Sustainability

Soudal is of the opinion that energy efficiency and the reduction of emissions form a major driver to achieve general sustainability targets!

Soudal further commits to strive for the most energy-efficient, safest and low-impact solutions for every new process or product that is introduced.

Soudal's products make it possible to invest in sustainable construction, resulting in the achievement of a sustainability certificate, such as LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) and BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method). Various ecolabels can also be found within the Soudal product range, such as EMICODE EC1+ (European), M1 (Finland), Blauwe-Engel (Germany) and A+ label (France).

 

Commitments

Soudal is actively looking for new waste management systems and recycling solutions. For example, Soudal is co-founder of a recycling plant in Germany, namely PDR (Produkte Durch Recycling). This company develops new recycling technologies and collects, transforms and commercializes production, product or packaging waste. PUR foam cans are collected and recycled for about 99%.

Soudal is co-founder of Tight Vent Europe, a European partner for energy-efficient building through airtightness.

Soudal is a partner of Responsible Care through Essenscia. Development and sustainable chemistry are central here.

Furthermore, Soudal is an active member of FEICA (Association of the European Adhesive and Sealant Industry) and puts FEICA's vision on sustainability into practice. It focuses on three development areas:

  • Development of energy efficiency solutions
  • The most efficient use of resources
  • Protecting people's health

Model EPDs (Environmental Product Declarations) were drawn up in collaboration with FEICA. An EPD is a verified and registered document that communicates transparently about the environmental impact during the life cycle of a product.

Product responsibility

Soudal solutions can contribute to saving energy

Soudal products, especially polyurethane foam and adhesive foam, help to significantly reduce energy use and prevent energy loss.

Polyurethane foam is an insulating material, which exists in many forms and applications. In the construction sector, polyurethane foam is used on roofs, in cellars, on floors, in industrial buildings and cavity walls as insulation. Polyurethane foam has proven to be a reliable material, not only due to its high insulation value but also because of its many areas of application.

Soudal polyurethane foam offers the best possible insulation value to limit energy loss and therefor reduce energy costs. Polyurethane foam prevents the airflow between doors or windows and the insulation, improving not only the thermal but also the acoustic performance. Flexifoam is an exceptional example as it is much more flexible than classic building foam. It moves, contrary to other foams, in perfect harmony with the relative movement of the building and its windows.

Pioneers in low-impact products

Soudal is continuously searching for innovations, which result in high-quality solutions and unique ecological improvements to its products.

Soudal SMX foam was the first isocyanate-free foam on the market. This foam offers all the advantages of a classic polyurethane foam but has additional insulating abilities, which do not irritate the skin of the user in the event of contact. With this halogen-free and isocyanate-free foam, Soudal has developed a unique formula which was way ahead of its time in the construction world.

In the past few years, Soudal has developed solvent-free product ranges replacing classic technologies. These products are examples of its continuous innovations.

Soudal is a pioneer in the market of water-based structural adhesives with an exceptional green strength. Soudal acted as a pioneer in this field by searching for solvent-free solutions of a high or even higher quality. Due to the high green strength, the components to be bonded do not need to be supported while the adhesive is hardening.

 

EMICODE EC1 Plus

One of the strictest certificates is the EMICODE EC1 PLUS, a quality control which issues labels to advanced, solvent-free low-emission materials.

The labels are a guarantee due to the extensive tests and continuous monitoring by the GEV (a German association for emission control in construction materials) of products for floors, adhesives and installation materials. As a result of a very sensitive laboratory analysis, using gas chromatography and mass spectrometry, and the application of standardised test procedures the smallest traces of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) in the air can be identified and quantified.

Flexifoam is one of the many Soudal products with an EC1 PLUS certificate, besides which it also offers sustainable insulation characteristics. Many hybrid adhesives, such as Fix All Classic, parquet flooring adhesives and silicones are EC1 PLUS certified, meaning that they offer the best possible solution for an optimum quality of the air inside.

Environment

The production processes of Soudal Turnhout are ISO 14001 certified. This means that the processes used by the organisation have been certified for their limited negative impact on the environment. One of the key points of attention for Soudal is to minimise and recycle residues. Soudal is limiting the flow of residues in various ways and is, for example, a pioneer with its fully automated mixing installation, which covers a substantial part of the total production capacity. In this way it is possible to manufacture products without any losses or the need to clean installations.

The residues created are recycled as much as possible. Paper and cardboard, plastics, iron, wood, oil, electronics, ink cartridges, etc. are all separated, collected and recycled. Soudal furthermore obliges waste processing companies to recycle its residues in such a way that it produces energy. But not only recycling is important, the following has also been achieved:

  • The use of water has been reduced to a minimum and for certain manufacturing processes water is used from rainwater recovery systems
  • An increasing amount of vats are cleaned with solvent-free products
  •  The 'cosine phi' principle: A more efficient use of electricity due to reduced transformer losses
  • Energy-efficient lighting: the amount of light and the required energy used in the new R&D building has been calculated to save an optimum amount of energy as well as being motion sensitive. In the production department the lighting was also replaced by energy-efficient systems.
  • The heat produced by the compressors during the mixing process is not lost but used to save energy in the central heating system.

Soudal will not rest on its laurels and will consciously strive for the most energy-efficient, safe and low-impact solutions for each new process or product to be introduced.

Environmental certificates:

  • LEED
  • BREEAM
  • Tight Vent Europe (a platform for energy-efficient construction)
  • Responsible Care membership through Essenscia
  • FEICA: Association of the European Adhesive and Sealant Industry

People

The welfare and health of our employees and partners is a condition for the success of the Soudal Group.

Mission Statement:

Soudal works in a safe, sustainable, high-quality and profitable way to guarantee the continuity of the company. The satisfaction of its employees and respect of the local community are a priority.

In the past few years, Soudal has heavily invested into the automation of production lines. This was not done only to increase the speed and efficiency of the production process, but also to limit the required manual labour for production. Because the more manual labour there is required, the greater the risk of accidents. Soudal continues to strive for an operation without any accidents.

Soudal employees are our strength. All our employees are obliged to undertake suitable training. Specific training, such as for the operation of certain machines in the production process, is extremely important. This is the reason why, for a number of years now, Soudal has had a continuous training programme.

Our employees are also obliged to undertake safety training and carry out safety tests. All of our production employees are also medically examined on an annual basis.