In implementing its sustainability strategy, REWE Group in Austria maintains an intensive dialog with its stakeholders. Only when all stakeholders are working towards common goals can lasting improvements be implemented. In this way, the share of more sustainable products and services is being steadily expanded and sustainable consumption is becoming accessible to ever larger parts of the population.
Using resources sensibly
Together with AfB, REWE Group Austria celebrated the 10th anniversary of their partnership on September 11. Since the cooperation agreement was established in 2012, AfB has processed a total of 7,062 IT and mobile devices with a total weight of 38 tons within the last 10 years of REWE Group in Austria. A valuable 82% of these could be refurbished for remarketing after data destruction, hardware testing, spare parts procurement, repair, upgrading and cleaning.
In terms of concrete resource savings compared to new purchases, this equates to:
> 777,840 kg CO2 (equivalents)
> 461,703 kg raw materials saved (equivalents)
> 2,988,457 kWh reduced primary energy consumption
> 5,550,139 liters less water consumption
AfB CSR certificate for a proud ecobalance
Dieter Hundstorfer, Partner Manager at AfB Austria, was very pleased to express a heartfelt THANK YOU for the long-standing partnership and to personally present the AfB CSR certificate for the social-ecological impact balance of the last years to Martin Fluch, Chief Information Officer (CIO) RIAG, as well as Johannes Winkler, Product Owner Workplace of REWE International AG.
"Ensuring socially and ecologically sustainable IT operations and addressing issues such as climate neutrality, energy transition and sensible resource management are top priorities for us at REWE International AG," says CIO Martin Fluch. "Maximum reusability of our hardware and professional recycling, play an essential role in this. The successful partnership with AfB not only helps us to make a major contribution to the circular economy, but also to fulfill our social responsibility as an employer," he is convinced.
Johannes Winkler also emphasizes the importance of a local recycling partner: "Particularly in IT, careful use of our resources is especially important to us. This includes not only energy-efficient devices, which we also configure accordingly to achieve the best possible mix of performance and energy savings, but also the complete life cycle of the hardware itself. With AfB, we have had a partner at our side for many years that makes it possible not only to recycle older IT equipment, but also to continue using it in a meaningful way. In addition, AfB's local proximity underscores our sustainability efforts, because our IT equipment is not sent across Europe for reconditioning."
REWE Group in Austria reaffirms its commitment to sustainable business and environmental protection and its contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals. The Sustainability Report 2022 and the planned measures illustrate the company's clear commitment to a climate-friendly future.
Sustainability Report REWE Group Austria 2022: nh_bericht_2022.pdf (rewe-group.at)
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About AfB social & green IT
AfB GmbH is Europe's largest non-profit IT company. Through certified IT remarketing, AfB helps to save environmental resources. At 20 locations in Germany, Austria, France, Switzerland and Slovakia, AfB employs 650 people, half of them with disabilities.
The IT refurbisher's business model is based on long-term partnerships with more than 1,000 companies, banks, insurance companies and public institutions. Since 2004, AfB has taken over their IT and mobile devices that are no longer needed, irrevocably deletes the data they contain, upgrades the devices, installs new software and sells them with a minimum 12-month warranty, mainly to private individuals, non-profit organizations and schools. For this Green IT concept, AfB has already received the Special SDG Award IT Award, the ZERO Project Award and was named Europe's Social Enterprise of the Year. In Austria, AfB employs 82 people at two offices in Vienna and in Klagenfurt. More info at www.afb-group.at
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