Environment Proportion of recycled content in our raw materials In the face of global raw material shortages and rising market prices, it is imperative that we use our primary and secondary materials with utmost care and conserve these resources for the future. The most effective way for us to conserve resources is to use recycled materials wherever possible, for both our products and packaging materials. We therefore work closely with our suppliers to generate reliable data about the recycled content of the raw materials we use. We ask our suppliers to provide information about the post-consumer recycled content of their products and materials on an annual basis. We then combine this information with our annual order volumes to calculate the proportion of recycled content for each of our raw material categories. This figure is calculated as a percentage of the total material volumes processed each year. ➔ GRI 301-2 Zinc cycle in production Zinc is another key raw material which we need for the production of our components. Given that the production of primary zinc is another very energy and carbon-intensive process, we take great care to use this material as efficiently as possible. Our zinc recycling process is based on three mechanisms: Melting down zinc sprues: In addition to components for our products, the zinc die-casting process produces sprue material consisting of pure zinc. If the geometry allows, the zinc sprues are remelted directly on the machine in the zinc bath. Remelting furnace for internal recycling: Sprues whose geometry makes it impossible to melt them down directly, as well as rejects from the production machine, are remelted in our own remelting furnace and cast into new zinc ingots for further processing. We thereby create new raw material which can be used immediately. This process allows us to put an average of 85 % of our waste zinc back into the production process. In-house recycling has the additional advantage that the zinc waste does not have to be transported and is available more quickly. External recycling: The in-house zinc waste remelting process produces zinc dross, zinc shavings and oily zinc particles. We cannot recycle this material – amounting to around 70 tonnes per year – and it is processed by an external recycling partner in a larger facility. This produces new, high-grade zinc, which we use as a raw material, resulting in an almost closed-loop zinc cycle. We are taking targeted action across our business – notably in research & development, procurement and production – to improve the efficiency with which we use our resources. This process begins right from the initial product design and our choice of materials. Our aim is to reduce the amount of wastage in production and feed as much waste material as possible back into our own production processes. The next step is to increase the usage rate in terms of efficiency and environmental sustainability. The current usage rate of our main raw materials is around 80.5 % on average. Raw material group Relative recycling rate Steel 20 % Zinc 53 % Aluminium 51 % Plastic 0 %* Wood 100 % Packaging 98 % Raw material Usage rate* Steel 79.2 % Zinc 98.3 % Cardboard 95.6 % Plastic (granules, master batches and coating powders) 94.9 % * By recyc l ing any was te sp r ues and fee d ing them bac k into our ful l hot r unner injec t i on moul d ing sys tem, we make ver y ef f i c ient use of our p las t i c raw mater ia l s. The share of p re - c onsumer recyc l e d c ontent averages 20 %, depend ing on the c omp onent and the set-up of the inje c t i on moul d ing tool. *The usage rate i s c a l culate d a s the amount of mater ia l use d a s a perc ent age of the tot a l purcha sing volume. 41
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