Protecting biological diversity: Our ‘MS XBEES’ project
The project
Bees are an irreplaceable and therefore immensely important part of our eco system. Alongside pigs and cattle, bees are the most important bees livestock for agricultural food products. To ensure the survival and continued existence of bee colonies, we have built an apiary on the company premises of MS XTEC GmbH at the headquarters in Trossingen-Schura - our 'X BEES' project. This apiary will also soon be accompanied by an insect hotel.
What we are doing
The apiary has space for about 10 colonies, with one colony consisting of about 20,000 bees. To create additional habitat for these creatures, the works council of MS XTEC donated some fruit tree seedlings, which we planted directly beside the apiary. The bees are cared for by volunteer employees. As a thank you for their efforts, those employees receive honey from our bees. There is also an option for interested people to sign up to a bee sponsorship scheme. Sponsors participate financially in the purchase and maintenance of bee colonies with a one-time amount. One ’bee share’ costs €5, the price of a jar of honey. As an annual dividend, sponsors receive a corresponding amount of honey as a gift. The remaining honey can be purchased by all of our employees. The income is used to cover the ongoing costs of the apiary.
The objective
With our X BEES project, we are supporting Germany’s federal #beebetter initiative for the protection and sustainable conservation of bee colonies. In addition, as a company we wish to give our employees an opportunity to observe living creatures in action and to bring them more closely into contact with the natural world and its living creatures, appreciating them as something important and positive. Last but not least, this bee project is also part of our efforts to establish a sustainable, environmentally friendly and future-oriented corporate culture.