Waste
Introduction
Responsible resource use is central to Autoneum’s environmental stewardship. During manufacturing, significant amounts of non-hazardous production cut‑offs are generated due to the complex shapes of the final parts, with waste–including fibers, foam, aluminum and highly filled composites–representing 20% to 40% of total material used.
As circular economy principles and waste reduction targets become central to OEMs’ sustainability strategies, the inability to recycle certain materials could lead to increased landfill use and the potential loss of orders, along with regulatory pressure.
By reducing our waste through technological expertise, improved material efficiency, and expanded recycling solutions, we can lower our environmental footprint, advance circularity, conserve resources, and reduce upstream and downstream impacts across our value chain.
Management Approach and Policies
Internal Policies
We outline the key principles of environmental management in our Management Policy on Quality, Environment, Energy, Health. This policy includes reducing our manufacturing environmental footprint, promoting sustainability, and developing recycling-friendly parts to minimize environmental impact at product end-of-life. Autoneum has a target in place to reduce non-hazardous waste (see Operational Target 2027 in the Introduction section of this Material Topic).
The Management Policy is supported by various internal policies that address waste along with emissions, water, chemicals, and hazardous substances management. The waste management system is part of the Environment, Health & Safety Management system (MEHS), a set of policies, procedures, and activities that follow international and national laws and regulations, as well as ISO 14001 requirements.
Governance
Operational implementation of environmental risk management–including waste–is conducted through the Corporate Responsibility Organization and the workstreams under the Corporate Responsibility Steering Committee. The Risk Council, comprising Business Group Controllers and Heads of Group Functions, performs semi‑annual reviews of risks and mitigation measures including for environmental topics such as Waste. The outcomes are summarized in the Risk Report and presented to the Board of Directors and Group Executive Board
Waste Reduction Measures
Autoneum reduces waste at its plants by focusing on material efficiency, in-house recycling, and the development of technologies that minimize production scrap.
MEHS establishes global requirements for managing and reducing waste including:
- All plants must comply with both Autoneum standards and applicable local legislation when it comes to waste management.
- All sites must implement waste minimization goals as part of their waste management process.
- Requirements for characterizing, reusing, and recycling waste streams, supported by training for all employees whose activities influence waste generation.
Whenever possible, our plants recycle production scraps and reuse them. We have guidelines to help reuse leftover materials from production of the basic lines. These guidelines provide solutions for different products, including carpet, felt, heavy layer, Propylat, and Ultra-Silent. In addition, the machine and tool standard specifications include recommendations to improve material efficiency.
Not all plants have the technology to recycle mixed materials, and some waste cannot be recycled and reused currently. To address this, we are working toward developing more monomaterial products, which make recycling easier both during production and when vehicles reach end-of-life. More information on our investment in innovation and Research and Technology to minimize waste can be found in the Resource Inflows Material Topic section.
Key 2025 Actions, Progress, and KPIs
In 2025, Autoneum generated around 1’743 metric tons less of non-hazardous waste that was directed to disposal than in 2024, which represents a decrease in absolute value of 1.6%. Non-hazardous waste intensity directed to disposal increased by 2.2% in local currencies (+7.1% with exchange rate fluctuations) due to the launch of new programs. Overall, non-hazardous waste directed to disposal declined by 39.4% in 2025 versus the baseline, putting us firmly on track to meet the 2027 target (see the Operational Target 2027 in the Introduction section of this Material Topic). See the data table at this end of this chapter for other KPIs.
We implemented 55 projects to reduce non-hazardous waste across 25 locations in 2025, which together reduced non-hazardous waste by 2’901 metric tons in 2025 (3’991 metric tons on an annualized basis). The recycling projects included: recycling of heavy-layer felt with PET scrim (i.e., a thin reinforcing textile layer) waste mix in our Gundernhausen plant (Germany), recycling of thermoset felt in our Gravataí plant (Brazil), and increasing the recycling of Propylat waste in our Volduchy plant (Czech Republic).