profine enhances circularity with a new recycling plant
profine Group has taken another significant step towards sustainability, efficiency and circularity with the commissioning of a state-of-the-art recycling plant at its Pirmasens site.
The system, which has been operating in four shifts since January 2024, specializes in the processing of delivered material from old windows and raises the profine Group's recycling capacities to a new level.
The facility was officially inaugurated on March 1, 2024 in the presence of representatives of regional politics and the press. Dr. Peter Mrosik, owner and CEO of profine, emphasized the company's strategic orientation and the associated sustainability agenda: “At profine, sustainability starts at the very beginning - with the raw materials, and our goal is the perfect cycle for high-quality synthetic products. This new recycling plant is therefore a consistent investment in the future for us."
Sustainable processes
The recycling plant has an impressive capacity of 15,000 tons per year, setting new standards for the company. The material from old windows is obtained from external recyclers who pre-sort and roughly clean it. It then goes through a multi-stage cleaning and filtering process to obtain high-quality granules which are processed together with virgin material into window profiles.
The new system will enable profine to use recycled material more flexibly in the future and to control the quality of the recycled raw materials even more precisely. This benefits both the Pirmasens location and the group's entire international production network.
In addition, this strategic investment not only strengthens the profine Group's added value in terms of material efficiency and sustainability, but also establishes the company as a pioneer with this state-of-the-art system.
Sustainable projects
Parallel to the inauguration of the new recycling plant, profine also presented a groundbreaking change in its logistics. The conversion of 25 diesel sideloaders to 25 electric sideloaders from the Bulmor brand not only improves flexibility and efficiency in internal logistics, but also significantly reduces their ecological footprint. Compared to the previous fleet consumption of diesel fuel, the CO2 savings are more than 700 tons per year.
As part of its sustainability strategy, profine also strives to use more renewable energy sources and to be one hundred percent climate-neutral and energy self-sufficient in the long term. This is also pursued through numerous projects at the group's international sites, such as large photovoltaic systems and the use of other sustainable energy sources.
Sustainable product strategy
In addition to new technologies and processes, the system provider is also relying on the increased use of recycled material in its products. Another ecological plus point, because the processing of recycled material consumes 90 percent less energy and therefore causes significantly lower CO2 emissions compared to the use of conventional virgin material.
The “Kömmerling ReFrame” profile series, for example, is made from one hundred percent recycled material, while other profiles have at least 55 percent recycled content and therefore meet the requirements of various German municipalities.
Dr. Peter Mrosik underlines the strategic importance of the approach: “We at profine are firmly convinced that sustainability plays an essential role in the development of a company. All of these measures are further milestones in our sustainable strategy and consistent steps on our path to circularity.”
More information about sustainability at profine can be found here.
