ArcelorMittal has been ranked ninth in a Dutch league table for sustainable business practices for its efforts to align itself with the concept of a circular economy.
The 2015 'Benchmark of Circular Business Practices' study published by the Dutch Association of Investors for Sustainable Development (VBDO) compared 52 Netherlands-listed companies, of which ArcelorMittal was one.
The Luxembourg-based steel and mining company was recognised with ninth place for its recycling rate of end of life/obsolete steel products of 87%, with the material itself representing the most recycled in the world. These efforts steer the company from the traditional 'make, use, dispose' economy to a more circular one, wherein resources are kept in use for as long as possible before recovering and regenerating products and materials at the end of their life.
"ArcelorMittal is working on steel recycling and optimal reuse of by-products and other residues," the VDBO report found. "The company is one of the biggest recyclers of steel in the world recycling around 30 million tonnes every year. When developing new products, it ensures that the steel in it is recyclable. ArcelorMittal also develops new processes that will help recovering more steel from waste streams. Additionally, the company has life cycle analysis experts and a dedicated R&D team working on the reuse of residues from the steelmaking process."
The report explained the importance of a circular economy thusly: "Natural resource scarcity is one of the greatest challenges of our time, with major implications for economy and society at large. The principles of circular economy provide a solution to this challenge”, although VDBO also pointed out, for many companies the implementation of circular economy principles into business processes is still at an early stage.
The VBDO study assessed companies depending on the four factors of strategy and governance, implementation, innovation, communication and engagement.
Photo by VBDO
