This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page Please select what you would like included for printing: Copy the text below and then paste that into your favorite email application This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply Service map data © OpenStreetMap contributors Mauser Group’s wholly owned subsidiary National Container Group (NCG) opened its new plastic recycling facility located in Erkelenz Mauser Group’s wholly owned subsidiary National Container Group (NCG) opened its new plastic recycling facility located in Erkelenz Investment on the Erkelenz plant was an estimated €2.5m (approximately $3.45m) The plant has the capacity to generate approximately 3,500t of recycled polyethylene per year Erkelenz recycling plant generates fine quality recycled polyethylene material from used industrial plastic packaging and IBC bottles Most of the plant’s output is used by Mauser to produce new packaging products These high-quality recycled plastic materials generated from post-consumer resin (PCR) plastic materials enabled Mauser to launch the new Infinity Series™ plastic drums The plastic drums are available in two varieties which include the O-Top brand open-top drum designed with capacities ranging from 30l to 220l and the L-Ring PLUS tight head drum with a capacity of 220l environmentally friendly new drum series allows transportation of hazardous solids up to Packing Group I Erkelenz recycling centre complements NCG’s ten European plants specialising in the collection washing and remanufacturing of used industrial plastics and intermediate bulk containers (IBCs) is the world’s largest producer of bottle-grade post-consumer recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) Plastic packaging materials that are not suitable for reuse are sorted and graded at NCG sites according to the required quality pre-cleaned and then sent to the Erkelenz plant for recycling the plastic material undergoes a shredding and wet grinding process It is then cleaned in two separate friction washers which operate in series at varied temperatures using either water or caustic soda The recycled plastic undergoes a drying process after which the cleaned material is separated The extrusion process further increases the quality of the polyethylene (PE) recyclate The process includes passing the melted materials through two vacuum degasing zones to reduce migrated contaminations that could not be eliminated during the washing process Recycling materials are not degraded despite being operated at low melt flow of two to ten (MFI 21.5) The recycled PE produced at the plant meets DIN EN ISO 16103:2005 standards and is ideal for new industrial packaging Mauser Group is a leading producer of industrial packaging worldwide The company has approximately 4,000 employees supporting operations in more than 80 Mauser and NSG sites and multiple joint-ventures in Europe The group also has two licensee networks for plastic and steel packaging It also offers products for customers in the food and beverage industry Its product portfolio includes plastic packaging The company also offers reconditioning services through NCG Give your business an edge with our leading industry insights View all newsletters from across the GlobalData Media network SPIE is the independent European leader in multi-technical services in the areas of energy and communications Our 55,000 employees are committed to achieving the energy transition and responsible digital transformation alongside our customers SPIE aims to contribute to a more sustainable Do you want to use your skills to contribute to projects that help society a key player in the energy transition and digital transformation We are committed to the fight against climate change and mobilised for a responsible digital transformation intall and maintain energy-efficient and environmentaly-friendly facilities Find in this section all the useful information you can access SPIE's profile and key figures Would you like to interview an SPIE spokesperson the independent European leader in multi-technical services in the areas of energy and communications has been commissioned by the town of Erkelenz in North Rhine-Westphalia The ten-year contract includes further upgrading of 4,500 street lamps to LED technology As a result of the new technology combined with a dimming profile energy consumption will be lowered by around two-thirds leading to a reduction in CO2 emissions of around 250 tonnes per year Up to 50% of a town or municipality’s electricity costs are attributable to public lighting So the contract awarded to SPIE Deutschland & Zentraleuropa by the town of Erkelenz to take on operational management of its street lighting and to globally ensure successful lighting represents an important task It also includes measures to improve energy efficiency and thus reduce CO2 emissions and public-sector energy costs SPIE will upgrade 4,500 out of a total of 7,700 lamps to energy-saving LED technology over the next four years “We are delighted that our concept for energy-efficient operational management won out and that we now have the opportunity to put it into practice for the town of Erkelenz,” says Nicolas May Head of the Netze Neuss Service Office of the City Networks & Grids operational division at SPIE Deutschland & Zentraleuropa Together with a dimming profile that reduces brightness to 30% at night the modernisation of the lighting will result in considerable potential for savings