LKS Sandabbau & Deponie GmbH & Co. KG

Lautzkircher Sand und Natursteinwerk GmbH (LKS) is a regionally rooted company based in Blieskastel on the northern edge of the Bliesgau region of Saarland in the coloured sandstone area of the Sankt Ingbert-Kirkel forest. The company premises are not far from the famous Gollenstein, a 4,000-year-old menhir also made of sandstone, which is considered the largest menhir in Central Europe with a height of more than 6 ½ metres.

The history of the site dates back to 1693, when the Homburg parish priest Karl Desiderius Royer, the Zweibrücken town mayor Hermann Grosche and the Blieskastel bailiff Johann Simon Rosinus joined forces to build a paper mill on the site. In 1926/27, after a change of ownership, the grinding and stone factory Pennrich-Huy & Co. AG was founded and a stone press, a steam boiler and a stone hardening boiler were purchased to process the lime ash stored on the site into building blocks with the addition of quicklime. Since 1972, TrockleGmbH, a cinder block factory and building materials wholesaler in Völklingen, had been the owner of Lautzkirchener Kalksandsteinwerk GmbH. The shareholders were the brothers Aloys and Johann Trockle, as well as Norbert Trockle, who also became managing director. In 2002, the company was finally taken over by the Berchem-Trockle family and has been run with a sense of tradition ever since.

The company's range of services focuses on the extraction of sand and gravel from the red sandstone, as well as trading in bulk goods and the transport of building materials. Of particular importance to the company is its commitment to the region on the one hand and its sustainable business practices on the other. As far as the regional focus is concerned, the company attaches great importance to short transport routes and the promotion of the local economy. In terms of sustainability, the focus is on environmentally conscious and resource-conserving methods and a sensitive, species-preserving approach to extraction, landfill operations and renaturalisation. The protection of flora and fauna has always been a particular concern of the management.

In the current situation of a biodiversity crisis that should not be underestimated and continuing losses in species diversity, the company has set itself the goal of anchoring species and biotope protection more comprehensively in its daily work routine and developing targeted projects to protect and promote biodiversity. Due to the variety of different habitat types on the 30-hectare site, there are many opportunities to implement ecological optimisation measures and species conservation projects. In this context, the first surveys of the species inventory have been underway since 2023, which will serve as the basis for a conservation regime. In order to achieve these ambitious goals, the support of an experienced and specialised field biologist, Dr Christoph Bernd, has been secured. Since then, a number of projects are already underway that are to be gradually integrated into a homogeneous overall concept.

Care should also be taken during renaturalisation to ensure that the areas in question are returned to nature in a very high quality and landscape-typical condition, taking into account interim developments and preserving the current species population.

Joining the Biodiversity in Good Company Initiative offered a unique opportunity to come into contact with companies that pursue similar approaches and enable a professional exchange in a variety of points of contact.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)