RECOSYS® 2.0 officially launched: KURZ provides details on logistics partner and CO₂ compensation

Fürth/Germany, March 5, 2024: With RECOSYS®, LEONHARD KURZ is the world's first company in the field of thin-film technology to introduce a take-back and recycling system for PET transfer materials from the graphics industry. The result is the post-industrial compound RECOPOUND® - and up to 40 percent CO₂ can be saved compared to thermal recycling of the material. After years of development work, the Fürth-based thin-film specialist has now started operating RECOSYS® 2.0.

The further development not only allows the recycling of a large number of transfer carriers in the graphics industry, but also increases the range of possible applications for the recycled material. For the first time, production waste can now be processed into recycled PET (rPET for short), which offers an even wider range of possible applications and represents the next logical step towards a circular economy. RECOSYS® 2.0 and rPET can also be used to reduce CO₂ emissions. "Sustainability is a top priority for us," explains Rolf Schmidtke, RECOSYS® 2.0 project manager at LEONHARD KURZ. "It runs like a common thread through all our projects, processes and workflows with the aim of achieving a fully-fledged circular economy in the graphic arts industry."

Climate-neutral material recovery by Gebrüder Weiss

KURZ relies on its long-standing partner Gebrüder Weiss for the return transportation of the surplus carrier materials. The logistics provider already delivers unprocessed transfer products to customers in Europe and is now also responsible for collecting the used transfer carriers for recycling. To ensure that the transport is climate-neutral, KURZ uses the ‘zero emissions’ service offered by the logistics service provider and thus completely offsets all emissions generated. To this end, Gebrüder Weiss calculates and documents the CO₂ emissions released for each shipment transported. In the next step, offsetting takes place via certificates, which are used to offset the same amount of emissions in various climate protection projects. In the case of KURZ and RECOSYS® 2.0, this is the combined project ‘Germany plus the Alps’, which combines CO₂-binding through the planting of natural forests with many social projects in the Oberallgäu region. "We are very happy to have Gebrüder Weiss as a strong partner who is just as committed to a sustainable future as we are - and who already offers appropriate solutions," adds Rolf Schmidtke. "All customers who participate in RECOSYS® 2.0 receive a recycling certificate that is confirmed by the independent environmental assessment organization Intechnica Cert GmbH - a clear competitive advantage that also benefits our environment to a large extent."

Further information on RECOSYS® 2.0 and on the topics of sustainability and lifecycle thinking can be found at www.kurz-graphics.com.