Machining and Painting processes of Schulz Automotiva are Zero Landfill
Today, less than 10% of waste from these processes are sent to the industrial landfill. The rest is recycled or co-processed
Schulz Automotiva achieved Zero Landfill in the Machining and Painting processes, both in the Headquarters and in the Machining 2 unit. Today, more than 95% of waste generated in these processes no longer go to the industrial landfill.
The initiative follows the Zero Waste International Alliance (ZWIA), which encourages companies around the world to seek alternative destinations for the waste they generate. In the waste disposal order, the landfill should be the last destination. Therefore, the solutions found were recycling and co-processing.
Of the total waste, 5% is sent to the industrial landfill, 75% is recycled inside Schulz with reuse of metal swarf, and 20% is sent for external recycling (waste such as paper, plastic, and hydraulic oil) or co-processed.
Metal swarf, responsible for about 75% of the total waste generated in machining, has been reused inside the company for years through briquetting, by which the chips are pressed, transformed into briquettes (small metal bricks), melted in smelting furnaces and reused for casting new parts.
The production of briquettes already exceeds the monthly average of 700 tons. In approximately ten years, about 10 million briquettes have been produced, enabling the reuse 40,000 tons of machining swarf.
In mid-2021, the Headquarters and Machining 2 unit started sending waste that was previously disposed in landfills to coprocessing, a more environmentally friendly alternative. In this process, solid industrial waste is transformed through blending (preparation and mixing of waste) and used as fuel for cement plants.
Besides avoiding sending it to the landfill, Schulz contributes to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions generated in the decomposition of waste. This is a practice connected to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations (UN), a movement of which the company is a signatory, collaborating directly with goal 12, Responsible Consumption and Production.