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. Hard work is being done to reduce CO₂-impact and reduce the Hydro CIRCAL CO₂-footprint is one initiative for that. Today a new milestone is being reached, as the recycled aluminum Hydro CIRCAL 75R will have its CO₂-footprint reduced from 2.3 to 1.9 kg of 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 significantly reduce CO2 emissions during the production process. The production of primary aluminum from bauxite requires a large amount of energy with current industrial processes, which translates into excessive CO2 emissions. Recycling aluminum scrap saves up to 95% of energy 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, namely aluminum that consists of at least 75% of post-consumer scrap. This drastically reduces the carbon 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 terms of 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 kg CO2e/kg of aluminum and amounting to only 1.9 kg CO2e/kg 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 averaging 0.5 kg CO2e/kg aluminum, i.e. almost 0. This is 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."