IKEA's most eco-friendly print supplier:

The Eversfrank Group wins IKEA Tulip Award

Sweden, October 2019 – On the evening of 9 October, the Swedish furniture chain IKEA hosted its annual Tulip Awards. Year after year, IKEA awards the prize in the form of a wooden tulip for the best printing performance in the production of its current catalogue. The Eversfrank Group is one of the prizewinners and scored highly with its sustainable print production concepts. Now the Scandinavian colleagues of the Eversfrank Group have brought the prize to Germany, where it was happily received by Managing Director Axel Polei. 

31 printing companies from 24 countries accepted the invitation to the small Swedish town of Älmhult, where the IKEA headquarters are located. The Eversfrank Group won the coveted prize in the “Sustainability” category for the “Best Sustainable Initiative” – after just two years of working with the Swedish furniture store giant. With its two largest production sites in Meldorf and Preetz, the printing company is now one of IKEA’s best printing suppliers. IKEA was particularly impressed by the print production according to the so-called “Healthy Printing” concept, with which the Eversfrank Group produces print products in an exceptionally sustainable way.

“In the spring and summer of this year, we produced a part of the IKEA annual catalogue”, says Ulf Malmberg, Manager Business Development of the Eversfrank Group, who closely supervises IKEA’s print production. “We have been continuously working on making our processes and production sequences even more environmentally friendly for years. Together with IKEA, we wanted to go one step further and implemented printing in accordance with the criteria of the Healthy Printing Principle.

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As a member company of the Healthy Printing Initiative, the Eversfrank Group is committed to working towards healthy print products in the long term by actively supporting positive impacts rather than just minimizing negative ones. “For example, we are working to ensure that all ingredients and materials in the printed paper cycle become a useful biological or technical resource for other processes,” explains Hauke Klinck, Environmental Manager of the Eversfrank Group. “Our long-term goal is to produce printed products that contain 100% defined biocompatible components that are safe to compost, can be used in other products, or can be incinerated without a contaminant filter. For IKEA, a catalogue production was made possible, among other things, by changing the sheet and roller colours to the Cradle to Cradle® standard with improved and sustainable properties.”

Axel Polei, Managing Director of the Eversfrank Group in Meldorf, emphasizes that the award is due to all employees who have worked energetically with IKEA and contributed to this success. “It is highly motivating to be honoured by such a renowned customer and it shows us that the environmentally conscious path we have been taking for years is the right one,” he concludes.