Circular economy
Why we care: Disposables are currently not geared for a circular future due to waste generation in the end-of-life handling. Legislations on disposable products are tightened while the technologies and management systems needed to reach full circularity are still to be developed.
Our goal: Our goal is that 70% of our products will include bio-based or recycled materials by 2030. We want to assess our product assortment, production facilities, and business conduct to strengthen our focus on the circular economy. We achieve this by recycling waste and integrating recycled materials into our products. Innovation and partnerships are necessary measures for us.
We take action within four main areas:
Recycling waste
- 89.92% waste recycled in ABENA Produktion A/S in 2022/2023.
- 90.93% waste recycled in Rul-let A/S in 2022/2023.
- 76.4% waste recycled in ABENA-Frantex in 2022/2023.
- 86.22% waste recycled in ABENA AB (Finess Hygiene AB) in 2022/2023.
- We have recycled an average of 89.51% of the waste from our own production facilities in Denmark, Sweden, and France.
Adapting our product assortment
- We are testing different, available raw materials to include in our products to increase circularity.
- We are developing and testing different multi-use food service products for larger events. The aim is to reduce waste from single-use items. Learn more.
- Due to system updates, it has not been possible to make a baseline number on our own active item numbers that contain recycled content (>50%) or own active item numbers that contain bio-based content (>50%).
Forming partnerships
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We are member of DAKOFAs (Waste and Resource Network Denmark) Board.
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We have launched a take-back system for fiber cloths and mops in cooperation with Nordic Microfiber. The goal is to keep cloths and mops in the cycle, so that the materials get new life in new products. Learn more.
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We have developed a “warm-up jacket” in mono material, which will be tested and adjusted together with two Danish hospitals.
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We are partners in Trace IM4 – CircleHealth to enhance circular economy in Danish hospitals. We collaborate with three regions of Denmark and various research institutions.
