Environmental protection

Hazardous substances in production pose a constant risk to employees and the environment. This is why the KION Group has set itself the objective of banning hazardous and critical substances from its production processes as far as technically feasible. To achieve this, the company has been working on a blacklist that identifies the particular substances since 2018. In 2019, the focus is on developing an inventory of critical substances used in production and on planning the specific phase-out process. Again, the great complexity of the issue has led to a delay in the originally scheduled process.

Using water sparingly comes naturally to the KION Group, not least for cost reasons. In 2018, the KION Group used a total of 551,151 m³ of water Group-wide (Table 7). The majority of this came from communal supplies, and was also returned to the water system via the public sewage system (Table 8).

As the KION Group’s business activities only have a relatively low impact on water quality, the company does not need to carry out its own pre-treatment prior to discharge, except for the use of volatile liquid separators. Comparatively water-intensive processes exist primarily at the foundries for furnace cooling as well as at forklift truck washing bays. Owing to the negligible environmental impact and primarily local significance of the topic, the KION Group has no Group-wide water-use plan.

To further reduce its water consumption, 26 of the organisational entities (2017:25) have set themselves specific water-saving targets. The measures range from checking for water leaks, through reusing rinse water, to installing water-saving appliances. Last but not least, the company is raising awareness among its employees of the importance of the daily water consumption. In particular, the analysis and elimination of leakages led to a reduction in water use in 2018.

The KION Group intends to continuously reduce the amount of waste it generates. To this end, the company is primarily focusing on its production plants, which naturally generate the largest amount of waste. In 2018, this amounted to 66,588 tonnes of waste globally across the KION Group (2017: 70,168 tonnes). 55,121 tonnes (82.8 per cent) of the total waste volume was classified as non-hazardous, whereas 11,467 tonnes (17.2 per cent) was hazardous. This hazardous waste mainly comprised waste lead-acid batteries, waste paint, solvents and waste oil.

In order to maximise the efficiency of resource use, a clear hierarchy applies at the KION Group: prevention over reduction, reuse and recycling. Only when reuse or recycling is not possible, is the waste separated into groups on site and disposed of in accordance with statutory regulations. In doing so, the KION Group follows the national regulations and legislation applicable at the individual sites.

The systematic reuse of waste is a key lever both in further increasing environmental sustainability and in cutting costs. Across the KION Group, 76 per cent of waste is already recycled today, of which materials account for the majority.

Comprehensive waste management programmes are to be defined under the responsibility of the individual sites and implemented by the end of 2019. Due to the complexity of the issue, the planned determination of recovery and recycling quotas could not be completed in the year under review, and the schedule was therefore extended to 2020.

47 reporting entities (2017: 44) currently pursue specific targets to reduce their waste volume, of which 15 (2017: 14) are plants and 32 (2017: 30) are sales and service units. Measures including the electronic transmission of documents, reuse of packaging materials, improved waste separation, and raising employees’ awareness regarding the separation and avoidance of waste help the company achieve its targets.