Thinner, Lighter & Recycled - Sustainability the new normal

Spaljisten have together with REHAU been running a project converting all their edgebands to thinner, lighter and recycled.

The starting point for the project was in 2019, Spaljistens global leading furniture customer were asking for a new “green” kitchen front and where all materials should have a share of minimum 50% recycled content. Spaljisten worked together with their partners, such as REHAU and found a way to produce the edgeband with 50% post-industry-recycled PP (Polypropylene). The product has been well accepted by the end consumer and the market. In the next step the focus was on making all edgebands a bit thinner, which led to a reduction from 0,7 mm to 0,5 mm as well as from 1,5 mm to 1,0 mm.

"Sustainability has a long history at REHAU and is part of our corporate philosophy. High quality polymers, used correctly, contribute to longlasting solutions and should be regarded as valuable materials” says Daniel Elfe-Degel, Head of Product Management Edgebands and Project Manager Sustainable Edgebands for the Furniture Solutions Division REHAU.

RAUKANTEX eco is an innovative, high-quality and durable product line and a significant step towards becoming more sustainable. It is made of 50% post-industrial recycled materials and at the same time fulfils all our specifications in terms of colour, surface and processability. This is a major success of our engineers.

"With RAUKANTEX eco, we have not made any concessions regarding the requirements for colour and decor fidelity and processing properties. The edgeband can be processed like any REHAU PP edgeband has the same qualitative properties - and it matches the surface just as perfectly as all other RAUKANTEX edgebands” says Dieter Bauer, Senior Engineer edgebands REHAU.

In addition to the new products, REHAU's holistic sustainability concept naturally also includes other aspects: employees, health safety of raw materials, packaging, raw material purchasing, or energy efficiency are of course also considered. For example, the production of REHAU edgebands in the European plants already takes place with climate-neutral electricity.

What is your view on the collaboration with Spaljisten?

“To cooperate with Spaljisten in the field of sustainability is rewarding, because Spaljisten is a customer who not only talks about it but also consistently implements it. Together we have pushed the boundaries of what is possible and taken the first steps in creating new innovative products that meet the challenges of today and tomorrow. Overall, the cooperation is very partnership-based and therefore very constructive and fruitful for both sides.” says Dieter Bauer, Senior Engineer edgebands REHAU.

 

We are sure that this project will be a business driver for both our companies in the future. It will also profit the end consumer and in the long run, the planet.