Sustainability marks the pattern of economic growth

The on-going monitoring and improvement of specific key indicators, such as the reduction of energy consumption, carbon dioxide emissions, use of solvents, VOC emissions and waste, have long been an integral part of the company's approach to environmental management. In this reporting year, as in years past, tesa has once again further reduced emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Since the current environmental programme started in 2007, the company has reduced volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions by 49 per cent overall in relation to comparable production volumes. This is connected directly to the on-going development of tesa's production technologies, where solvent use is eliminated wherever possible. While it is not yet possible to eliminate solvents from every step of the process of manufacturing technical adhesive tapes, emissions can be avoided as far as possible even when traditional technologies are used. By integrating labour intensive reclamation and cleaning processes to make the re-use of solvents possible, tesa's Hamburg plant provides a good example of how the company is working to keep emissions to an absolute minimum. Steve Plastow, managing director of tesa UK commented: "The tesa group has already achieved some significant goals in the execution of the current global environmental programme and the way in which we continue to manage these issues will have a profound influence on the future of our business." The company also continues to be involved in a large number of social projects aimed at benefitting disadvantaged children and youth in particular. tesa UK, for example, is providing work experience for pupils with autistic spectrum disorders from The Walnuts School in Milton Keynes as part of the company's commitment to the worldwide United Nations Global Compact initiative.