"Achieving this target will be tough, even for us seasoned circularity veterans, but we’re ready to evolve a process that has been part of our DNA for the past 158 years,” says Mats Lundberg, sustainable business manager at Sandvik Materials Technology (SMT).
According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, a circular economy is “based on the principles of designing out waste and pollution, keeping products and materials in use and regenerating natural systems”. By employing re-use, sharing, repair, refurbishment, remanufacturing and recycling methods to create a close-loop system, circular systems minimise the use of new materials and keep products, equipment and infrastructure in use for longer.
A circular economy requires a complete overhaul of product management. Instead of focusing on driving more volume, companies have to rethink products and services from the bottom up to future-proof their operations across the entire supply chain.
“Since 1862, circularity has been a part of what we do at SMT, although that’s not what we called the process back then,” says Lundberg. “At the time, it was more of a question of resource efficiency, as we would re-melt leftover scrap material during production. We still apply this ethos today, but the process has been fine-tuned and our products consist of 84% recycled material on average.”
Circularity is nothing new for Sandvik Machining Solutions (SMS), as Lars Ederström, project lead for sustainability and governance at SMS, explains: “In 2006, Sandvik Coromant launched a buy-back programme that allowed customers to return their used products so we could recycle them and reclaim key materials such as tungsten and other rare metals.”
The programme has since increased in volume and it is now a valuable process for SMS and its customers.
“Our customers appreciate that we manage this end-of-life process for them,” says Ederström. “In addition to lightening the burden of managing used products, we are also helping customers contribute to the circular system and make a difference to the sustainability of our industry.”
In other initiatives, SMS will also be placing stricter demands on its suppliers of raw materials and packaging, requiring them to increase their use of secondary and recycled materials. This strategy will help ensure that not only the division’s own products contribute to the circular economy, but the materials it purchases will also be based increasingly on used materials.
