45% of global carbon emissions are generated by the production, use and disposal of products. Added to this are additional environmental stresses along the value chain. That is why a key aim of the circular economy is to minimise the consumption of resources. Schüco is working at different levels throughout the product life cycle to reduce material usage in buildings and to close the loop.
One of the main challenges for the construction industry is providing affordable living spaces to a growing number of people, while also meeting the criteria of sustainable construction. The issue of sustainable resource use is directly connected to this. In the emerging markets in particular, more living space needs to be created without further increasing consumption of primary raw materials and energy. In Germany, too, the government set the target back in 2021 of constructing 400,000 affordable and climate-neutral homes every year – which is still far from being achieved.
In addition to newbuild concepts that conserve resources, the energy-efficient renovation of existing buildings poses enormous potential for greater protection of the climate and resources in the construction sector. In this connection, the “Renovation Wave” announced in the European Green Deal envisages the annual rate of renovation increasing to 2.5%. Between 10 and 20 million homes would need to undergo energy-efficient renovations every year to achieve this. The current rate, however, is less than 1%.
Schüco is meeting the requirements for a more sustainable orientation of the construction industry in two ways:
In parallel to this, we are seeing increased demand for building materials with a reduced carbon footprint, which we are meeting primarily with our aluminium and PVC material versions that contain higher proportions of recycled material. By actively working to establish effective return systems for waste materials as well, we are also helping ourselves to become more independent of fluctuating raw material availability and prices in the future.
However, current high demand on the secondary raw material markets is also leading to shortages and cost increases for recycled aluminium and PVC. Due to the long service lives of aluminium and PVC-U windows and the low rate of renovation, it can be assumed that there will not be enough waste material available in the medium term to meet the increasing demand for materials containing a higher proportion of recycled material. For PVC in particular, there is a surplus of primary material, which is increasing the competitive pressure in the new goods segment and pushing prices down. Recycled material is therefore currently more expensive than new goods across the board.
The desired increase in the rate of renovation and further expansion of collection and return systems might help to recover more waste material for the production cycle in future and increase the number of products containing a greater proportion of recycled material on the market.
"We can only achieve the ambitious goal of a circular, climate-neutral construction industry if we design, build, and operate buildings in a holistic and sustainable way — and ensure that materials are returned to the cycle at the end of a building’s life."
By strategically focusing on the circular use of resources, we at Schüco see this as an important leverage point for operating in a more environmentally friendly and, in the long-term, more climate-neutral way. If we develop durable products that make efficient use of materials and close our resource cycles, we will lower our requirements for primary materials. In this way, we will actively contribute towards decarbonisation, conserve biodiversity and protect water resources at the start of the supply chain, all at the same time.
With every product, every resource and every process making a contribution towards closing the loop and creating added value. Resources must be retained and reused. We have derived three strategic focal points from this:
We see buildings as raw material stores of the future and are working on feeding materials back into the production cycle after dismantling.
In 2022, Schüco began establishing a network for the collection and processing of old PVC windows and production offcuts together with the recyclingcompany Remondis. In the first two financial years of our joint venture RE:CORE, we were able to bring Schüco partner or Schüco window manufacturers to use the system. Since October 2024, RE:CORE has also been a network partner of Rewindo, the recycling initiative of the German PVC industry. In addition, we have been cooperating with the TSR Group, a leading specialist in the processing of scrap metal, since March 2025. The partnership aims to take back old windows from renovation projects and profile sections from production and process them into high-quality recycled raw materials (see “Existing buildings” section below). There has also been a cooperation with Saint-Gobain Glass Germany since April 2025. This is helping to promote the reuse of glass in the construction industry. By using recycled glass to produce new flat glass, valuable natural resources such as sand, soda and lime can be conserved and energy consumption significantly reduced
By designing and providing durable, recyclable products we are helping to extend the duration of their use and close resource cycles.
At project level, Schüco is driving forward the Cradle to Cradle certification of its aluminium systems. With 95 certified systems, which account for 20% of the metal division's turnover in Europe, Schüco is an industry pioneer in the implementation of the Cradle to Cradle principle.
During the reporting period, Schüco also undertook extensive research into the principles of circular design. At the BAU exhibition in January 2025, the company presented its first fully circular aluminium window (see “Best practice”): “AW Circular” was developed to reduced resource use, emissions and waste during the product life cycle, while helping to close resource loops. Furthermore, different carbon reduction measures were implemented for AW Circular. These include the design that makes efficient use of materials, an increased proportion of recycled material and the use of recycled components.
In the PVC business, in which Schüco produces the material itself, it was possible to further increase the proportion of recycled material in the products from an average of 21% (2023) to 24% (2024). At the same time, new material versions with designated proportions of recycled material were introduced on 1 January 2024 (see “Best practice”).
With energy-efficient products and comprehensive consultancy services, we are enabling the existing building stock to be adapted to current needs and the value of properties to be retained.
In order to guarantee the long-term value retention of existing buildings, Schüco has developed a comprehensive programme of products, services and consultations under the name “Value Up”. This programme comprises solutions for all phases of the renovation process – from the analysis and planning through to refurbishment and operation. The focus is on time-efficient and cost-effective measures for an improved energy balance.
The recycling of waste material is also a key component of “Value Up”. For this, Schüco has expanded its recycling activities. We work with specialist partner companies to collect metal, glass, timber and gasket materials, in addition to PVC, direct from the building site and feed this post-consumer material back into sustainable raw material cycles. The service includes identification of the construction units and materials to be recycled, analysis of the resultant material flows, development of a logistics concept and preliminary calculation of revenue from scrap metal. Schüco also estimates the expected recycling rates and provides the client with corresponding documentation and certificates. The new service is offered by RE:CORE metals GmbH, which was founded in December 2024.
85% reduction in the carbon footprint for a tonne of recycled PVC compared to material manufactured in the conventional way.
We implemented the following key measures with regard to the use of resources and circular economy in 2023/2024:
