers via the claim “I love Nature” . This way, Hevert hopes to foster a better understanding of the topics of naturopathy and sustainability in people in an interesting way and to find many like-minded people in its efforts to create a better world.