Advancing circularity through supplier collaboration

Our commitment to circular economy principles is delivered through practical initiatives aimed at keeping high-value materials in productive use and reducing reliance on virgin resource extraction.

In 2025, we continued to roll out a pilot closed-loop recycling initiative to recover worn carbide cutting tools for remanufacture. This practice is now applied across sites in Papendrecht reaching the Hoogeveen and Kongsberg sites, with further rollout planned. 

In partnership with Sandvik Coromant, used carbide swarf and blunt cutting tools are collected, segregated and returned for recycling into new cutting tools. In addition to its environmental benefits, the programme generates financial value through the recovery and sale of segregated carbide waste streams, reinforcing the business case and commercial viability of circular practices. 

The programme is enabled by an automated digital ordering and collection platform, reusable on-site collection bins and targeted site-level training to ensure correct material segregation. Employee engagement has been critical to maintaining material purity and maximising recovery value.

Between 2024 and 2025, the programme collected and returned 1,500 kg of carbide swarf and recovered 3,000 kg of blunt carbide tools, with multi-site implementation completed and further expansion planned. Carbide cutting tools consist primarily of tungsten (wolfram), a material classified as a critical raw material due to its high economic importance and supply risk. By recovering and recycling tungsten through this closed-loop model, we reduce dependency on virgin mining, mitigate supply chain risk, lower associated environmental impacts and strengthen responsible material stewardship across our operations.

This closed-loop partnership demonstrates how supplier collaboration can deliver measurable environmental and commercial value, transforming production waste into a resource stream while advancing our circular economy ambitions and strengthening resilience across our material supply chain.