Waste avoidance and recycling are major considerations in manufacturing, packaging and distribution at HARTMANN GROUP sites. Here, the focus is on boosting efficiency by reducing the wastage quota and on innovative separation processes for potential recyclables.
Economical use of raw materials
In all HARTMANN GROUP production processes waste avoidance has priority over recycling and disposal. And the economical use of raw materials is of central importance in our efforts to cut waste volumes in production. Also, for HARTMANN GROUP products we save on packaging materials wherever possible – by using innovative materials such as superabsorbent (SAP), optimized product and packaging design and by mechanically compressing bulky hygiene products. Please read also: Efficient use of resources
Waste separation and waste processing
In the manufacture of cellulose- based products at our plant in Grimmenstein, Austria, our main raw material is recovered paper
Where waste is unavoidable, for us, material recycling and energy recovery take precedence over disposal. Accordingly, we systematically separate out all cardboard, woven fabric, foil and wood waste from production and administration and return the relevant materials to be recycled. Any remaining waste material is properly disposed of.
When procuring raw materials we commit our suppliers to using nothing but recyclable materials of one sort only. Wherever product hygiene allows it, nowadays our selling packaging consists mainly of recycled material. If feasible, we have replaced foil-based packaging with paper, which is a sustainable raw material. If this is not possible, we favour environmentally neutral materials such as polyethylene and polypropylene that are very suitable for heat recovery processes.
Recycling facility with innovative technology
This facility allows us to separate cellulose and superabsorbent from the waste from incontinence product manufacture and to return them to the production cycle
In the year 2000 the HARTMANN GROUP established an SAP extraction facility unique throughout the world at our site in Herbrechtingen. This pilot facility uses an innovative process specially developed for the purpose that separates out the various components in the site’s production waste. This means that we are in a position to recycle a total of over 2,000 tons of waste there per year.
Our production waste consists of cellulose and superabsorbent (SAP), a highly absorbent, high-molecular synthetic material with a networked molecular structure. Both materials are processed in absorbent cores for incontinence products. A prerequisite for recycling the waste products released in the production process is being able to separate the two components of the absorbent cores cleanly. To date there has been no technically satisfactory solution on the world market, so the HARTMANN GROUP has, in collaboration with fan-manufacturers Oelde GmbH, developed a new process whereby the compressed mass of cellulose and SAP is completely split. Operating this facility allows us to clearly exceed the minimum value of 95 percent SAP purity specified for the separation process.
The project “SAP extraction facility for the hygiene industry” was sponsored by an EU programme, “1999 LIFE environment”, in other words, it is considered one of the industry’s innovative projects with a model approach to the environment
