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 as well as the Brother Group's Environmental Policy.

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 addition to that, our inks do not contain any animal products as declared in our Vegan Declaration.

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.