Recycling and disposal of WILO products

Wilo aims for a comprehensive life cycle assessment, i.e. delivering excellent products is not enough: we think ahead - already during the product design phase - by considering what to do with worn-out products. The disposal or recycling of materials and components is an important matter to us. That is why we check thoroughly not only if the materials and components we use are environmentally compatible in general but also if they can be reused and recycled.

We're not only promising the motto "Reduce. Reuse. Recycle." - we live it. All returned products are thoroughly analysed, so they provide hints for product optimisation in our product development. Then the products are disassembled and returned into the "material cycle" in an ecologically and economically sensible way in our Recycling Center and our "extended workbench" in the CJD Dortmund (Christian Association of Youth Villages).

The potential recycling rate of a WILO pump lies between 90 and 98 per cent, i.e. that nearly each component of a pump that is no longer in use can directly enter the "material-cycle". Metals make up the largest part of the total weight. Already today, a Wilo pump consists to a large part of reused materials.

As a consequence of the ecodesign guidelines regarding pumps, the number of electronic pumps in Europe is going to increase. This trend isn't all that new: the share of electronics and highly developed materials in our products has been growing constantly. In turn, by using these technologies in our products, we reduce their total weights and their total power consumption. Of course these changes mean also challenges for the recycling process; but Wilo is willing to accept and overcome them.

When considering the information given in this document, only 2.5 per cent of the total pump weight cannot be recycled, because it isn't yet technologically possible. The Wilo group is committed to a constant improvement process also with regard to the recyclability of our products; As a consequence, we always strive to improve the environmental compatibility of our products.

Hence we would like to ask all our customers to give us back old Wilo products that are no longer in operation and to actively support the preservation of resources. Ecological and economical resource preservation needs you!