Always have been, and now also in the Resource Efficiency Industry Club

The topic of resource efficiency has gained increasing importance in recent years, both in Germany and at the European and international levels. The extent to which this topic is significant in Germany is now also demonstrated by the Industry Club for Resource Efficiency.

The Resource Efficiency Industry Club was founded as part of the mandate of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety and is funded by the National Climate Initiative. Cooperation partners of the club include the German Federal Foundation for the Environment, the Efficiency Agency NRW, the Efficiency Network Rhineland-Palatinate, Hessen Trade & Invest, RKW Nord, the Federal Environment Agency, and Umwelttechnik BW.

Since the end of April, ZINQ® Voigt & Schweitzer has been a member of the Resource Efficiency Industry Club. The club, founded by the VDI Centre for Resource Efficiency, is an association of selected top medium-sized companies in Germany that have implemented exemplary measures to increase resource efficiency. Furthermore, these companies motivate other small and medium-sized enterprises to implement measures for material and energy efficiency in the future. Each member is therefore also an important multiplier, driving Germany forward in terms of resource efficiency.

Another cooperative approach that ZINQ would be happy to support in the future. Because the principle of moving forward faster together and achieving more is as much a tradition for Voigt & Schweitzer as it is a commitment. The latter is not an end in itself but is linked to content and tasks that the company fully represents: At ZINQ, particular challenges in the areas of innovation and sustainability are always connected with cooperative commitment.

Against this background, Lars Baumgürtel, Managing Partner of Voigt & Schweitzer GmbH & Co. KG and founder of ZINQ, also sees membership in the Industrie-Club as another logical step:

„ZINQ invests in the development of efficient surface technologies that open up new fields of application for hot-dip galvanising. Our innovative high-performance surface microZINQ®, which was awarded the German Raw Material Efficiency Prize by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, is a positive example of this.“

Voigt & Schweitzer is bundling its innovation and sustainability activities under the corporate initiative Planet ZINQ®.
The Planet ZINQ® initiative aims to increase the resource efficiency of the production process and our products. On the one hand, this means continuously searching for potential energy savings within the process, and on the other hand, developing new, raw material-efficient zinc surfaces that offer higher performance with less zinc.
Within our ZINQ Management System (ZMS), we are certified according to ISO 14001 / 50001.

As the second pillar of Planet ZINQ®'s sustainability, we are working on increasing the effectiveness of our production process and products. Effectiveness here means establishing closed-loop systems for the recycling of raw materials used, with a particular focus on optimising the technologies and materials employed, as well as their use and reprocessing according to the Cradle to Cradle® principle.

ZINQ® is the first surface to be certified to the Cradle to Cradle® standard, guaranteeing closed material cycles in the process and in the product – free from non-recyclable materials or waste.

ZINQ is considered a pioneer in innovation and sustainability in the field of batch galvanising of steel and has received multiple awards; including:

  • German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy Resource Efficiency Award 2013
  • Materialica Award 2013 Best of
  • Industrial Award 2014 Supplier Category
  • Top 3 German Sustainability Award (DNP) 2015