we will achieve lower energy consumption and lower light pollution for the town of Erkelenz so that CO2 emissions and energy costs can also be reduced,” explains Ansgar Lurweg the ten-year contract includes a wide range of other tasks for the eight-person team headed by Nicolas May These include the new installation of lighting systems as well as on-call maintenance services and troubleshooting round the clock – 24 hours a day SPIE will also support the town with many other measures across the entire service range from the planning and establishing of a new control system of the public lighting as well as counselling on funding possibilities and annual reporting we at SPIE particularly work to promote energy efficiency and digitalisation we will also ensure successful lighting in Erkelenz over the next ten years” General Manager of the City Networks & Grids operational division at SPIE Deutschland & Zentraleuropa BERLIN (AP) - Climate activists have occupied a giant digger at a coal mine in western Germany to protest the destruction of a nearby village for the expansion of a separate mine Energy company RWE told German news agency dpa that four people climbed onto the digger early Monday and operations at the Hambach lignite mine have been paused Anti-coal group Ende Gelaende wrote on Mastodon that a second group of activists had climbed onto a bridge to block access to the village of Luetzerath which has become a flashpoint of protests in the past week Thousands of people demonstrated Saturday against the razing of the village by RWE for the expansion of the Garzweiler coal mine which is about 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of Hambach Police and RWE began evicting activists Wednesday from Luetzerath chopping down treehouses and bulldozing buildings they said the operation had almost finished The government and RWE say the coal beneath Luetzerath is needed to ensure Germany’s energy supply in the coming years Environmental campaigners and scientists dispute this and warn that burning tens of millions of tons of coal would undermine Germany’s climate goals Follow AP’s coverage of the climate and environment at https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment so you can live like a Bosch"},{"headline":"Annual report","href":"/company/annual-report/","label":"Our year in numbers"},{"headline":"Contact us","href":"/contact/","label":"How can we help you?"}] [{"label": "Hydrogen" "href": "/search.html?q=Hydrogen"},{"label": "Artificial intelligence" "href": "/search.html?q=Artificial intelligence"},{"label": "Automated driving" "href": "/search.html?q=Automated driving"},{"label": "Careers" "href": "/search.html?q=Careers"},{"label": "Podcast" "href": "/search.html?q=Podcast"}] Select a language The energy of the future in critical infrastructure This story is part of our topic “Hydrogen” When people think of innovation at hospitals they usually think of new medicines or operating techniques But innovation at the Hermann Josef hospital (HJK) in Erkelenz hydrogen-based energy supply is being established using decentralized fuel cell systems (solid oxide fuel cells This pioneering project is part of the Helmholtz Cluster (HC-H₂) at the Jülich national research institute and is being conducted in partnership with Hydrogenious LOHC NRW GmbH which developed the new H₂ storage technology nursing team leader of the cardiac catheterization laboratory at the Hermann Josef hospital checks the vital functions of a patient in the control room It’s a normal start to the day’s shift for Jessica Rama head of the nursing team of the cardiac catheterization laboratory at the Hermann Josef hospital in Erkelenz The hospital and its 400 beds provide health services to roughly 20,000 inpatients and 40,000 outpatients annually People with cardiac issues are treated here Sophisticated technology detects vascular occlusion in the heart and the specialists can widen vessels that have become constricted “Here we can give people back their health and quality of life.” Having a reliable power supply is essential for us here at the hospital the technology in the laboratory is highly sophisticated and complex The electricity supply needs to be reliable and uninterrupted this means that our carbon footprint is enormous,” she adds But the hospital’s management is on the lookout for new solutions that will enable the enormous energy demands to be reliably met without taking a toll on the climate Where cardiac procedures are concerned The vital importance of a stable supply “Having a reliable power supply is essential for us here at the hospital,” Jessica says while showing us the cardiac catheterization laboratory a person could end up dying within seconds.” The Hermann Josef hospital has immense energy needs: per year it consumes 2.95 million kilowatt-hours of electricity But Bosch’s fuel cell system is now ready for operation and set to usher in a new chapter The aim is to demonstrate over the next few years how such a vitally important energy supply can be made climate neutral the pilot SOFC system from Bosch can meet roughly 20 percent of the entire hospital’s electricity needs in the process reducing its carbon footprint This is because a fuel cell generates electricity and heat out of hydrogen and oxygen In order to meet hospitals’ enormous power requirements and achieve climate neutrality Depending on energy needs multiple Bosch SOFC systems can be hooked up to each other ten units with a total output