Reduced carbon footprint for aluminum building systems

In the future with special recycled aluminum to 0.5 kg CO₂e/kg

Low-carbon innovation and circularity are at the heart of the commercial strategy of Hydro Building Systems, known under the SAPA brand. It is working hard to reduce its carbon footprint and the Hydro CIRCAL carbon footprint is one initiative to that end. Today a new milestone is reached, as the Hydro CIRCAL 75R recycled aluminum reduces the CO₂ footprint from 2.3 to 1.9 kg CO₂e/kg aluminum - 78 % less compared to the European average.

At Hydro, therefore, sustainable thinking and action is key. For example, they consciously choose not to use materials that are harmful to the environment. They also invest heavily to reduce CO₂-emissions during the production process can be significantly reduced. Indeed, with current industrial processes, the production of primary aluminum from bauxite mining requires a large amount of energy, which translates into excessive emissions of CO₂. By recycling aluminum scrap, up to 95% of energy is saved in the remelting process without sacrificing material quality. For the production of SAPA windows and doors, sliding windows and curtain wall systems, only Hydro CIRCAL 75R is used, i.e. aluminum consisting of at least 75% of post-consumer scrap. This drastically reduces CO₂-footprint. 

Step forward

"In recent years, we have accumulated a lot of knowledge at our company, which now allows us to take another step forward in recycling. The progress we have made in sourcing, sorting and traceability of post-consumer aluminum scrap and an optimized smelting process means that we can now use aluminum for all SAPA Hydro CIRCAL 75R products with a footprint even lower than the previous 2.3 CO₂e/kg aluminum, specifically only 1.9 kg CO₂e per kilogram of aluminum," stated Johan De Clerck, Deputy Managing Director Benelux for the SAPA brand. 

"Of course, we want to reduce that footprint even further. That's why we already produce window, door and curtain wall profiles from 100 % recycled end-of-life aluminum. Hydro CIRCAL 100R makes it possible to produce profiles with a CO₂-footprint of 0.5 kg CO on average.₂ per kg aluminum, in other words almost 0. This is immediately the lowest value worldwide. For now, this aluminum is only offered on specific request, but in the future this type will also gradually become more accessible."