Waste as a raw material

EVVA sees waste as raw materials that should be used as sparingly as possible. As of 2021:

• 68.1% of our materials are used to make finished EVVA products,
• 27.3% is reusable waste (swarfs, solid waste, etc.) that EVVA also reuses 100%, which is why we refer to it as “valuable material” rather than “waste”,
• 3.46% is non-hazardous waste such as plastic or wood,
• and 1.14% is hazardous waste such as oil, electronic waste, galvanic waste, or batteries. This percentage has decreased by around 8% compared to 2020 because EVVA was able to further reduce the use of chemicals, for example through the use of a new modern cleaning system
• The input/output analyses in the Recycling & Resources Overview includes waste data

Potential and measures for less waste:

Despite measures, the amount of waste we produce has remained relatively constant in recent years: 0.55 kg per kg of product in 2015, 0.54 kg in 2019 and 2020, and 0.55 kg in 2021. The reason for this is that EVVA has been able to increase its production output since 2015, and the processing of products is becoming increasingly complex. The market is increasingly demanding high-security EVVA access systems that also have a greater variety of parts. However, the following measures have been and can continue to keep waste at the same level:

Paper

By increasing the use of digital processes (such as construction drawings, order slips, invoices in pdf, etc.), EVVA has been able to save several tons of paper since 2015. From 2020 to 2021, the paper consumption in the headquarter decreased by an additional 5% to around 40 tons. The EVVA order management in Vienna, Krefeld, and Hengelo will handle orders only digitally from 2022 onwards. The positive impacts are:

• EVVA saves 200,000 A4 sheets of paper per year in the headquarter. And at the locations in Krefeld, 100,000 sheets, and Hengelo, 20,000 sheets
• 200,000 fewer sheets of paper corresponds to approximately 1.5 tons of CO₂, 50 tons of water, and 10,000 kWh of energy consumption per year (calculation sources: www.papiernetz.de/informationen/nachhaltigkeitsrechner/ and www.ezeep.com/de/co2-neutral-drucken/)
• Around a dozen fewer toners and a longer life for our printers.
   

Outgoing bills: The EVVA headquarters currently sends approximately 700 bills/credits daily, with around 60% (420 documents) of them already being digital. This also reduces paper usage and postage costs, and the bill is received by the recipient on the same day. On a yearly basis, this results in around 104,000 fewer paper documents (248 workdays x 420 digital documents) and around 90,000 euros in cost savings [104,000 x (0.81€ minimum postage + 0.06€ envelope & paper)]. We are also trying to persuade the other 40% of our recipients to switch from a paper to a PDF bill.

Incoming bills: In 2021, EVVA automated the incoming bill process at the headquarters. 93% of bills arrive electronically. We provide our trading partners with the bills digitally via existing partner portal. The remaining 7% are still processed in paper form, as electronic transmission is not possible with the affected suppliers.

EVVA wants to further reduce its paper usage – see target formulation at the end of this page.

Ban plastic/paper cups: In 2019, all plastic cups were banned from the 8 coffee machines at the headquarters and were initially replaced with paper cups. EVVA took further action here as well. In 2019/2020, employees were asked via the intranet and stickers on the machines to use their own coffee cups instead of paper cups. To promote this action, all employees received a personalized EVVA-branded coffee cup as a gift. The action was a great success. With around 15,000 servings of coffee consumed each month, the savings can be witnessed:

Savings on plastic and paper cups

Eco-friendly thermal paper: In 2021, EVVA switched its cash register paper for merchandise issuance and internal logistics to blue thermal paper (Blue4est), which has received several environmental awards. It is produced without bisphenol A, can be disposed of through the old paper system (the previous white paper was only disposed of with residual waste), does not fade, and is also cheaper to purchase.
 

Bulky waste, general waste

The proportion of bulky waste in the headquarters has reduced by approx. 1.2 tonnes from 2020 to 2021 to a total of 7.2 tonnes. In 2020 and 2021, numerous old machines, tools, and furniture were permanently disposed of as part of lean management measures. The general waste portion decreased from 29.5t (2020) to 28t (2021).

Input/output keys

In 2013, there was an input of 185,388kg key blanks with an output of 145,132kg finished keys. EVVA has been able to significantly improve this ratio in recent years and thus avoid a lot of waste and debris. This has been achieved through more efficient and accurate production processes as well as lean management tools (value stream analyses, Kanban, etc.) that specifically target waste.

This positive development continued in 2021: around 160,000kg input (incl. 149,043kg key blanks and finished such as magnetic beads and plastic components for keys such as design reins and key rings) were offset by 157,563kg output, resulting in a very low waste ratio.

Hazardous waste

such as oil or electronic waste. These materials are needed for galvanisation/electroplating and production and are disposed of properly and as required by law by specialised companies. There have been no releases of harmful substances.

• Electronic waste has decreased from 5.4 tons in 2020 to 4.8 tons in 2021, as several old machines and controls were scrapped in connection with the new extension to the headquarters in 2020.
• The quantities of used oil (from 773 to 541kg) and oil-water mixture (from 17,006 to 15,645kg) also decreased further in 2021 compared to 2020 thanks to our clean production. The further conversion to oil-free clean production machines will steadily reduce EVVA’s oil needs
• The quantity of nickel-containing wastewater also decreased to 1,659kg in 2021 (2020: 2,074kg). Here, waste-efficient lean management and the newly commissioned wastewater treatment plant have paid off
• Due to increased demand and production of electronic and mechatronic security systems, the battery requirement has increased from 2kg in 2010 to 89kg in 2020 and 132kg in 2021. In addition, the batteries are no longer disposed of annually, but are collected for up to 2 years, which also affects the higher value in 2021.

Plastics

Our plastic output (e.g., for caps of electronic access systems) has increased due to increased demand for electronic products – from 174kg in 2010 to 1,523kg in 2013 and 2,477kg in 2019. In 2021, the value has decreased slightly to 2,345kg due to more efficient packaging processes.

New galvanisation processes

Since 2020, EVVA has partially switched its galvanisation processes (for surface treatment of our mechanical security products) at the headquarters from powder to liquid. This simplifies automated feeding of the substances and thus efficient and reduced substance feeding.

Lifespan

Products and components such as batteries with a longer lifespan also generate less waste and set a precedent against a disposable society. See Quality and Permanent Innovation for more information.

Recycling, reusable waste

In 2021, EVVA was able to increase its production output by 4%, compared to 2020. For complex, highly secure security systems such as 4KS, the increase was 8.5%. This also increased our share of reusable metal chips for brass or new silver. Find out more about our recycling approach under Recycling Materials and Recycling Water/Wastewater