Steel recycling, waste reduction and circular economy: Goal 2030
Arania’s Waste Prevention and Management Plan 2030 aims to further reduce the volume of non-reusable waste in the manufacture of rolled steel.
In five years, hazardous waste has been reduced by 40%. With the implementation of responsible management practices aimed towards the segregation, reuse and recovery of the vast majority of waste, such as the Circular Economy project developed together with Ihobe, Arania keeps moving forward in its environmental management policy both at corporate and production level.
Steel recycling plays a crucial role in achieving maximum production and environmental efficiency. Arania’s Waste Prevention and Management Plan 2030 sets the ambitious challenge of reducing the generation of non-reusable waste in the manufacture steel. Since 2016, Arania has managed to reduce the hazardous waste generated by 40%.
Overall, 98.8% of all waste is destined for recycling, reuse or energy recovery.
one of the world’s most reusable materials
Steel recycling is one of the most efficient industrial processes. The main leftover material in the rolled steel manufacturing process is scrap, a 100% recyclable waste which is reused in the steel production process, thus closing the product’s life cycle within a circular economy approach. In this sense, waste that cannot be reused will be progressively reduced (new fees or penalties will be established for any material ending up in landfills). Simultaneously, investments and projects minimising waste generation will be prioritised.
With Ihobe’s support (the Basque Government’s Company for Environmental Management), Arania has decided to implement a project focusing on circular economy: a development approach where the value of products, materials and resources is retained in the economy for as long as possible. Instead of being discarded after use, some materials can be reintroduced in the production cycle as secondary raw materials. Therefore, responsible waste management practices are fostered, based on separating, reusing, recycling steel and recovering the vast majority of our waste.
At the same time, as we pointed out in May, Arania is currently working with Siderex (the Basque Steel Industry Cluster, of wich Arania is a member) in HAMBEMET, a large-scale project to measure the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) of several companies involving major industrial players in the Basque Country.
Arania has the professional team, the skills and the commitment to achieve the sustainable development objectives set by the Group with full guarantees for the future. The joint effort and the implementation of specific processes for our activities, developed by specialists in each stage of the production cycle, drive the dynamics of continuous improvement of our environmental management, which involves continuing to make progress in terms of environmental requirements, both at corporate and production level.