National Newsbrief

ProgRess

Acting on behalf of the Federal Cabinet, the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety has drawn up a proposal for a National Resource Efficiency Programme – known as ProgRess for short. This was presented to the Cabinet in October for discussion and approval. The programme includes a wide range of measures to promote more efficient use of natural resources and raw materials. ProgRess aims to reduce the impact on the environment associated with the use of raw materials. Another goal is to improve the supply security of commodities and to help business enterprises to increase their competitiveness. The rationale behind the programme derives from the fact that a large part of the world’s natural resources are finite and not renewable. This is compounded by price volatility and price increases on commodities markets, coupled with raw material supply problems.

The collective responsibility towards future generations demands that natural resources be conserved and protected. ProgRess will therefore aim to raise awareness among consumers, encouraging them to use resource-efficient products and return materials for recycling. By facilitating the development and design of easily recyclable products, it also addresses the need on the manufacturing side to increase value added while consuming less resources.

In the packaging steel industry, closing material loops is already a core element of corporate strategy. In 2009, 72% of steel packaging was recycled EU-wide. The packaging steel industry therefore makes an essential contribution to this political initiative.

For more information, visit www.bmu.de

Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) preview

APEAL previewed the first results of its LCI last September at the “Steel Packaging: Green Solutions for Central Europe” summit in the Slovak Republic.

The results show a 3% decrease of primary energy demand per kg of tinplate and a 9% decrease in global warming potential (GWP100) per kg of tinplate, when compared to the WorldSteel 2005 data.

APEAL commissioned this Life Cycle Inventory with its 4 members. The study quantifies resources use, energy and environmental emissions associated with the processing of tinplate from the extraction of raw materials in the ground through to the steel factory gate. This data set was compiled with 2008 data, covers over 95% in volume of the European steel for packaging manufacture of that year and was conducted in line with the WorldSteel Association methodology.

More news on the LCI data and the Summit in the next edition of Steel for Packaging Update…