Circularity
We will drive circularity and resource efficiency, doing better with less and working towards circular value chains.
We are committed to playing our part in building a global economy based on circular business models. By minimizing waste and finding new ways to capture sustainable materials and products within closed loops, we can reduce carbon emissions and bring environmental benefits for land and water. And, in the case of critical minerals, circularity will help to meet the demand caused by the energy transition.
Our goal is to have at least 90% materials circularity for packaging, products and waste by 2030 and we expect the same of our key suppliers. We are building circularity and resource efficiency into our business in a number of different ways.
In our own operations, we are working to eliminate waste to landfill. In countries without strong waste management infrastructure, we work with procurement to identify alternatives to landfill. We are rethinking packaging, looking at whether a product needs packaging and, if so, what is the most environmentally efficient option. This includes introducing AI-driven smart packaging.
Progress during the last years
We maintained our continuous work as well as to run projects at our manufacturing sites to reduce, reuse and recycle waste in the factories.
We continued to run projects to reduce, reuse and recycle waste at our sites. Sandvik Rock Processing Solutions continued to develop its digital assistant platform SAM™ in which all sites gather information about waste. Sandvik Machining Solutions started the development of tools using Bergla® tungsten carbide powder, made entirely of recycled material. They also increased the circularity rate in their powders generally and made progress with the reconditioning of solid carbide tools.
A new and patended technology for battery electric equipment contributing to a more sustainable mining industry won the 2023 Sandvik Sustainability Award in Memory of Sigrid Göransson.
Increased waste circularity
Our target* is to increase our waste circularity to 90 percent by 2030. In 2023, we achieved 71 percent waste circularity. The decrease is mainly due to acquired companies and we are still in line to achieve the 2030 target. Total waste decreased by 21 percent to 336 ktons.
The table and graph show the waste circularity in per cent for 2021–2023.
| 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| 73 | 73 | 71 |
*This target was revised in 2021 to better reflect our efforts towards circularity and we will report on waste circularity rather than total waste from this point.
We have excluded tailings from our mine operations, since our ability to impact these volumes is limited. The target is adjusted for structural changes.
Environmental footprint
In our annual report, you can read about our environmental footprint and progress against the targets.
Go to the note for our environmental footprint in the annual report
Circular business models
We are constantly advancing the productivity and automation of our equipment and services and investing in technologies that enhance resource efficiency. We are increasing the amount of circular materials in our products.
A circular economy begins at the design stage. We are committed to improving material and resource efficiency as part of all development projects and our ambition is to design our products for refurbishment, remanufacturing or recycling. The objective is to maintain materials and products at their highest value in use for as long as possible. To facilitate this, we are creating circular business models to keep valuable materials in circulation. Other innovations include developing sustainable materials for additive manufacturing.