On the occasion of the company’s 125-year anniversary last year, the shareholders of the Zschimmer & Schwarz Group started a special charitable programme: the 1,400 employees across 16 countries on five continents were asked to present local initiatives that the company could support with a donation.

At the suggestion of Gebhard Linscheid, employee of Ursa-Chemie, a subsidiary of Zschimmer & Schwarz based in Montabaur, the company has provided 5,000 Euro for the construction of an insect hotel. According to the motto "Hand in hand: chemistry & protecting nature", an insect hotel was built on the premises of Ursa-Chemie. With this project, the Zschimmer & Schwarz Group proves that, despite all contrary preconceptions, chemistry and environmental protection can indeed go together.

"Insect hotels offer an alternative to the increasingly scarce natural habitats of insects," Gebhard Linscheid explains the importance of the project. "Dead wood or clay slopes are hardly found in nature anymore, as man interferes more and more intensively with the landscape. Pesticides also play a major role in this context. But insects are very important and useful, as they pollinate plants and eat pests such as plant lice. In this way, they contribute vitally to the natural balance of our environment." The insect hotel has room for numerous guests: from different species of bees and wasps to beetles and flies to butterflies – all of them will find a nesting place that meets their needs.

The project "Hand in hand: chemistry & protecting nature” is currently one of 14 charitable projects across Europe supported by Zschimmer & Schwarz with a total sum of around 200,000 Euro. “For more than 125 years, our company has represented a philosophy that always puts people first”, explains Monika Börner, shareholder of the Zschimmer & Schwarz Group. “Therefore, we try to give something valuable back to  society and involve ourselves in projects that deliver direct and sustainable effects at our business locations.”