Lowering CO₂ emissions, improving recycling results. BSH Hausgeräte GmbH opts for Salzgitter AG’s green steel for the first time

BSH Hausgeräte GmbH, Europa’s largest domestic appliance manufacturer, is forging ahead with decarbonizing its value chain. BSH first sourced green steel from Salzgitter Flachstahl GmbH in September 2021, thereby reducing its CO₂ footprint by more than 66 percent. Low CO₂ steel is to be initially used for mounting brackets in washing machine production at BSH’s Lodz plant in Poland. This is another step on the way to achieving BSH’s ambitious sustainability goals. For Salzgitter AG, the production and market launch of green strip steel is an integral component of its decarbonization strategy.

BSH’s development and manufacturing processes at its locations all over the world have been CO₂ neutral since the end of 2020. With regard to benchmark year 2030, the company has set itself another ambitious goal, however: “In comparison with 2018, we want to shave 15 percent off our Scope 3 CO₂ footprint generated by procuring raw materials and parts, as well as through household appliance usage. In a bid to achieve this, we have always offered our consumers particularly energy efficient products. We are now looking very carefully at areas where we have less of a direct impact, such as the production of raw materials and the recycling of products, for instance” as BSH Chief Operations Officer Dr. Silke Maurer stated. “Therefore I am absolutely delighted that we are now able to make decisive progress in decarbonizing the value chain together with Salzgitter AG.”

Low CO₂ steel is produced in the mini mill by melting steel scrap, in combination with the rolling mills and steelworks galvanizing plants. Phillip Meiser, Sales Director at Salzgitter Flachstahl: “Green strip steel is eliciting ever keener interest from our customers operating in a wide range of sectors. For them it is important to source products that already have a lower carbon footprint at this point in time. Expanding the product portfolio is a key component of our short-term decarbonization strategy. Furthermore, we are rigorously pursuing our course towards low CO₂ steel production. Our ambition is to produce around two million tons of green steel within the context of SALCOS^® – Salzgitter Low CO₂-Steelmaking by 2025.

The recycling of raw materials and products is major lever for BSH in its endeavors to minimize waste and conserve resources. Consequently, the company is increasingly offering circular business models as well, which enable consumers to rent household appliances or share them. After utilization, the appliances are returned, recycled for reuse and, at the end of the product life cycle, recycled in an environmentally compatible manner. Steel, for example, is subsequently melted down in Salzgitter AG’s electric arc furnaces at its Peine location.

As the first steel producer in Europe, Salzgitter AG has obtained conformity statements for its new green steel products in accordance with the VERIsteel standard of TÜV SÜD (German technical inspectorate). The process provides proof of product-specific CO₂ emissions in steel production, thereby accompanying the decarbonization process. The conformity statements confirm that switching the steel production process from the conventional blast furnace route to the electro-steel route achieves CO₂ savings of 66 percent.