Hi Emma, tell us about your roll at BUMAX.
As Environmental Coordinator, my main focus is to keep our ISO 14001 environmental management system aligned with our goals and policies. My work includes further optimizing the efficiency of our production processes, the sustainability performance of our products and work toward our sustainability targets.
What are you working on now?
I am currently working on a project to further mitigate the environmental impacts of our fastener cleaning line. This involves investigating our energy and water consumption and chemical use as well as cost and customer demand.
I am promoting our Environmental Performance Declarations (EPDs) and lifecycle analyses (LCAs) throughout our organization to emphasize the fact that our products have excellent durability. I am also following up the demands we place on our suppliers within our new sustainable supplier engagement program and will implement a new chemical management system.
What makes you passionate about BUMAX?
I am inspired by our ambitious and holistic approach to sustainability – with a lifecycle perspective that goes beyond environmental topics to also cover social aspects. BUMAX is a company with fantastic products that can truly contribute to a more sustainable world.
What do customers think about this approach to sustainability?
We see growing global customer demand for more sustainable products as customers increasingly become aware of the lifecycle benefits and potential cost savings of high-quality stainless steel fasteners. At BUMAX, we are ready to meet this demand. Our approach is backed up by our EPDs and the ambitious sustainability approach of our parent company – Bufab. At BUMAX, we contribute to Bufab’s science-based climate targets, as well as their commitment to the UN Global Compact and UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Tell us about your Environmental Performance Declarations.
We were one of the first fastener manufacturers in the world to obtain EPDs for some of our product range. Our EPDs for BUMAXâ 88 and BUMAXâ 109 help customers to make informed decisions based on the environmental footprint of our products. The EPDs are part of our lifecycle analysis (LCA) perspective from raw materials and transport to manufacturing and end of life and are in accordance with ISO 14025 and ISO 15804.
How does the sustainability performance of BUMAX stainless steel fasteners compare with standard carbon steel fasteners?
Stainless steel fasteners have lower lifecycle environmental impacts and financial costs due to the reduced need to repair, maintain and replace them throughout their lifespan compared with carbon steel fasteners. Manufacturing fasteners only once, instead of twice or even three times due to breakages and replacement is more resource efficient.
At our factory in Åshammar, we have used 100% renewable electricity since 2011 and 80% of the stainless steel we use for our products is produced from recycled raw materials. Stainless steel fasteners are also 100% recyclable.
Notably, nearly all carbon steel used for outdoor applications is plated, often with materials like zinc, which not only harms the environment during production but also contributes to pollution as the plating corrodes over time. So BUMAX fasteners help avoid these negative impacts.
Can you give examples of concrete sustainability actions you have taken recently?
We proactively manage what we have direct control over, and our LCA perspective helps us to prioritize our efforts. We have almost completed the switch to either biodiesel or electric vehicles in our entire vehicle fleet. I have worked on a project to procure a new oven that has halved electricity consumption, and we are installing more efficient heating solutions in parts of our factory at Åshammar. In terms of resource efficiency, we sort waste materials into 44 different fractions at our factory and recycle 100% of the waste steel from our production.
How do you work with parts of the value chain where you have less control?
We work closely with our raw material suppliers and place sustainability demands on them through our policies and supplier agreements. We only source steel from European suppliers, mainly locally from central Sweden within 100 km of our factory, which reduces transport emissions.
We also work closely with our customers to help them get the most out of their BUMAX products, which can help reduce the need to maintain or replace fasteners when they are in use. This might involve ensuring they have the right product for their particular application, and that they install products in the best possible way.
How do you see the future of sustainability in the fastener industry?
I believe we will see greater sustainability demands from customers and regulations – particularly as more fastener end users become aware of the significant lifecycle sustainability benefits and cost efficiency from using more resource-efficient stainless steel fasteners.
From our perspective at BUMAX, we will further increase our focus on our supply chain by placing even greater sustainability demands on our suppliers in the future.
Climate change will certainly remain a key focus for us, and I believe our holistic lifecycle approach to sustainability will also highlight the importance of other critical issues, such as biodiversity, which deserve our attention alongside climate concerns. I look forward to working together with our value chain partners to deliver stainless steel fasteners with lower lifecycle sustainability impact.
