Ecover
| Ecover
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|---|---|
 |
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| legal form | GmbH |
| founding | 1979 |
| Seat | Malle, Belgium |
| management |
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| Number of employees | 300 (2014) |
| sales | € 70 million (2008) |
| Website | www.ecover.com |
The Ecover Group is a Belgian company headquartered in Malle that develops, manufactures and sells ecological detergents and cleaning agents in over 40 countries. Ecover was one of the first companies to produce ecological, phosphate- free laundry detergents in the 1980s , and is now one of the leading manufacturers of ecological laundry detergents and cleaning agents. The Ecover Group includes the Swiss brand Held, the Austrian brand Wellments and the US brand Method.
history
Ecover was founded in 1979 by the unemployed soap agent Frans Bogaerts, when reports about the dangerousness of phosphates for water gave rise to the idea of producing phosphate-free detergents and cleaning agents. The company grew steadily in the 1980s and mainly sold its products in Europe through small organic shops . With the growing interest in green topics in the early 1990s, Ecover was given the opportunity to sell its products in England via the supermarket chains Sainsbury's and Asda. However, the company's capacities were not sufficient to meet the increased demand. Bogaerts planned to build an ecological factory, but could not finance it and sold the factory first to his son and then to the Danish investor Jørgen Philip Sørensen.
The production facility, which opened in Malle in 1991, was built entirely from renewable or recycled materials and has a green roof of 5300 m² for thermal insulation . Thanks to the intelligent design, there was no need for heating or air conditioning.
After the factory was completed, Sainsbury's and Asda had brought their own ecological detergents onto the market, but Ecover was still able to establish itself. In order to strengthen its position on the market, the Swiss company Held AG was taken over in 2003, which at that time was the market leader in Switzerland for ecological cleaning and laundry detergents and worked with raw materials similar to Ecover. Ecover also took over the Austrian cosmetics manufacturer Wellments in 2005 and the US manufacturer Method, a provider of high-quality, environmentally friendly and design-oriented home, textile and care products based in San Francisco in 2012.
In addition to the factory in Malle and a factory belonging to Held in Steffisburg , Ecover opened a factory in Boulogne-sur-Mer in 2006 , which was also built with ecological considerations in mind. When planning the factory, care was taken to stay within the ISO 14001 standards . In 2015, a LEED Platinum certified factory was opened in Chicago.
In 2012, Ecover took over the US company Method.
In 2014 Ecover employed 300 people at its various locations. In the laboratory in Malle, the employees are dedicated to quality control and the development of new products. Ecover also works with universities in Aachen , Stuttgart , Brunswick, Nottingham, Vienna and Ghent . This collaboration resulted in a patent held by Ecover for the production of surfactants from natural materials such as rapeseed or coconut oil . Ecover also cooperates with the Wuppertal Institute for Environment, Climate, Energy.
Ecover was sold to the American company SC Johnson at the end of 2017 .
Products
In addition to detergent , machine dishwashing detergents , detergents and cleaning products develops and sells Ecover also air fresheners, hand soaps and compost bags . All products are made from natural raw materials and are phosphate and chlorine free. All packaging materials are recyclable. To avoid waste, the polyethylene bottles used can be refilled. The bottles are made from 75% plant-based and 25% recycled polyethylene.
Social commitment and sponsoring
In collaboration with WaterAid , Ecover funded projects to improve water supply and hygiene in Ethiopia .
In sailing Ecover was active as a sponsor. They supported the British skipper Mike Golding, who takes part in offshore regattas such as the 5 Oceans Race with his boat Ecover .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c organic-market.info: Ecover supplies 26 countries with washing powder and cleaning materials ( Memento of the original dated November 13, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved July 26, 2009.
- ↑ a b bionetz.ch: Merger of Held and Ecover ( Memento from January 17, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) . Retrieved July 21, 2012.
- ↑ a b c d e Guardian.co.uk: Spick'n'span ethics . Retrieved July 25, 2009.
- ^ Forbes.com: The World's Billionaires. # 1062 Jorgen Philip-Sorensen . Retrieved July 25, 2009.
- ↑ Time.com: Heroes of the Environment 2008. Mick Bremans . Retrieved July 26, 2009.
- ↑ Goliath: Ecover builds an ecological factory in France ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved July 25, 2009.
- ↑ green futures: Factory Fresh ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved July 26, 2009.
- ↑ http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2014/03/06/methods-leed-platinum-factory-set-chicago
- ↑ Ecover takes over Method and becomes the world's largest manufacturer of ecological detergents, cleaning agents and cleaning agents . In: FinanzNachrichten.de . ( finanznachrichten.de [accessed on August 4, 2018]).
- ^ SC Johnson (US) acquires Ecover (Flanders) . In: Invest In Flanders . October 5, 2017 ( flandersinvestmentandtrade.com [accessed August 4, 2018]).
- ↑ Eco-cleaning products: SC Johnson buys Ecover and Method . In: Lebensmittelzeitung.net . ( Lebensmittelzeitung.net [accessed August 4, 2018]).
- ^ SC Johnson Signs Agreement to Acquire Method and Ecover. Retrieved August 4, 2018 .
- ↑ SpiegelOnline: "We were completely shocked when the mast came down" . Retrieved July 25, 2009.
