Sustainability at Brother

The concept of sustainability

At Brother Internationale Industriemaschinen GmbH (BIMH), sustainability is not perceived as a short-distance race, but as a marathon in which all kinds of different actors, namely, governments, the private sector as well as civil society must participate. The core of Brother's sustainability concept is based on the Brother Group Environmental Vision 2050 which aims to contribute to solving social and environmental issues, focusing on activities related to the reduction of CO2 emissions, resource circulation, and biodiversity conservation. Here you can find more information on where the Brother Group is headed.

In addition, the Brother Group is committed to the Agenda 2030 and its Sustainable Development Goals. In this context, the Brother Group introduced the SDGs' special website "Brother SDGs STORY”.

Apart from this, BIMH has launched different programs to effectively implement sustainability internally. This is done through our environmental management program according to ISO 14001 which has been successfully implemented since 2009. Beyond this, BIMH aims to act according to our 5 R Concept: Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Reform, and Recycle. Additionally, BIMH aims to increase company-wide awareness of sustainability matters. This is for instance carried out by engaging in internal sustainability workshops. Recently, BIMH has engaged in a workshop carried out with the organization Climate Fresk, whereby scientific facts behind climate change as delivered by the latest IPCC Report have been elaborated. Another example is our cooperation with the organization VAIA which engages in reforestation measures in the Dolomites that has been severely hit by the storm VAIA in 2018.

Furthermore, also the product range offered by Brother has become more sustainable. One example is our GTX 600 Direct to Garment Printer, which offers reduced ink consumption, requires fewer maintenance parts, ensures a safe working environment for operators due to a built-in mist filter, and reduced packaging waste as inks are available in 9 l or 18 l tanks. Importantly, the inks to our industrial printers hold the OEKO-TEX® ECO PASSPORT and are GOTS Approved Additives.

In that way, Brother finds itself committed to the sustainability marathon and knows there are more steps ahead to reach our Brother Group Environmental Vision and contribute to global targets like the Agenda 2030 and its Sustainable Development Goals. At the same time, we believe that greenwashing should be avoided, by being honest and open about what is being done and why it is being done.

Environmental Policy

Brother Internationale Industriemaschinen GmbH is a daughter company of Brother Industries Ltd., Nagoya/Japan and is responsible for the sales areas Europe, Africa and Middle East. As part of the global Brother Group, we have the obligation to realise the environment guidelines fixed by Japan for the total company business.

According to the overall Brother Group philosophy, we will continue to develop and improve our environmental performance - in the interest and welfare of the general public. Environmental management is an essential part of our business decision making process and we strive to make continuous improvements to protect and preserve the environment. The environmental policy of our business is an equivalent and consistent component of the total business politics and strategy.

In order to further diminish our impact on the environment, Brother Internationale Industriemaschinen GmbH has adopted the company-wide Environmental Management system, which corresponds to the norms of ISO 14001. Within this framework we will continuously evaluate and improve our environmental performance, and by applying Brother's own 5R concept we will promote the environment activities in our business as well as in cooperation with our trade partners.

We will collaborate with the corresponding legislative authorities in Germany and Europe to improve our environment-orientated performance.

Brother Internationale Industriemaschinen GmbH does not manufacture products, but is more and more involved in product development and product specification. In this way we take influence, that the products as well as the packing materials are recyclable, and that these correspond to the respective environmental laws and standards. We continue to monitor the compliance of EU laws and guidelines.

In accordance with ISO 14001 the following principles apply to us:

In future we will also integrate our suppliers into our activities and goals, and will more closely collaborate especially with forwarding companies. The objective is to regard the conservation of the environment as a joint concern and to reduce our environmental influences wherever possible.

We will regularly review our progress. We promise to expand our environmental activities effectively by integrating our personnel, external companies and customers - in the endeavour to persistently promote the environmental awareness . We will gladly familiarise our personnel, business partners and customers as well as any interested persons with our activities and strategies.