You can think sustainably, but it's even more important to do sustainably

At Hydro, parent company of SAPA, they therefore not only think sustainably, but have been doing so for a long time. The global market leader in aluminum solutions is keen to create a more liveable society thanks to a significant reduction in CO₂-footprint in manufacturing and reusing aluminum from end-of-life products. For example, SAPA brand sliding windows and curtain walls are produced from Hydro CIRCAL 75R post-consumed material. Hydro REDUXA pre-consumed material with extremely low CO₂-footprint is the basis for the windows and doors in the range.

Hydro is one of the largest producers of primary aluminum and an important European supplier of extruded products, including to customers in the construction industry. The parent company of the SAPA brand consciously chooses not to use materials that are harmful to the environment and also reduce CO₂-emissions during the production process is kept extremely low. 

"We notice that our society is plagued by the so-called 'label disease'. At Hydro we strongly believe in labels and certificates, for example Cradle-2-Cradle (C2C), but only if the customer also knows what he gets in return," says Roger Cremer, country manager Benelux for the SAPA brand. 

"Moreover, I am convinced that people still buy the tastiest bread directly from the hot bakery. Hydro also makes the primary aluminum for the production of its profiles. Since that production process requires a lot of energy, we have invested heavily in recent years to optimize our production facilities and reduce CO₂-footprint significantly. Starting in the third quarter of last year, we are using pre-consumed or never-before-used aluminum, an alloy with a footprint of 4.0 kg CO₂ per kg of aluminum produced - a quarter of the global average. In turn, the profiles of the sliding windows and curtain walls are produced from Hydro CIRCAL 75R, specifically aluminum that consists of at least 75 % of post-consumer scrap and has a footprint of only 2.3 kg of CO₂ per kg of aluminum has."

Post-consumed aluminum

Hydro thus also uses windows, doors and curtain walls from buildings that have reached the end of their useful life to manufacture new aluminum building systems. This uses only 5% of the energy required for primary aluminum production and also the CO₂-emissions is significantly reduced. 

"We know that 200 million tons of aluminum is present in buildings around the world. Aluminum has eternal life and can be endlessly reused without loss of quality and properties. This is why we have invested in two recycling sites in Europe, in Dormagen (Germany) and Clervaux (Luxembourg) respectively, which put fragmented, sorted and processed post-consumer scrap metal from construction back into circulation. Thanks to the revolutionary treatment of the scrap delivered, the quality of the Hydro CIRCAL 75R post-consumer material is identical to that of primary aluminum," explains Cremer. 

"Initially, this alloy was used for the production of the NRGY 62 and Elegance 52 curtain wall systems. In spring 2020, we also started producing sash windows from the Confort Smartline and Confort 160 series based on post-consumed aluminum. We notice that architects, whether at the request of clients or not, are increasingly prescribing circular products in their specifications. SAPA can offer them appropriate solutions."