FOCUS ON SUSTAINABILTY
CLOSING THE LOOP
Left : Kai Acker , Managing Director , KHS GmbH ( Source : Frank Reinhold )
Right : Gunnar Groebler , Chairman of the Executive Board of Salzgitter AG ( Source : Carsten Brand )
Gunnar Groebler , Chairman of the Executive Board of Salzgitter AG , and KHS Managing Director , Kai Acker , discuss the new Group strategy and its sustainability goals .
“ Circularity encompasses the four principles of reduce , reuse , recycle and rethink .”
Salzgitter AG is one of Europe ’ s leading steel and technology groups . It operates its integrated steelworks in Salzgitter on a virtually energy autonomous basis and closes material loops by reusing residual material and cogenerated products .
In the new Group strategy adopted by Salzgitter AG last year , three of the key issues are the circular
Reduce , reuse , economy , partnerships recycle , rethink – and transformation . In the following interview , we will focus on Group CEO , Gunnar these four principles Groebler , and KHS CEO , of circularity in Kai Acker , outline their all of our future ambitious goals and actions , promised describe the challenges that need to be mastered Gunnar Groebler along the way .
Society , industry and business are currently undergoing a period of radical change : in their striving for climate neutrality , more and more companies are making their contribution to decarbonisation and a sustainable economy . Salzgitter AG , KHS ’ s parent company , is no exception : with its Salzgitter AG 2030 strategy defined at the beginning of 2022 , the group has now joined the current social and political movement and devoted itself entirely to the principle of circularity .
“ We want to establish ourselves as a
leading company for the circular economy ,” stressed CEO , Gunnar Groebler , who before taking up his post in 2021 spent over twenty years helping to transform the energy sector to renewable energies . For him , steel is a universal and sustainable material that people encounter in all walks of life and which is infinitely recyclable . Lots of approaches to the circular economy are being ventured throughout the group that are now to be expanded and supplemented by several new aspects .
Salzgitter ’ s booth at EuroBLECH 2022 in Hanover , Germany , focused on the circular economy .
Four clear principles
“ Circularity encompasses the four principles of reduce , reuse , recycle and rethink that we will focus on in all of our future actions ,” explained Groebler . “ By using finite resources with greater awareness , we aim to minimise the use of these in the economic cycle . This is reflected in the use of the term ‘ reduce ’. For us , ‘ reuse ’ means keeping the resources we take from our natural surroundings in economic use for as long as possible . By ‘ recycle ’ we mean making raw materials from products already consumed reusable to save on