Waste as a raw material

EVVA sees waste as raw materials that should be used as sparingly as possible. As of 2022:

• 68.2% of our materials are used to make finished EVVA products,
• 28.6% is reusable waste (swarfs, solid waste, etc.). EVVA recycles 100% of the metal shavings! Which is why we refer to it as “valuable material” rather than “waste”,
• 2.14% is non-hazardous waste such as plastic or wood,
• and 1.06% 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 0.55 kg in 2021 and also 2022. The reason for this is that EVVA has been able to increase its production output since 2015 in most years, 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, brochures

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 and 2022, the paper consumption in the headquarter decreased by an additional 5% to around 40 tons. In 2022, 5,036 kg of paper waste was generated, which is collected and recycled by the municipal authority. Digitisation also has a major impact on sales documents, many things no longer need to be printed. Our need for printed brochures fell sharply from 17,961 kg in 2019 to 11,833 kg in 2022, as did the corresponding stock level.

The EVVA order management in Vienna, Krefeld, and Hengelo will handle orders only digitally from 2022 onwards. The positive impacts are:

• EVVA saves approximately 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 out around 700 receipts (invoices, order confirmations, etc.) every day, around 65% (= 455 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 approx. 180,000 fewer paper pages (248 working days x 455 digital receipts. As the receipts are often multi-page, this results in the higher figure of 180,000 pages) and around 112,000 euros (calculated for 180,000 paper pages, €0.81 minimum postage and €0.06 envelope & paper). We are also trying to convince the other 35% of our recipients to switch from a paper invoice to a pdf invoice.

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

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 -  and fell again in 2022 to 6.3 tonnes. In the course of lean management measures, numerous old machines, tools and furniture were finally disposed of in previous years. The proportion of residual waste fell from 29.5 t (2020) to 28 t (2021) and 27.3 t (2022).

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, also because a lot of rejects and waste could be avoided. In 2021, around 160,000 kg of input (including 149,043 kg of key stampings as well as finishes such as magnetic pills and plastic components for keys such as design rungs and key rings) were offset by 157,563 kg of output. 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.

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 2,4 tons in 2022, 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 kg in 2020 to 202 kg in 2022) and oil-water mixture (from 17,006 kg in 2020 to 16,662 kg in 2022) also decreased further thanks to our clean production. The conversion to oil-free clean production machines steadily reduced EVVA’s oil needs
   
• The quantity of nickel-containing wastewater also decreased to 1,648kg in 2022 (2020: 2,074). This is where the newly commissioned, more effective wastewater treatment plant has paid off
   
• Without perchloroethylene: The new cleaning system at the headquarters, which EVVA purchased in 2021/2022 (photo right), cleans all brass parts – which are not yet manufactured in dry processing, i.e. not in clean production – from oil and emulsions. What's special about it is that it no longer needs perchlor, but only modified alcohol. This means that it not only washes in a much more environmentally friendly way, but also more thoroughly, because this alcohol can absorb water. A big plus for safety, environment and quality. We save about 250 kg per year of this chemical and thus a hazardous waste. In 2022, a residual amount of 23 kg of perchlorine was disposed of
   
• Chemicals in general: In 2022/2023, EVVA achieved the goal of reducing chemical requirements by 15%. In the base year of the target, 2019, the proportion was 7,784 kg, in 2022 it was 6,470 kg. The reasons for the decline include new electroplating processes that enable the materials to be added more efficiently and a new cleaning system that cleans all brass parts that are not yet manufactured in clean production. It requires far fewer chemicals than the previous system. That's just over 15% that no longer needs to be disposed of as waste

• Due to the increased demand and production of electronic and mechatronic safety systems, battery demand – and consequently battery waste – has increased: from 2 kg in 2010 to 89 kg in 2020 and 236 kg in 2022. In addition, the batteries are no longer disposed of annually, but collected for up to 2 years, which also affects the higher value

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 2022, the value decreased to 2,251kg 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

Find out more about our recycling approach under Recycling Materials and Recycling Water/Wastewater