From Kevelaer to Chile - at least in theory

For two whole months, our employees cycle in line with the motto “MERA cycles” to support a good cause. We have ambitious plans for the future. Together with all employees, we are working towards a better environmental balance and a more sustainable cooperation. With the certification according to the ZNU Standard, the start of the year involved recording the status quo and setting objectives for the future. With the “MERA cycling” campaign, MERA employees were now afforded the opportunity to make their own contribution. The pedalled a total of 12,424 kilometres, which is roughly the distance from Kevelaer to Chile. The 1,801 tonnes of CO2 saved by doing so are now being converted into dog and cat food, and donated to “Helden für Tiere” (Heroes for Animals) run by Ralf Seeger.

As part of the sustainability management, our employees can take advantage of the e-bike leasing – employees can decide whether they use an e-bike or normal bike. In order to make travel on two wheels more appealing, in June and July we called on our employees to participate in the “MERA cycling” campaign and to abstain from using their cars.

The resulting savings in CO2 were then converted into dog and cat food and donated to Ralf Seeger’s organisation “Helden für Tiere”.  “Even though I sometimes used my bike to get to work in the past, I decided to do so more often over the past two months. My inner couch potato didn’t stand a chance in view of the positive environmental balance and an enormous feed donation at the end", reveals Klaudia Ingenhaag, one of the company’s participants.

The kilometres covered are measured using speedometers and pedometers, which means the campaign is also open to those who prefer to go on foot. The top performer in the group is Tim Gasseling, Head of Department in Production. This comes as no surprise for the passionate mountain biker whose daily journey covers 35km. “If you also have a love of cycling and the environment, you simply have to join in!”, Tim tells us enthusiastically. In future, too, he will continue to travel to work by mountain bike on a regular basis, both for the sake of the environment and his own fitness.

As a family company, we are aware of our responsibility towards future generations and therefore attach great importance to the topic of sustainability. “Following the certificate last March, we wanted to turn our ambitious words into action. The “MERA cycling” campaign enabled us to incorporate our employees as well. The fact that we not only saved considerable amounts of CO2, but can now also benefit an animal protection association within the region, is an additional incentive”, says our Director Felix Vos. For us, the campaign was a complete success and it is to be repeated next year.