Rossmann is greening the areas around its logistics sites as part of a project. The drugstore chain aims to promote biodiversity and create habitats for insects. Following pilot projects at Burgwedel and at the regional distribution center Malsfeld, Rossmann now plans a nationwide introduction of this concept, the internationally operating family business announced in a press release on 29 September.
The core of the project is the nature-friendly design of areas that have so far been little used: native perennials, flowering seed mixes, sand lentils, deadwood islands and piles of stones should create new habitats
for wild bees, butterflies and other insect species. The response at the first locations was so positive that Rossmann will roll the concept out step by step to all logistics warehouses nationwide, the family-owned company said.
In implementing the project, the company works with partners, including the Environmental Center Hannover as well as the expert team of INSECT-RESPECT led by Dr. Hans-Dietrich Reckhaus. Dr. Reckhaus, who founded the INSECT-RESPECT quality seal, brings, according to Rossmann, a “unique expertise in creating and maintaining biodiverse habitats.” Together with landscape planners who take regional flora and fauna into
account, suitable greening concepts are to be developed.
The workforce is involved in the project: within the framework of so-called “participation construction sites” employees on site support the redesign and planting: the quality and sustainability of the areas should be put at the forefront. For example, at the Malsfeld site 24 tons of rubble stone were piled on a 25-square-meter area, sand lentils and shrub islands were created, flowering seed mixes were sown on 220 square meters and a total of 520 perennials were planted.
“I am very proud of it,” says Hendrik van Duuren,
managing director of Rossmann Logistics, “that we have transformed our former lawns at the regional distribution center into valuable compensation areas. In doing so, we give nature space and actively promote life right at our doorstep.”
The active involvement of the employees underscores that they pursued the path of sustainability together and with full conviction.
The implementation of the project has already begun at the logistics centers Malsfeld, Brehna and Wustermark. In the coming years, the concept is to be rolled out to all further locations, with the aim of creating a nationwide network of
