Environment Material usage, resource efficiency and the circular economy In terms of resource efficiency, too, we try to be as innovative as possible, while at the same time maintaining our high quality standards. To use resources efficiently, we have to consider every stage of the product life cycle, from the product development phase and procurement of materials through to the manufacturing processes and ultimately (wherever possible) recycling. Our aim is to use "as much as is necessary, but as little as possible" and, with this in mind, we are introducing changes in several areas to minimise our consumption of raw materials and mitigate the resulting negative impacts on our planet as far as possible. Use of steel As a metalworking company, we use many different raw materials to manufacture our products. The one of which we use by far the most is steel, which accounts for more than 80 % of our material usage. Since primary steel production is an extremely resource-intensive process, we are keen to use the raw material we need as efficiently as possible. There are several approaches that we have adopted to optimise our usage of steel, as detailed below. Firstly, we source our steel (specifically strip steel and wire) from sustainable and responsible suppliers, with whom we have built long-standing partnerships. We work together with these suppliers to increase the sustainability of their products, e.g. by increasing the proportion of secondary material content or delivering their products by rail to reduce transport emissions. Secondly, we take steps to increase our use of recycled steel. This is an area with enormous potential because steel can be repeatedly recycled, over and over again, without any loss in quality. Currently, recycled steel makes up 20 % of our total steel usage. To achieve this, we use a multi-recycling approach which starts with the production process: firstly, we make sure to reduce production waste, for example by reducing the strip thickness or by optimising the tool design, which arranges the punched parts in the strip in such a way that as much raw material as possible is used. Any waste steel (or punching scrap) that cannot be avoided is sorted and sent to our partners for recycling. By putting this waste material back into the system, we actively support the circular economy. We also source a proportion of our steel from suppliers whose manufacturing routes have significantly lower CO2 emissions than conventional processes thanks to optimisations along the entire process chain. This enables us to further reduce the carbon footprint of our products and, together with our customers, drive forward the process of decarbonisation. Other actions to promote sustainability within our production process include switching to lead-free alloys and using chromefree passivation alternatives for hot-dipped galvanised steel. These steps are again helping us to gradually reduce the environmental footprint of our steel treatment processes. 39
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