Sustainability

We are strongly convinced that it is possible to run a company economically, socially, and ecologically at the same time. We even believe that this is crucial for the future. That is why sustainability is at the heart of our corporate mission statement, and is reflected by all our activities.

We pay particular attention to sustainability issues that are closely linked to our specific granite mining business in Heppenheim. These are the areas of environmental protection and nature conservation as well as neighborhood and regional responsibility.

We are also working intensively on other important issues. These include the occupational health and safety of our employees, the promotion of young people through training and jobs, the optimization of production processes to conserve natural resources, and the safeguarding of human rights in our supply chain.

Some of our quarries are part of the bird sanctuary “Felswände des vorderen Odenwaldes” (rock walls of the Anterior Odenwald), which is specially designed to protect eagle owls and peregrine falcons. Both species of birds of prey have settled here since the late nineties, and we have been protecting them since their discovery.

Together with a bird protection officer, we secure the nesting sites of the eagle owls and the breeding of their brood while the quarry is in operation. This is not a small job, but a welcome one. Nestlings who dare to jump down – not yet fully fledged – are escorted back to the vicinity of the nest by trained staff. Particularly during the breeding and rearing phase, our employees are instructed to be particularly considerate.

Peregrine falcons, which also benefit from active protective measures, breed barely six hundred meters away from the breeding ground. The hatchery has been replaced by a nesting box nearby.

We have been monitoring the development and breeding behavior of our eagle owls and peregrine falcons since 1998. On average, two young peregrine falcons and two eagle owl children emerge from the brood every year. NABU estimates that a large proportion of the birds currently living in the Bergstraße district can be traced back to the breeds in the RÖHRIGgranit^® quarry.

We import some selected mineral raw materials from abroad. In 2017,
RÖHRIGgranit^® became a Fairstone partner in order to ensure compliance with human rights in our supply chain. Fairstone is an international social and environmental standard for natural stone imports from developing and emerging countries. With this partnership, we commit ourselves to demand the standard along our supply chain, to implement it within three years, and to continuously pursue it. Fairstone stands for the certainty that products are manufactured without child labor, with respect for workers’ safety and health, and that environmental protection measures are observed. The entire supply chain can be traced.

RÖHRIGgranit^® employs people from 13 different nations. This is no coincidence. We are convinced that internationality and the diversity of different perspectives are an asset for a company and society as a whole. For this reason, employees who wish to learn or improve their German language skills have the opportunity to attend a free German language course with us.

We want to contribute to safeguarding employment around our sites. This is why we prefer suppliers from our region when awarding contracts. In addition to our own employees, some 200 other jobs are associated with our company. These include regional suppliers, craftsmen and forwarding companies, but also caterers, graphic artists, photographers, and print shops.