Ecology also plays an important role in the company´s daily routine. As a matter of course, waste is separated and recycled, stationery and office supplies are used that are both healthy for the environment and for their users, and procedures to save energy and water have been introduced at all G+J companies. A healthy diet also is part of environmental awareness. The G+J canteen in Hamburg has long been noted for its balanced menus. Organic products are firmly established on the menu. Depending on the season, the supply ranges from organic potatoes, vegetables and salads up to complete organic meals. Coffee, of course, is also served - from the Coffea Arabica bean, a rare wild coffee that grows in the forests and highlands of Ethiopia and is imported as part of the GEO campaign to protect the rainforests. GEO uses the profits to support the smallholders. Dialog and exchange of ideas and experience with other companies and scientists are important components of G+J´s environmental awareness. For example, ecological aspects of the international paper trade are addressed and there is regular interaction with environmental associations like WWF and Greenpeace.

1993 saw the presentation of the first energy balance sheet for the press building on Hamburg's Baumwall. It reviewed consumption of power, piped heat and water and reported on successes achieved in cutting costs and reducing environmental pollution. Gruner + Jahr has been updating its energy balance continuously. Within the current climate debate the energy balance together with the carbon footprint became more and more important.

Procurement policy for office requisites stipulates that these must be non-injurious to health and cause minimum environmental pollution. All such items have been subjected to close ecological inspection ever since 1991. There is an in-house catalog of office supplies from which G+J staff can select their requirements. Symbols are used to indicate the environmental compatibility of the products. This indicates the start of a paper-saving way to obtain materials.The Gruner + Jahr Intranet now handles internal office organization and information sourcing electronically. For example, G+J staff can check phone numbers and obtain other key information online.

Arrangements for sorting garbage at the G+J Press Building have been steadily improved since 1992. Correct sorting of garbage is the best way to facilitate recycling. As everybody knows, the best garbage is the sort that is not produced in the first place. This is why Gruner + Jahr does everything possible to ensure that its sales packs are kept as small as possible and paper consumption is cut down wherever possible. Newspapers and magazines are dispatched in wrappers or cartons made of recycled materials. Packs for the dispatch of prizes and promotional gifts are specially designed to take the type and weight of their contents and multiple packaging is avoided.

G+J attaches great importance to healthy diet and the support of ecological agriculture. In 1992 its staff canteen was one of the first in Germany to stage a special project week with meals prepared exclusively from foodstuffs produced under controlled biological conditions using the slogan 'Nature on your plate'. Organic products are now a well-established feature of the menu and include not only organically grown potatoes, vegetables and salads when in season but also complete organic dishes.

Eco-products are obtained from the whole of Europe, as proven by the two Nature Gourmet Weeks held in October 1998 and November 1999. G+J staff were able to sample organic pasta and oil from Italy and organic yogurt and cheese from Denmark, not to mention tasty organic chocolates made by Mølle Skovly. To help cut down kitchen waste in the canteen, aluminum dishes were replaced with ceramics, sugar sachets with sugar dispensers and disposable crockery was banned.