of 100 kW have been installed Jessica leads us across the courtyard to a low-rise building stand ten futuristic-looking Bosch SOFC units They can generate climate-neutral energy out of hydrogen This area falls under the purview of Tomasz Königs a mechanical engineer by trade and the hospital’s technical manager who together with his team is responsible for ensuring the supply of heat and electricity He will also be the one putting the Bosch SOFC system into operation “We get most of our electricity from the public power grid and this power is generated from lignite,” he explains “The rest is contributed by a cogeneration plant running on natural gas.” We hear the latter rumbling in the background standing in front of one of the Bosch fuel cells that will generate the facility’s future energy supply Technology for the energy transition “We want to move away from fossil fuels,” Tomasz says emphatically “Climate neutrality is an important vision for our hospital especially in view of our enormous power consumption and our location here in the middle of the Rhine lignite region.” Jessica can attest to this from her own experience: “I grew up nearby in Immerath a town that was razed to make way for an open-pit mine.” A secondary site of the Hermann Josef hospital was also located there It’s difficult to think of a more fitting — and more striking — contrast between fossil fuels and renewable energy Tomasz Königs visually inspects the heat supply lines This sophisticated system requires continuous monitoring and regular maintenance Our hospital could become a role model for sustainable energy supply The Bosch fuel cell modules will not be meeting the hospital’s entire energy needs overnight The system will run on natural gas at first transforming it into hydrogen through a chemical process until sufficient hydrogen from climate-neutral production is available But even this first step will result in a 20-percent improvement in the hospital’s carbon footprint compared to the energy mix from the grid in this lignite region “Our hydrogen project with Bosch’s SOFC system is a pilot,” Tomasz emphasizes By the time the project — which is supported by the German federal research ministry — wraps up in 2026 the partners want to demonstrate that major facilities can be supplied with energy that is both climate neutral and reliable using fuel cell technology The energy supplied will not be only electrical energy The Bosch SOFC system generates both electricity and heat with an overall efficiency of up to 90 percent The heat it generates can be fed into the hospital’s local heating grid the next few years promise to be exciting: “Our hospital could become a role model for sustainable energy supply.” By Philipp Jenne / Associated Press World news Police officers form a line to block demonstrators on the edge of the opencast lignite mine Garzweiler at the village Luetzerath near Erkelenz Germany >> Thousands of people demonstrated in persistent rain on Saturday to protest the clearance and demolition of a village in western Germany that is due to make way for the expansion of a coal mine There were standoffs with police as some protesters tried to reach the edge of the mine and the village itself Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg joined the demonstrators as they protested the clearance of Luetzerath walking through the nearby village of Keyenberg and past muddy fields Protesters chanted “Every village stays” and “You are not alone.” Organizers said about 35,000 people took part police said people broke through their barriers and some got into the Garzweiler coal mine Some who tried to get to the edge of the mine were pushed back And German news agency dpa reported that police used water cannons and batons just outside Luetzerath itself against hundreds of people who got that far Some protesters have complained of what they say was undue force by police and about the size of the police response this week said some demonstrators had thrown fireworks at officers and damaged patrol cars Thunberg said the fate of Luetzerath and the expansion of the mine matters far beyond Germany In the global fight against climate change “what everyone does matters,” she told The Associated Press shortly before the protest “And if one of the largest polluters and one of the biggest historical emitters of CO2 is doing something like this then of course it affects more or less everyone — especially those most bearing the brunt of the climate crisis.” the clearance of Luetzerath was well advanced The operation to evict climate activists holed up in the village kicked off on Wednesday morning police said that about 470 people had left the site They said on Friday afternoon that there were no longer any activists in the remaining buildings or on their roofs They said Saturday they still had to tackle 15 “structures” such as tree houses and were trying to get into a tunnel in which two people were believed to be holed up Work to demolish buildings was already underway Luetzerath has become a cause celebre for critics of Germany’s climate efforts Environmentalists say bulldozing the village to expand the Garzweiler mine would result in huge amounts of greenhouse gas emissions The government and utility company RWE argue the coal is needed to ensure Germany’s energy security both of which include the environmentalist Green party reached a deal with RWE last year allowing it to destroy the abandoned village in return for ending coal use