Circular economy

Grupa Kęty has implemented actions that comply with the concept of circular economy, in which products should remain in turnover as long as possible. Within the adopted Climate Policy, each of the segments has determined a specific goal to increase the share of recycled materials in products.

The new goals will serve the introduction of environmentally neutral solutions and facilitation of the reuse of products.

Grupa Kęty S.A. has in place the aluminium recovery process. Recycled is aluminium waste generated by our production plants as well as waste purchased from the market. The waste is a component of materials for the production of aluminium billets, which are further used in extruding profiles. The plant selectively collects the particular grades of scrap and, as a result, it does not apply in the remelting process any fluxing agents that are harmful to the environment. The process is subject to strict requirements regarding the quality of the purchased scrap. As a result, there is no contaminated aluminium in the remelting process and no hazardous substances which could pose a risk to the environment are emitted to air. By recovering aluminium, the plant saves a lot of the energy needed to produce primary aluminium from bauxite ores, as the smelting process is highly energy-consuming. As regards the EPS, owing to the determination of a goal applicable to LOW CARBON billets, the ratio refers to the share of aluminium scrap in the production of billets from soft alloys.

The share of materials originating from recycling in the ASS construction products is high, which results directly from the high content of recycled materials in the EPS profiles that are the basic component of the offered façade and window-and-door systems. The level is higher than usual in the sector, and represents ca. 50% for aluminium and about 10% for PVC-U. The objective of the ASS is to increase the number of Aluprof-systems-constructed buildings with environmentally-friendly certificates. That complies with the idea of circular economy, where aluminium perfectly fulfils that role. Aluprof products possess Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) as well as Cradle-to-Cradle Certificates, which confirm the environmental engagement.

The FPS, on the other hand, as a leader in flexible packaging in Poland and Europe, develops production of plastic packaging which is uniform but thinner and comprises less printing compared to the current standards, which will make them easier to recycle. The objective of the FPS companies is to increase the sales of films and laminates fit for recycling, i.e. consisting of one type of material or one group of plastics. We have concentrated on higher sales of BOPP film as well as PP-based and polyolefines-based laminates. We have also planned to implement the production of BPPB^TM films and paper-based weldable laminates.