“A dream job that brings joy every day”

Claudia, congratulations on your anniversary! How did you experience your start at RIGK?

Claudia: Thank you very much! From the very beginning, my start was intense and warm. Even before my official first day, I got to know the waste management sector at the Entsorga trade fair in Cologne. At the booth, I immediately immersed myself in the activities together with our colleagues from RIGK, KSB, and other industrial return systems. The excellent cooperation with these partner return systems continues to this day and was further strengthened with the foundation of the BiPv initiative.

“My path – from banking to the circular economy”

How did you come to join RIGK?

Claudia: My professional career began with training as a bank clerk. Afterwards, I completed a master's degree in business administration and languages. During my studies, I had the opportunity to study for a year in Valencia as a scholarship recipient. After passing the IHK trainer qualification exam, I worked as a teaching assistant in the Republic of Ireland, supporting German language classes at secondary schools. Later, I worked in sales at a language school in Frankfurt. Then came the opportunity to join RIGK, a small, family-like team with global players as shareholders, where I could apply my sales, language, and marketing skills.

“Every customer consultation is unique and makes the work exciting”

What do you enjoy most about your work?

Claudia: The exchange with people and the individuality of each consultation fascinates me. I enjoy finding the optimal solution for packaging take-back and recycling with each customer and supporting them in fulfilling their Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR).

Our customers come from highly efficient, innovative companies of various sizes: multinational market leaders, agile and successful mid-sized businesses, as well as small, reliable companies that conscientiously approach the circular economy and comply with regulations on the return of packaging they place on the market. Because almost no product is protected, transported, stored, or sold without packaging, the RIGK customer base reflects the full spectrum of products from various sectors, from chemical and natural raw materials, food and feed, to (industrial) goods and (construction) components. Together with our industrial shareholders, RIGK provides innovative answers and solutions to pressing questions and challenges faced by our customers – and this variety, as well as the search for solutions to the increasing demands of industry, excites me to this day.

How has your work environment changed over the years?

Claudia: In the first ten years, I was almost a one-woman show in customer support and marketing. But I was never alone – always supported by a fantastic team and a management that trusts, appreciates, and supports us. Today, I work closely with great colleagues: Maria Hentze and Leon Becker in customer support, Nicole Rupp-Härter and Mirco Gattinger in marketing, and I am happy to be part of this dream team. The variety in customer relations on one side and public relations tasks on the other remains unchanged and engaging.

“From a small team to an international partner”

How has RIGK developed over the past 25 years?

Claudia: When I started, we were nine employees. We received inquiries from industry to help solve their growing needs in recycling and packaging take-back, which brought new tasks to the small team. Today, we are 84 RIGK employees – with a subsidiary in Romania, a system in Switzerland, and further subsidiaries. RIGK has positioned itself worldwide with consulting and certification activities around plastics and packaging circular economy.

We have established new take-back systems such as PRE, PICKUP, ERDE, and VerenA, providing a total of nine nationwide return systems for industry, commerce, and agriculture. I find the low turnover and the long-standing, trusting relationships in the team remarkable. As a trainer, I especially enjoy supporting young people at the start of their careers. It is wonderful to see the commitment of student assistants and trainees at RIGK, how they develop after their studies into permanent positions and sometimes shape the company as system managers, authorised signatories, or even in management. I look back on a great joint journey with RIGK and look forward to the next stages we will tackle together.

What is RIGK’s recipe for success? Is there a unique selling point?

Claudia: The essential foundation is provided by our founders and shareholders from the plastics and packaging manufacturing industry, which firmly anchors RIGK in the affected industry. The close exchange with shareholders, customers, industry representatives, and the waste sector gives us insight into the world of packaging manufacturers, filling industry, distributors, and partners. This allows RIGK to identify market needs early and respond with suitable services, enabling the manufacturing and distributing industry to focus on their core business. The intensive customer relationship gives us impulses for continuous optimisation and expansion of our offerings. I am especially proud of the many long-standing business relationships with customers who have used our service as licensees for decades.

“Engagement on a global level – active in EPRO”

You are also active for RIGK in the association EPRO. What does that mean to you?

Claudia: Since 2006, RIGK has been a member of EPRO, the European Association of Plastics Recycling and Recovery Organisations. This nearly twenty-year international networking is extremely valuable for my area of work, as we collaborate with partners across Europe and globally on sustainability and circular economy solutions. This strengthens our expertise and helps us provide the best possible support to our customers. Especially regarding the European Packaging Regulation (PPWR) and its future implementation, there is great uncertainty in the market, presenting the industry with enormous challenges from new rules. Here, the exchange between European specialist companies, related associations, and contact with the European Commission provides some clarity and assistance in execution and future regulatory topics.

Most of our licensees operate internationally. Through regular intensive meetings with foreign take-back systems in EPRO, we can advise RIGK customers on their obligations in other countries. Proactively, we also highlight relevant foreign topics in the RIGK Reporter newsletter and on our website and can refer to partner systems in the respective countries. Additionally, we jointly organise webinars to inform obliged parties about regulations abroad.

“New legal requirements bring great challenges — and opportunities”

Which topics will be particularly important in the coming years?

Claudia: The new European Packaging Regulation PPWR, effective since February 2025, represents a genuine paradigm shift: uniform obligations for manufacturers, importers, and retailers; clear requirements on recyclability, reuse quotas, and EPR. For our customers, this means they must design their packaging more sustainably and engage more deeply with their extended producer responsibility (EPR). On Thursday, 11 September 2025, from 9:00 to 12:00, we will hold a webinar  in English on the PPWR, to which we warmly invite all interested parties.

RIGK customers are generally well prepared, as they have already established internal structures to meet EPR requirements for the German market. Their IT often supports quantity determination, and purchasing pays attention to recycling-friendly packaging. Furthermore, they have implemented processes to inform their customers about the return options for emptied packaging. Organising packaging take-back and recycling in other countries is a challenge – but also an opportunity to differentiate through innovation and conserve resources. For RIGK, this means expanding our network and solutions further to support as a reliable partner – from licensing through take-back to recycled material sourcing. To this end, RIGK is currently establishing a unit in cooperation with BiPv that will address conformity declaration requirements and registration in other European countries.

“Sustainability is teamwork – also in the future”

Finally: What is personally important to you when you think about the future of the circular economy — and what attitude do you think helps to achieve change together?

Claudia: For me, it is crucial that we stay engaged and maintain communication. Sustainability only works as a team effort – with good ideas, creative approaches, and above all, people who genuinely want to make a difference. It is not a sprint but a shared, long journey. And it is most successful when pursued with passion – and with a strong network by your side. RIGK closes the recycling loop with its departments, subsidiaries, and partners. I am fortunate to keep a small cog turning in this loop through my work.