Systematic sustainability
A focus on the environment
GEALAN introduced its first environmental management system as early as 1996. In June of this year, a validation was carried out in accordance with the European Eco-Audit Regulation at our two sites in Oberkotzau and Tanna. This means that GEALAN is the first PVC processor in Europe to use this sophisticated management system. In this way, GEALAN can demonstrate that it has been manufacturing, trading and operating its business with a responsible eye towards nature and the environment for over 25 years.
In practice, there are many aspects to sustainability. Saving energy and raw materials in the production of our PVC profiles are two fundamental ones. As part of the VEKA Group, we also work in a closed recycling loop: already around 33% of the PVC used at GEALAN is recycled material – and this trend is growing. Both old windows and our own production residues are returned to our highly efficient recycling loop.
GEALAN is aware of its responsibility towards our environment and the world of tomorrow. This means that the recycling loop is just one of many instruments. Using renewable energies, making production processes ever more efficient, using resources and raw materials responsibly and, where possible, working with regional partners has become a matter of course for us.
Recycling saves raw materials and CO2
The VEKA Group is a pioneer in terms of the recycling loop: our own PVC residues and those from window manufacturers, plus old windows, are fed into a closed loop. These valuable raw materials are then reused in new products. GEALAN PVC profiles already consist of a large proportion of recycled material. But that isn’t all: GEALAN is already saving over 49,000 tonnes of CO2 per year. Comparatively, around four million trees are needed to absorb this amount.
Thanks to our state-of-the-art recycling facilities, 100% of our production waste is reused. With the new recycling plant at our Tanna site, GEALAN is well on its way from a manual to an automated recycling process. Our new plant supports this with a multi-stage sorting process. Using high-resolution cameras, shredded reject profiles are automatically freed from dust and soft PVC seals and sorted into white and non-white crushed grinding stock. This white regrind flows directly back into the extrusion of new profiles, while the majority of the coloured recycled material is ultimately turned into granulate, which can also be reused in extrusion and processed into new profiles.
Sustainable products
In terms of sustainability, products made from PVC perform well from an environmental as well as a social and economic point of view. The main reasons for this are their low life-cycle costs (i.e. all costs for a capital good incurred by its owner from its procurement to its decommissioning) and the long service life and recyclability of these high-quality products as described by the VinylPlus Deutschland e.V. network, which has made the sustainability of PVC as a material its mission for over 25 years.
At GEALAN, recycling is already taken into consideration during product development. This applies not just to the design of new tools for profile production and in the manufacturing of the profiles themselves, but also when it comes to the recyclability of the end product. GEALAN’s products are thus designed sustainably throughout, from the first design sketch to the recyclable end product.
GEALAN’s innovations save other raw materials and resources: optimised thermal insulation values for GEALAN’s profiles as well as our constantly refined GEALAN-acrylcolor® surface technology also ensure particularly energy-saving and even more durable windows.
That’s how we make GEALAN PVC windows a sustainable choice.
Engagement at GEALAN
Sustainability is more than a trend for us: we act economically and handle all resources with care. And we’ve been doing so for over 25 years.
Our environmental management and the sustainability of our products are certified and regularly monitored. GEALAN works with numerous partners to promote environmental protection and sustainable development in the company and to constantly refine it through regular exchange.
100% of our electricity comes from renewable energy sources and 100% of our production waste is reused thanks to state-of-the-art recycling facilities. We reduce transport distances through optimised logistics.
Why EMAS, VINYLPLUS®, REWINDO and others?
Environmental awareness and sustainability have a system at GEALAN. Memberships, partnerships and voluntary commitments in various organizations have formed a corresponding framework for many years. Thus, sustainable work at GEALAN has become comprehensible and measurable. The quality and quantity of the diverse measures and criteria are critically reviewed on a regular basis.
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The GEALAN corporate group is of Europe's leading manufacturers of vinyl profiles for windows and doors.