You can make a difference

In her keynote speech "Why not save the world? Climate neutrality as corporate responsibility", Lisa Reehten from Bosch Climate Solutions emphasised how important it is to tackle the issue as quickly as possible – if you started now, you would not be at the forefront anymore.

Moreover, the next generation of employees should not be underestimated, as they are increasingly attaching importance to sustainable action. In future, every company will have to be prepared for critical questions from applicants. It is important to start with the topic of sustainability in the first place.

For example, inspiration can be found in other sustainability reports. The company's own employees should also be involved in the topic from the beginning – they are important sources of ideas.

The German Sustainability Code

Stephanie Kopp from the German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE) presented the German Sustainability Code (DNK). The Code was drafted by the German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE), which was first appointed by the then German government in 2001. The Code supports companies in developing a sustainability strategy and offers an introduction to structured sustainability reporting. According to twenty defined DNK criteria and performance indicators, companies can, for example, provide detailed information on the areas of resource management, climate-relevant emissions, responsibility or human rights. If reports are submitted regularly, the company's development over time can be tracked.

"Courage to fill the gap"

The DNK offers guidance on how the CSR reporting obligation and the National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights can be implemented in practice. Users are large and small, public and private companies, both reporting and non-reporting. Stephanie Kopp emphasised that it is not important to create a perfect report from the start: "You have to have the proverbial "courage to fill in the gaps". What's interesting here is that when you explain why you don't have something, you start thinking about whether it wouldn't be better to have exactly what is still missing. That is a first step for actual change."

The DNK database

In addition, the reports of the registered companies can be directly compared with each other via the Sustainability Code database. Interest in the DNK is increasing – not least because more and more companies will be obliged to report in the future. From the beginning of 2020 to the end of 2022, the number of companies using the DNK increased by 66 percent. There are currently around 1,000 companies in the database.

Recycling of PCBs

Andreas Nolte from Aurubis AG focused on multi-metal recovery through PCB recycling in his presentation. 15 percent of the recycling raw materials used at Aurubis are e-scrap or fractions from pre-treatments.

The Aurubis site in Lünen alone processes more than 100,000 tonnes of mostly complex recycling raw materials from electrical and electronic scrap (WEEE) annually. The Lünen plant processed about 25,000 tonnes of PCBs in 2022. The problem: material components and contents of PCBs can hardly be separated mechanically – high-tech products require high-tech recycling processes.

The evaluation of raw materials such as precious metals to an accuracy of 1 ppm is an essential prerequisite for processing e-scrap. They are divided into high-, medium- and low-grade e-scrap.

Several points have been identified as prerequisites for multi-metal recycling, e.g.:

• Composite materials require new/alternative mechanical and chemical separation and processing methods.
• "Design for recycling" must play a greater role in the future – also in PCB designs.
• Coupling, accompanying and by-products are created – these need markets.
• An increase in metal yield with low energy and resource input up to climate neutrality is essential.
• Metal recycling is energy-intensive – reliable framework conditions are fundamentally needed here.
• The further development of metallurgical processes must be promoted (autothermal processes also with Al, Fe and Si as energy carriers and reduction or desulphurisation agents – but CO₂-free).
• State-of-the-art separation techniques based on XRF X-ray fluorescence, XRT X-ray transmission, LIBS laser-induced plasma spectroscopy and NAA neutron activation analysis must be advanced.
• Integrated and cross-sector recycling service concepts are needed (bundling).

The GoZero initiative

Dr Gerhard Aust and Quentin Zapf from Prettl Electronics GmbH explained the company's GoZero initiative in their presentation "Sustainability strategies in electronics manufacturing – challenges and implementation using the example of Prettl Electronics". In 2020, a voluntary commitment to climate protection was launched as part of the Prettl GoZero initiative. This was conceptually developed in cooperation with Bosch Climate Solutions. Prettl GoZero describes the group's path to climate neutrality in the four areas of energy efficiency, renewable energies, green electricity and compensation measures.

Specific measures

In addition to the use of green electricity, district heating (biogas) and electric vehicles, the focus was also placed on operational processes. For example, a shutdown and start-up concept was developed for the machine technology, the lighting was optimised with the help of LEDs and presence detectors, and a leakage measurement was introduced for the compressed air infrastructure. Great importance was attached to integrating energy management into the organisational structures, raising employees' awareness of the issue of energy-conscious behaviour and creating incentives for them – for example, by giving them the option of using the company e-transporter for private purposes.