by 2030 Some speakers at Saturday’s demonstration assailed the Greens whose leaders argue that the deal fulfills many of the environmentalists’ demands and saved five other villages from demolition “It’s very weird to see the German government make deals and compromise with companies like RWE when they should rather be held accountable for all the damage and destruction they have caused,” Thunberg said “My message to the German government is that they should stop what’s happening here immediately and ensure climate justice for everyone.” Greta Thunberg was detained at a coal mine protest in Germany The 20-year-old environmental activist was seen being detained at a protest on Tuesday and was later released Thunberg and fellow activists were protesting the expansion of Garzweiler coal mine which is located near the village of Luetzerath in Erkelenz the environmentalist is seen being carried by police officers Greta has been very outspoke about conservation and the environment and frequently speaks out via social media to raise awareness She recently posted about the expansion of the mine in Germany “Climate strike week 230. We are currently in Lützerath, a German village threatened to be demolished for an expansion of a coal mine. People have been resisting and defending Lützerath for years. Recently the evictions started, but the fighting spirit still persists. Join us here or at a local protest tomorrow to demand that #LützerathBleibt” she wrote A post shared by Greta Thunberg (@gretathunberg) BERLIN — Police in western Germany carried Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and other protesters away Tuesday from the edge of an open coal pit mine where they demonstrated.. This document may not be reprinted without the express written permission of Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Material from the Associated Press is Copyright © 2025 audio and/or video material shall not be published rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium Neither these AP materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and noncommercial use The AP will not be held liable for any delays errors or omissions therefrom or in the transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages arising from any of the foregoing Climate change activists in Germany braved deep mud and "pure violence," organizers say as they faced off against police on Saturday to protest an energy deal that will raze the abandoned village of Lützerath to expand a coal pit.  France24 reported that Indigo Drau a spokeswoman for the organizers of the protest said during a Sunday press conference that police approached demonstrators with "pure violence" and "unrestrainedly" beat them Though some stragglers remain in the area, most of the activists were ultimately removed and the demolition of Lützerath is underway, Politico reported. The deal, made between the left-leaning political Green party and the largest German coal company, RWE, has been toted as a climate-saving agreement by the politicians who brokered it While the deal lays the groundwork to phase out coal in Germany by 2030 it allows RWE to demolish Lützerath as part of the company's plan to expand the Garzweiler mine located nearby "It's a gut punch that Green ministers now try to sell this backroom coal deal as a success," Politico reported Olaf Bandt the chair of the non-governmental German Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation Critics argue that Germany has enough coal reserves without accessing the brown coal located beneath Lützerath and allowing RWE access to the coal will prevent Germany from meeting the CO2 budget that was agreed to with the Paris Agreement.  "Not all things around the climate crisis are black and white, but this is," climate activist Luisa Neubauer posted on Twitter about the protests. "If we want to see a world with less crisis we need the fossil fuel destruction to be stopped And we need governments to hold fossil fuel companies accountable the German subsidiary of Mauser Packaging Solutions is investing more than 10 million euros in the extension of its Erkelenz facility Operations at this Mauser plant include the manufacturing of composite Intermediate Bulk Containers (IBC) and components for the company’s global IBC production activities The company also has industrial packaging reconditioning and plastic recycling activities in Erkelenz The ground breaking ceremony on Tuesday 28 January 2020 was attended by official representatives of Erkelenz city council One focus of the recent investment is to scale up Mauser’s seminal activities in the food packaging sector and in the lifecycle management of packaging and packaging materials a sustainable HDPE post-consumer resin material for high quality HDPE applications It is then processed at the Erkelenz facility and numerous other European Mauser plants into new packaging containing up to 90 % post-consumer recycled (PCR) material All rights reserved except agreement written by Emballage Digest or mention of the magazine Glass packaging records production growth in Europe Plastiques et économie circulaire : attention à la précipitation directrice générale de Boissons Rafraîchissantes de France a global leader in solutions and services across the industrial packaging lifecycle is investing in the extension of its German production site in Erkelenz The recent investments allow Mauser to increase its level of vertical integration at this key business location