Giving up a large share of revenue in a thriving business — all for a fly? Hans-Dietrich Reckhaus, the owner of the Reckhausen family-owned chemical company in Deppendorf, Germany, did exactly that.
When the 59-year-old CEO took over his family’s insecticide company from his father in 1995, he didn’t pay much attention to flies or insects. Like his father before him, he was manufacturing everything needed to eliminate them — bug spray, ant powder, moth paper and fly traps.
In the opinion of Reckhaus home flys mustn’t be killed but caught and released into nature Image: STAR-MEDIA/imago images
One day, more than a decade ago, he designed a new fly trap for which he wanted to boost sales with an art project.
But when he reached out to German conceptual artists Frank and Patrik Riklin, they politely declined, saying fly traps and the eradication of insects were unethical — a rebuttal that would completely change Reckhaus’s outlook on his business.
A transformation through art
Reckhaus realized the art project, nevertheless, but this time the focus was on saving insects rather than killing them.
Many of the 1,000 or so residents of Deppendorf where his company is based took part in the project. For one week, they were catching flies without harming them — with one fly they named Erika even chauffeured in a limousine and flown in a helicopter and airplane to a pampering session at a five-star wellness hotel.
Wellness and food for fly Erika organized at the Elmau palace hotel by ReckhausImage: Reckhaus
This publicity stunt took place 13 years ago, but the impact continues to this day. It marked the starting point for Reckhaus’s research into the importance of insects for nature and turned his business completely upside down.
Today, the back of every product includes information on the importance and vulnerability of insects, as well as tips for keeping them out of homes without killing them. Some even carry a warning on the front: “Caution, kills valuable insects.”
Reckhaus says consumers should “buy the product, be shocked by the information, and then reflect on their relationship with insects.”
“They will learn how to keep insects outside their homes and eventually stop buying the product,” Reckhaus told DW.
Costly but meaningful transformation
But what kind of entrepreneur does something that subsequently undermines their own business model?
“What drove me before was earning as much money as possible and do something meaningful with it, [for example] support social organizations, set up a foundation and so on,” said Reckhaus. But today it’s more about “doing as much meaningful work as possible and earning some money through that,” he added.
Smart insects — how tiny brains do brilliant things
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Just as he now hopes his customers will do, he began to engage with the ecological significance of insects after the art project and reevaluated his previously unquestioned business model from scratch.
The transformation has come at a cost. “Over the past ten years, I’ve lost 30% of my revenue and more than 80% of profits,” he says. But what he earns from his business today is still enough for him to “lead a good live.”
Changing the market from within
Simply shutting down the production of insecticides didn’t seem sensible to him. Instead, he wants to change the insecticide market “from within” by selling products that allow insects to be captured alive.
Some of the company’s products are made to still kill insects, he admits, but he wants to offset the ecological damage. Reckhaus had experts calculate how many insects his products likely kill and created special compensation areas to provide insect-friendly habitats.
Since insect decline is largely due to the loss of habitat from urban sprawl and industrial agriculture, the compensation was only “the first step that soothed my conscience a little.”
What followed was the so-called Insect-Respect label he initiated and which is granted to certified products that also support the creation of insect-friendly areas.
Reckhaus’s immediate competitors, however, show little interest in joining the label initiative, but German retailers have come foward, he said.
European grocery giant Aldi, for example, is among them, as well as German retailers such as Budnikowski, dm, Migros, Rossmann and Spar, who all display the label on their private brands, include warnings about product use.
IKEA has joined the Insect-Respect initiative recently and set up fly protection zones of its ownImage: Reckhaus
In 2024, 14 million packages carrying the Insect-Respect seal were sold in Europe as other major companies have joined the initiative to show their commitment to biodiversity.
Swedish furniture maker Ikea, for example, has created insect habitats in Italy, Serbia and Romania. Consulting firm KPMG and bag manufacturer Halfar have turned the rooftop terraces of their headquarters into insect-friendly areas, as well as the green spaces surrounding the buildings of chocolate producer Ritter Sport.
“We’re getting inquiries from across Europe, we can barely keep up,” Reckhaus said proudly. Since there are only a few landscape gardeners with the required expertise, he has launched “Insectemy” — an academy that trains landscape gardeners to design insect-friendly areas using regional plants.
Praise — and rejection
The transformation of his company earned Reckhaus numerous awards and recognitions. He also receives support from business leaders when giving talks about his turnaround.
But he still doesn’t see himself as a role model for other entrepreneurs. “They’re trying to make their business models climate-neutral, but they don’t question them per se,” he said.
He argues that climate neutrality alone isn’t enough, because without a healthy animal and plant world, it has no impact. Businesses should rethink their models instead of preserving what’s wrong.
From insecticide-maker to conservationist
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Rethinking existing business models isn’t very much in demand in chemical industry, he said, which is why he hasn’t been invited to the events of the German Chemical Industry Association “in more than 10 years.”
“The industry insists that all insects are harmful and that it offers the best ways to get rid of them quickly,” he criticized, adding that none of his competitors had adopted the Insect-Respect label.
Martin May of the German agricultural industry association IVA denies that, saying Reckhaus is regularly invited and “always welcome to contribute to the association.”
What was even more difficult for Reckhaus to accept was his late father’s refusal to support him in the transformation. He’s founded the company but during his entire life “didn’t understand, or didn’t want to understand” it’s significance.
“He remained very skeptical until the end, and it became a topic we had to avoid in the family,” he said.
Before the transformation, the Reckhaus company was very successful, according to its CEO, “but I wasn’t happy.”
And yet, through his commitment, many doors opened to people who care about insects and who are now “my allies, my friends, my supporters.”
“And this brings immense joy, every single day.”
This article was originally written in German.
