V-ZUG is Switzerland’s leading brand for household appliances and this month the company’s Head of Sustainability, Marcel Niederberger, visited Australia for a series of events focusing on V-ZUG’s approach to sustainability and how it works for them as a company.
V-ZUG is a family-owned company, located in the Swiss town of Zug. The company produces premium appliances for the home including: refrigerators; ovens; rangehoods; cooktops; washing machines; wine cabinets; and coffee machines.
While V-ZUG has only been selling here in Australia since 2010, the company is actually 113 years old. As Marcel Niederberger said at the Sydney event: “V-ZUG has always had a very strong commitment to sustainability and a part of this is the fact we give our products a full 10-year warranty.”
Within V-ZUG’s studios in Sydney and Melbourne, Niederberger talked about the company’s global sustainability strategies. He outlined how V-ZUG has integrated sustainability across all levels of the business, from supply chain partnerships to the design of products and the company’s own manufacturing campus in Zug. V-ZUG has been carbon neutral since 2020 and continues to invest in long-term solutions, including circular design principles and closed-loop manufacturing.
“Sustainability isn’t an add-on at V-ZUG,” said Niederberger. “It’s embedded into the way we design, build and think. Circularity is a shared effort – we collaborate with suppliers, recyclers and designers to keep materials in use and minimise impact.”
“There’s an old saying – I’m not rich enough to buy cheap things,” Niederberger added, highlighting the fact that V-ZUG’s policy is to make products which will last for a long time and this will save customers money in the long run. “These are all aspects you need to take into account when you’re producing a product,” he said.
When asked if he feels the Swiss public are motivated to buy sustainable products, Niederberger quoted what he calls the “Sixty Percent Opportunity.”
“When it comes to buying home appliances, it’s often said – there are 20% of people who will never opt for sustainable products,” he said. “Then there are the other 20% of people who will always buy sustainable products. So that leaves us with the 60% of people who are open to change. At V-ZUG we are obviously aiming to get to that 60% of people and let them know the value and benefits of sustainable appliances.”
Niederberger continued: “I typically say, our business model is bringing 500,000 pieces of electronics straight to the market which consume 15 years of electricity. And this comes with a responsibility. In the end, it’s my responsibility to look at the other side of the business – not just having nice products and bringing them into the market – but also taking into account what’s going to happen afterwards.”
Niederberger then talked about V-ZUGS CO2 Tax, which he describes as “the silver bullet” for climate change:
“One nice example is our internal CO2 tax and this is very unique. For climate action, some experts say this would be the silver bullet for attacking climate change because it gives CO2 a price. You treat it differently. Politically, to do this is very difficult. But as a company, we can decide to do it. So, in 2018, bringing this in was a top-down decision from the owners – that we punish ourselves for the CO2 emissions we still have.
“So, every year, we look at the emissions we still have and we punish ourselves with a certain amount of money. This money we put aside – we take it out of the profit balance sheet and this money is then available to invest in projects which are ecologically already worked out, but economically, may be a challenge.”
“In Switzerland specifically, 100% of the appliances we sell are properly recycled.” He added that while recycling is good, a lot of the value of products is destroyed during recycling.
Niederberger continued saying: “And that’s why we have started this Circular Economy thing where we take appliances back and instead of shredding them and putting them into recycling, we dismantle everything – every single part – and we look at what is the best way to deal with it.”
“To give you a great example, there’s a counter-balance weight in a washing machine which ensures that if you use the dryer, the machine doesn’t move too much. It’s just a heavy weight made of castiron and it lasts forever. So, today, we take it out, do a quality check on it, and then we re-use it. That’s the ideal case – not every material can be re-used like this.”
He added: “The second level of the Circular Economy would then be to re-circulate – so we talk to the supplier and maybe the front of a washing machine is made of very high-quality plastic and this is too valuable to just destroy. So, we ask if they can take this material back, shredding it and making new material out of it – so 100% of it is recycled.”
“So, as I’ve said, recycling is good but the Circular Economy is even better because there’s more value in it. We’re a stock exchange company but also family-owned, so we can take this type of approach,” Niederberger added.
“A very important aspect of sustainability is longevity,” he added. “And it’s not just the technical design which specifies the longevity of an appliance or a product – it’s also the design at the end of the day. That’s why we think it’s an ideal combination with the timeless design that we have put a lot of effort into – but also the very important aspect of longevity. They easily go together and support each other.”
Niederberger’s visit to Australia reflects V-ZUG’s ongoing commitment to working closely with local design communities around the world and sharing the knowledge the company has to help others implement a more sustainable company ethos.