and to expand its pioneering activities in the lifecycle management of packaging and packaging materials the German subsidiary of Mauser Packaging Solutions of Oak Brook is investing more than ten million euros in the extension of its Erkelenz facility Operations at this plant include the manufacturing of composite Intermediate Bulk Containers (IBC) and components for the company’s global IBC production activities It is then processed at the Erkelenz facility and numerous other European Mauser plants into new packaging containing up to 90 percent post-consumer recycled (PCR) material circular and cost-effective packaging and plastic solutions are a high priority in this environmentally conscious era and the measures that have been implemented at the Erkelenz plant are pointing the way forward for the industry They underline the company´s commitment to resource-friendly and responsible production Mauser offers customers a world-leading portfolio of packaging-related products and services covering the full packaging lifecycle Sign In Register Germany (AP) — The fate of a tiny village has sparked heated debate in Germany over the country's continued use of coal and whether tackling climate change justifies breaking the law Environmental activists have been locked in a standoff with police who started eviction operations on Wednesday in the hamlet of Luetzerath that's due to be bulldozed for the expansion of a nearby lignite mine Some stones and fireworks were thrown at officers in riot gear as they moved into the village clearing roadblocks and removing protesters Activists had refused to heed a court ruling Monday effectively banning them from the area built barricades and perched atop giant tripods in an effort to stop heavy machines from reaching the village all of their lives into this struggle to keep the coal in the ground,” said Dina Hamid a spokesperson for the activist group Luetzerath Lives we’re actually going to take down our climate goals,” she said The debate flared up hours later at a townhall meeting in nearby Erkelenz when one regional official accused activists of being willing to “spill human blood” to defend the now-abandoned village said that while he sympathized with the protesters' aims The village's last resident left in 2022 after being forced to sell to utility company RWE Now clear the pitch,” he said to jeers from the room arguing that the village is more than just a potent symbol for the need to stop global warming Studies indicate that about 110 million metric tons of coal could be extracted from beneath Luetzerath The government and RWE say this coal is needed to ensure Germany's energy security — squeezed by the cut in supply of Russian gas due to the war in Ukraine Critics counter that burning so much coal would make it much harder for Germany to cap global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) as agreed in the 2015 Paris climate accord “Nobody wants to be out there in the cold right now defending a forest or a village,” said Maya Rollberg a 26-year-old student who had traveled from southern Germany "But I think that people have realized that they have to do that in order to (protect) future generations.” said he was tired of hearing officials say the law was on the side of RWE “They keep going back to the legal situation," he said "But the right to live doesn’t play a role here (for them).” warned protesters that intentionally breaking the law wouldn't help their cause in a country where the violent seizure of power and the horrors of dictatorship are still within living memory “I'll tell you honestly that I'm scared my children will grow up in a world that isn't worth living in anymore,” he said “But I'm at least as scared of my children growing up in a country where everyone takes the law into their own hands.” “You won't save the world's climate on your own,” said Pusch “(We'll) only do so if we manage to take the majority of the population with us.” Similar debates over how far civil disobedience can go have taken place in Germany and elsewhere in recent months amid a wave of road blockades and other dramatic actions by protesters demanding tougher measures to combat climate change Some climate activists say the law is ultimately on their side, citing a 2021 ruling by the country’s supreme court that forced the government to step up its effort to cut emissions They also note the legally binding nature of Germany's commitments under the Paris accord student Jannis Niethammer acknowledged that the dispute over Luetzerath touches on fundamental issues "It’s a question of democracy and how do we actually get a democracy to move toward climate protection a federal lawmaker and co-leader of the opposition Left party suggested the way out would be for the government to reverse its decision allowing the village to be razed “If we want to achieve our climate targets and take the Paris climate agreement seriously then the coal beneath Luetzerath needs to stay in the ground,” she told The Associated Press on the sidelines of the protest Wissler criticized an agreement struck last year between the government and utility company RWE to permit mining beneath the village in return for an earlier end to coal use in Germany Climate change is happening already,” she said “And therefore wrong decisions need to be corrected.” Follow Frank Jordans on Twitter: @wirereporter Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. 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