[SK] Brigitte Thieck is the new RAJA Group Director for CSR and Sustainable Development

RAJA Group, a European leader in the distribution of packaging, office supplies and industrial equipment, has created a new CSR and Sustainability Department.

The department has been entrusted to Brigitte Tieck, who has thus joined the Group’s Management Committee. These steps affect the RAJA Group’s CSR commitments and ambitions.

“CSR activities are a priority for the RAJA Group,” explains RAJA Group CEO Danièle Kapel-Marcovici. “As the Group has grown, there has been a need for a dedicated department that can manage and implement a European CSR policy. We want to provide our clients with the best quality of working life, strengthen our efforts towards gender equality, minimise our environmental footprint and help our clients achieve their own goals. Brigitte’s appointment reflects our ambition to lead by example in our sector.”

Brigitte Thieck will be responsible for developing and managing the Group’s CSR strategy across its 26 offices and 19 countries where RAJA operates. As Director, Brigitte Thieck will focus on the development of CSR activities and sustainable development, CO2 reduction, purchasing policy and the development of a sustainable product portfolio, including 100% recycled and recyclable packaging made in Europe.

To this end, Brigitte Thieck will work with the company’s various departments and their stakeholders, including customers, suppliers, financial partners and associations, with the aim of making RAJA Group a European leader in its sector in CSR.

Brigitte Thieck has dedicated her career to the environmental direction of companies. She spent the first ten years of her career at Suez and Veolia, where she helped international companies in France and abroad to implement green services (waste recycling, water treatment, energy, etc.) In 2003, she co-founded EcoEthic, a pioneering CSR consultancy firm, which she managed for 15 years. Between 2008 and 2020, Brigitte Thieck was an associate professor at the National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts, where she was responsible for the master’s degree in EHS and CSR Risk Management. Until 2017, she was also an advisor at the Economic, Social and Environmental Council of the Île-de-France region. From 2020 to 2022, Brigitte Thieck held the position of National Environment Manager & ICPE (Facilities Classified for the Protection of the Environment) at the logistics company Kuehne+Nagel.

Ecology and responsibilityť is also a priority for RAJA in Slovakia

“Ecology is important to us, which is why all teams in the RAJA Group are working hard to improve environmental aspects in all areas of our business,” says Gabriela Fabianová, General Manager for the Czech Republic and Slovakia. “In addition to being active in environmental issues itself, RAJA also actively influences its suppliers and customers. We require our suppliers to sign up to our Responsible Purchasing and Sustainable Development Charter. Currently, all the suppliers we work with have already joined it,” he adds.

To meet its environmental commitments, RAJA is taking a number of steps. Eco-friendly solutions are constantly being added to the range of products that can replace conventional packaging and are easily recognised by the green symbol. The sustainability of logistics operations will also be improved by a programme that aims to ensure that 40% of transport is operated by means with a reduced environmental impact by 2023. In recent years, RAJA has also reduced its consumption of printed materials. Since 2015, the volume of catalogue printing has been reduced by 53%; in addition, only paper from sustainable sources (PEFC, FSC) is used for printing physical catalogues.

RAJA’s other activities also include education and awareness raising for buyers and end customers. “We regularly try to introduce our customers to new eco-packaging innovations on the market, we provide them with advice and we have prepared 5 principles that will help them to be more environmentally friendly. They are Reduce, Reuse, Replace, Renew and Recycle,” explains Gabriela Fabianova.

About RAJA Group

RAJA is Europe’s market leader in packaging. As an international company of French origin, it is represented in 19 European countries through its 26 branches. It offers its customers more than 65 years of experience and an extensive selection of packaging solutions. Thanks to a constant innovative strategy combined with a high level of competence in the product area, the RAJA Group offers the widest range of products, market-proven packaging techniques and first-class customer service.

The RAJA Group serves more than 2 million customers in Europe, from start-ups to multinational companies, in various sectors: distribution, industry, e-commerce, services and public sector.

RAJA is an independent, family-owned French company founded in 1954. It is characterized above all by the high quality of its products and its close relationships with its customers.

Headquartered in Paris, the RAJA Group has a total of 4,500 employees and a turnover of €1.2 billion in 2021. Founded in 2006, the RAJA-Daniele Marcovici Foundation provides financial support to projects that promote the social and economic autonomy of women and girls in France and around the world. Over the past 16 years, the Foundation has supported 600 projects implemented by 312 NGOs with a total budget of more than 12 million euros.