Focus Topics – Environment
Green products and innovation
Innovative and environmentally-friendly activities – from construction to disposal
Management approach: We analyse the impacts of our products on the environment throughout their entire life cycle with the intention of reducing the impacts significantly through the development of innovative and low-emission solutions. We are continuously working to further improve the existing high quality, service life and repair options of our products, to lower the environmental impact. We also aim to contribute to the circular economy by increasing the use of recycled components and parts at Zehnder.
In the case of new products, we have set ourselves the goal of using components made from previously recycled materials to the greatest possible extent in the design process and returning them to the material cycle at the end of their service life. Even when designing new units, we are considering the replacement of individual parts with a view to extending the service life of our units through repair.
Implementation: We are currently preparing life cycle assessments for each of Zehnder Group’s main product families and technologies to assess the environmental impact of our products. Our goal is to have completed at least one life cycle assessment for each main product family/technology over the next 18 months. This will allow us to develop greater competence regarding the key environmental impacts of our products.
To further reduce the environmental footprint of our products as well as to increase their circularity, we are implementing the following measures:
- We are inspecting the recyclable content of our packaging and production materials to understand where we can increase share of renewable or recycled materials. To achieve the greatest possible impact, we are assessing the recyclability of one of our best-selling ventilation units.
- As part of a pilot project for product take-back and refurbishment in the Netherlands, we are currently acquiring knowledge in an applied circular economy and what it takes to increase product circularity effectively.
We have already implemented successful projects in Canada, the Netherlands and Germany. For example, at our site in London (CA), we use over 95% recycled materials to package our products. We are also using stretch film made from 30% recycled material to package our radiators at the Lahr (DE) production site - these are also 100% recyclable.
Outlook: After determining the exact environmental implications of our products, we aim to continuously reduce the ecological footprint of newly launched Zehnder products. At the same time, we also intend to increase the share of recycled raw materials in our future product launches.
Our product engineers and our product developers will be playing a central role in the development of circular products. Our employees will have a heightened awareness of this issue through internal and external training programmes. Together we will develop a Circular Design Guideline in 2023 that will be applied in all new product developments.
GRI 301: Materials 2016
GRI 301-1: Materials used by weight or volume
|
GRI |
in metric tons |
2021 |
2022 |
|
301-1 |
Total weight or volume of materials that are used to produce and package the organization’s primary products and services during the reporting period |
n/a |
91,878 |
|
301-1 |
Total weight or volume of materials that are used to produce and package the organization’s primary products and services during the reporting period, by non-renewable materials |
n/a |
78,677 |
|
301-1 |
Total weight or volume of materials that are used to produce and package the organization’s primary products and services during the reporting period, by renewable materials |
n/a |
13,201 |