Van Houtum 75 years new
2010 will be an exciting year! Van Houtum has set up a schedule full of special activities in order to celebrate the company's 75th anniversary. For example, the new corporate style will be introduced in February and the stand at Interclean will be more surprising than ever before…
It all started in 1935. That was when ‘governor Henk’ and ‘governor Jan’, as they were called by their employees at the time, founded the Papierfabriek Gebroeders Van Houtum paper mill. ‘Henk and Jan were my father and my uncle’ says Henk van Houtum, our current Managing Director. ‘Men who played a true pioneering role in the first fifteen years of our family company and who brought the company safely through the war. I was introduced to the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility at an early age. The focus in a family company concentrates much more on the next generation of employees than on the share prices. This also explains our concern for the environment. As the company's Managing Director, I can lobby for these issues. And if everybody believes in them as well, there's no reason why we can't succeed.’
Time for a cheerful look back into the past. ‘In the early days, we used to make rolls of paper for barbers' chairs,’ says Van Houtum with a laugh. ‘And in 1961 we were very proud of a production volume of 5,850 tonnes of paper... Today we produce about 45,000 tonnes, a growth of more than 750% which we could never have anticipated at the time.’
‘When you look back, you cannot but admire what our employees have achieved by working closely together. We are now one of the most efficient companies in the world in terms of our use of energy and water. We are also one of the leaders in the field of working conditions. We place great emphasis on the safety and health of our employees.’
It seems that sustainability and innovation are not mutually exclusive. ‘Three years ago, we were offered a unique opportunity. The Chamber of Commerce of Noord-Limburg asked us to act as a regional pilot site for the Cradle-to-Cradle philosophy. That was a perfect fit with our CSR policy,’ says Van Houtum. ‘We set to work with huge enthusiasm and announced a world first in October 2009: the first C2C toilet paper!’
‘Currently we are working on the development of a recycling system. One of our partners collects used paper from customers and delivers it to our factory in Swalmen. The paper is then sent back to the customers in the form of sustainably manufactured hygienic paper.’
The door to a sustainable and safe future is wide open in the anniversary year of 2010. The opportunities and enthusiasm are there. ‘We intend to continue with the task of evolving into a completely C2C company that operates without any harmful effects on people and the environment,’ says Van Houtum in conclusion.