Green China: Actions instead of words

Rolf Michel looks back: In October 2001 I travelled to China for the first time. It was the time after Swissair Grounding and the tragic attacks in the USA. An uncertain and unstable time. In China I met another world. I got to know and appreciate friendly, open-minded and knowledge-hungry people. At that time, bicycles, street kitchens and ordinary people still shaped the cityscape. Many of the skyscrapers that define the skyline of Shanghai today were not even planned at that time. It's hard to believe that Shanghai only had two subway lines at that time!

In the meantime, the Middle Kingdom has developed into a modern industrial nation. The many bicycles were replaced by cars, high-speed trains and airplanes. Well-known companies have gained a foothold in China. At the same time as prosperity has increased, so has the problem of environmental pollution.

Our contribution to Green China

For MICHEL ITC as an international supplier of input systems, labelling and branding, the environmentally friendly production of technical goods is a central issue. Printing and etching are core technologies for all our products. This can pollute the exhaust air and waste water and also generate hazardous waste.

In addition to the internationally valid environmental regulations, we have therefore established our own "certification". We pay particular attention to these three aspects:

• Filtered exhaust air
• Treated waste water
• Separate and correctly disposed garbage

Year after year, we review the progress made by our partner companies in the area of environmental protection. This progress is recorded in the annual supplier audits and evaluated accordingly.

Taking responsibility

As a friend and connoisseur of China, it is clear to me that it will take a lot of effort before the Land of the Rising Sun reaches our "enlightened" environmental level. But the government and the Chinese people work every day to make the environment cleaner and more sustainable. And we at MICHEL ITC support them in this.

MICHEL ITC – we take care.