Circularity
For Seco, the future of manufacturing is circular. To preserve our planet’s resources and contribute to a more sustainable future, we need to re-think every aspect of what we do: how we create, retain, and recover value. This includes designing for circularity, exploring alternative business models, collaborating with our value chain, optimizing resource and energy use, extending product life, and ensuring efficient resource recovery. We inspire industry transformation to make manufacturing fast, easy, and sustainable.
Lifecycle thinking and circular by design are at the heart of this approach. From the start, we choose materials and design products built to last, easy to repair, refurbish, and recondition. We prioritize using recycled, recyclable, and biobased materials to ensure sustainability is embedded into every step. This mindset extends beyond just the product itself, influencing how we source materials, packaging, and collaborate with suppliers to create sustainable value at every stage of the value chain.
The packaging surrounding our product are also a part of our circularity work. All plastic packaging is currently being transformed into a more sustainable option, using recycled materials.
In our production process, we strive to maximize circularity. We focus on making sure our operational waste generated is either reused or recycled to as highest extent possible. We take care of carbide throughout production and ensures that all material is either used in our products or taken back for recycling.
Designing products with circularity in mind is essential, but we go further. We also work together with our customers’ and partners’ ecosystem to retain product value as high as possible. Our deep engineering knowledge helps our customers optimize their processes and get the most out of every tool.
Value retention strategies, such as repair, refurbishment, and repurposing, are key to extending the lifecycle of our products and ensuring they undergo multiple use cycles before it’s time to recover the valuable raw materials. By embedding these strategies, we maximize the value of each product, minimizing waste and conserving resources. Our reconditioning services not only help customers reduce their environmental impact but also deliver significant cost savings by enhancing the longevity of each tool.
When products can no longer be reused, we take them back and ensure they are responsibly recycled into new products, closing the loop and minimizing reliance on virgin resources. Through our buy-back services, we recycle used carbide tools, transforming them into high-quality new ones. Additionally, resource recovery within our own operations plays a crucial role in our sustainability efforts. By focusing on the principles of reduce, reuse, and recycle, we continuously strive to maximize resource efficiency, further contributing to a circular economy.
Circularity includes taking responsibility in different parts of the value chain where we operate. How we measure circularity reflects our approach. We have objectives and targets addressing our own operations, upstream and downstream impacts.
90% raw material recycling rate by 2030. Definition: Overall rate of recycled content in purchased key raw material types, steel and carbide.
90% waste circularity by 2030. Definition: Share of total generated operational waste going to reuse or recycling.
90% carbide customer recycling by 2030 Definition: Carbide containing material purchased back from customers for recycling compared to sold volume carbide material.
Our reconditioning service enables multiple lifetimes for our Solid Round Tools. Read more about Seco’s regrinding service.
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Our carbide products consist of rare and valuable raw materials. By recycling them, you bring them back into the loop. Discover Seco’s recycling program.
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Seco is moving towards a sustainable future and switching to recyclable packages.
Read more in the press release.
Collaboration in value chain: For Seco, using more recycling material is a key step to lower emissions associated with our company and products, as well as accelerating circularity in the manufacturing industry.
Seco is contributing to the EU project RESQTOOL – an EU funded project on developing process and equipment for recycling of hard metals using sustainable embedment of energy, resource, and water efficiency aspects with a zero-waste approach.
Traceability of our products and materials throughout the manufacturing value chain is crucial for realizing our circularity ambitions. Traceability is an important enabler to reduce underutilized tool capacity and maximize tool life. It helps us and our customers make the right decision at the right time, for example, regarding what cutting data to use or when it’s time for reconditioning.
The Seco Data Matrix is a significant step towards increased traceability and transparency of our products and associated raw materials. With the individual marking, we can enable smarter use of our products and recycle more efficiently in the future.
