Ecological responsibility

As a raw materials company, we feel a particular obligation to protect the environment. We take responsibility for making our activities as eco-friendly as possible. We consider it our duty to make use of the natural resources needed for our production processes, products and services as prudently and ecologically soundly as possible.

By mining selectively and using raw materials efficiently, resource consumption from our quarries can be minimized. A smaller land area is needed as a result. Domestic raw materials are thereby saved and less energy is consumed. Any materials from the quarries not used for our processes are used for alternate purposes as far as possible. We cooperate closely with other raw material companies in this context. This applies to unavoidable by-products of our processes as well: whenever possible they are not disposed of, but are used as a product in other applications.

Biotopes with a high biodiversity have developed in and around both our active and decommissioned quarries and mining waste heaps. SCHAEFER KALK goes far and beyond legal restoration requirements in planning, maintaining and preserving them. We cooperate closely with biologists, landscapers and nature conservation associations. For its work in this area, our company has been the recipient of numerous sustainability awards.

We reduce environmental burdens far beyond what is required by law wherever possible. This also holds true for blast shocks, which are reduced to a minimum through the use of modern processes. The dust and gaseous pollutants are filtered be state of art waste air purification systems to a far greater degree than the law requires. Our sources of noise pollution are minimized over and above regulatory constraints by our use of the most modern technology and adequate sound insulation in a project designed to continuously reduce noise.

Wherever feasible, we use groundwater from the required water holding and drainage system as our production water. We take care that the water is used and purified in a closed loop. Waste is avoided to the greatest extent possible and treated and disposed of properly.

Climate protection is important to us. Carbon dioxide emissions are minimized by using ultramodern energy efficient kiln technology and a portion of the emissions is later bound in our products during the preparation of precipitated calcium carbonate. We are committed to successively reducing our CO₂ emissions and aim to have CO₂-neutral production by 2045 at the latest

We have our own certified energy management system, within the scope of which we commit ourselves to taking all possible measures to fabricate our products with a minimal use of energy. This also means that we continuously work on improving the energy efficiency of our plants. We meet regulatory requirements as a matter of course and consider them a minimum standard. Among other things, we have made it to our objective to significantly increase the ratio of renewable energies in our total energy consumption. We want to stop using fossil fuels completely for heating our production buildings.

The onsite PCC plants that we operate also reduce environmental impact. Using them avoids energy-intensive drying of the products and higher transport weights. At the same time, a significant portion of the released CO₂ in the paper factory is bound again in our products.

Moreover, a large portion of the products we distribute actively contributes to environmental protection by being used in flue gas desulfurization, water and wastewater treatment and thermal insulation.

Above and beyond all these measures, we focus our efforts on further reducing the CO₂ emissions generated by our operations. Find out more...