Our recycling strategy

As a manufacturing company with a high material input and output (all input-output listings under Recycling & Resources overview), it is our declared environmental policy to use raw materials sparingly and to recycle them as far as possible. EVVA’s recycling quota in relation to total material use remained fairly constant at 66% in previous years, EVVA has reached the 70% in 2020! We recycle various materials, including:

Metal chips

Our metal chips (mainly brass), which is produced during the processing of EVVA locking cylinders, is 100% recycled – and has been for many decades! They are melted down by the supplier and returned in their entirety to the production process.

This recycled metal swarf accounts for around 25% of our total demand for metal. The other 75% become finished EVVA products.
 

Metal swarf recycling per year

EVVA recycled even more metal swarf in 2020 – by 2 tonnes for nickel silver and 1 ton more for iron than in 2019. But we were able to achieve the greatest increase in brass recycling: from 400 to 497 tonnes. The reason for this is that EVVA is increasingly using "chipping removal technology" for complex product parts, which separates surplus material in the form of chips and thus increases recycling. With this process, our share of self-manufactured parts has also increased, so EVVA has to buy less material externally.

Internal packaging/reusable pallets

In 2020, EVVA was able to increase its share of internal packaging, i.e. our reusable pallets, to 25% (2019: 20%) and reduce the share of sales packaging to 75% (2019: 80%). This change in shares effects that EVVA can reuse more packaging. Because EVVA transports the semi-finished parts (i.e. cylinder housings, plugs) via the reusable pallet system to subsidiaries and to larger sales partners. This eliminates the need for any additional packaging. The advantages of EVVA reusable pallets (see photo) pervade all sustainability categories:

1) Economics Transport is cheaper and safer (no scratch damage as is possible with metal pallets). The production robots can pick the workpiece directly from the reusable pallets, which was not possible with the conventional containers

2) Ecology: EVVA has increased the proportion of reusable pallets in its total internal packaging since 2015 from 40% to meanwhile 85%. Unfortunately, the target of 100% reusable pallets that EVVA set itself in the next to last sustainability report could not be achieved. Nevertheless, the increase enabled us to achieve savings of a further 6,500 kg of packaging per year, 500 kg more than last year. By 2024, EVVA would like to achieve a reusable pallet share of 90%

3) Employees/Social aspects: The conventional metal containers weigh approx. 30 kg. Our reusable pallets weigh only 9 kg – making them easy to transport without the risk of injury

Sales packaging

These account, as mentioned, at present for 75% of all EVVA packaging. Since 2017, EVVA has been using product packaging in sales that is made of 100% environmentally friendly, recyclable cardboard and not plastic/polystyrene.

Only overpacks (for protection during transport) are still made of synthetic material/plastic. 

Additional benefits:

• Cardboard is more affordable to dispose of; there are cardboard collection containers everywhere. No special disposal locations are necessary    
   
• It is also more affordable in production (savings of approx. 30,000 euros per year – slightly less than 2019, as cardboard has become more expensive in the current reporting period)  
   
• Low storage costs, because the basic package is always the same. The product is identified by means of attractively designed label and sleeve    
   
• Plus: The packages stack well and save space  

In total, EVVA reuses around 35% of the total packaging quantity (this includes internal packaging and sales packaging for all product categories).

Products

In the course of their life cycle, EVVA receives a small percentage of the products returned via trade partners and its own subsidiaries. These are dismantled and wherever possible the parts are reused or melted down.

Paper

More information about our measures to reduce paper consumption under Waste.