Regional sites:
Specialized sites:
Of all our stakeholders, our customers are the most demanding when it comes to product and process “eco-friendliness”. They regularly question the content of deliveries. Sometimes this requires completing detailed checklists of undesirable substances. They also ask ask for evidence of compliance with regulations such as RoHS or REACH.
More and more customers are now looking for the “CO2 footprint” information for specific products. In 2010, we partnered with one of them to carry out a full Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) of cards it was purchasing.
LCA studies aim to evaluate all environmental impacts, including atmospheric greenhouse gas emissions, and soil and water pollution. The excellent input data this generates makes for the efficient eco-design of new products.
Eco-design and green products
Gemalto is involved in ecological initiatives with the French Card Manufacturer
Association (AFPC), as well as other groups including the GSM SIMAlliance in
Europe, and ICMA in the United States.
Historically, we’ve developed eco-friendly products for banking, telecom and government customers worldwide. We’ve also invested in research and looked for new ways of balancing the marketability and sustainability of our products.
Our expanded portfolio means we’re further developing our environmental impact strategy by:
Using chlorine-free materials – e.g. polyethylene terephthalate glycol-based (PETG) products that deliver less air pollution when incinerated. We’re also making PVC-free, ABS-molded products that reduce manufacturing waste compared to laminated technologies;
Maximizing basic eco-design principles – such as reducing the materials needed for smaller products and using more eco-friendly materials for packaging (particularly for the telecom market);
Promoting renewable/recycled materials – especially card bodies based on polylactic acid (PLA);
Tackling the card “end-of-life” issue – we’re leading the way with a recycling channel for PVC and ABS cards.
Progress on green product strategy
Our 2010 achievements included:
Montgomeryville (US) plant – 100% of telecom cards made with pure ABS, 100% PVC-free molded card bodies. By the end of 2010, we had also achieved a 50% ABS conversion figure at our Brazilian plant;
Around 100 Million SIM cards in smaller form (including “half cards” and “plug only”). We also increased our green packaging offer (i.e. biodegradable cellulose-based wrapping and packaging using recycled paper and ecological inks);
Successful completion of trials of a PLA-based SIM card body – plus continued development of PLA cards for the payment market. Organic Waste Systems (OWS), an accredited Belgium lab, conducted positive “compostability tests”;
End of life management of ABS and PVC cards – following a recycling model
defined by the AFPC.
Small numbers were involved because of difficulties collecting obsolete cards in
the field.
We also launched a project to evaluate the environmental benefits of the many
dematerialized e-solutions we offered our customers – in particular those from
the Government Business Unit.
When it comes to legal compliance, we continue to focus on improving processes
to ensure that our products and processes meet regulations.
As for RoHS regulation, in past years we’ve gathered chemical analysis from accredited third party laboratories for our many card and reader products. When a small number of customers asked about the safety of certain card products, we also verified that they complied with EN71-4 “Safety of Toys” legislation.
REACH and WEEE
In 2010, we focused our efforts on two main areas:
REACH compliance – optimizing our processes and tools to improve the monitoring of compliance concerning substances identified by the European Chemical Agency (ECHA). All purchasers and HSE managers worldwide now enjoy user-friendly access to our central database;
Strengthening the WEEE compliance process – by subcontracting the declaration of sold quantities and eco-tax payments to an external expert, the European Recycling Platform (ERP) company.
Finally, we continued to reduce waste, as well as consumption of energy and water. We also improved the management of our supply chain processes.
Site operations – particularly those involving manufacturing – is one area where Gemalto can make a difference both up and down the supply chain. While we invest significantly to develop greener products, our largest environmental gains in the last ten years have been in operational processes.
Bio sourced cards that reduce water and energy consumption
and minimize waste production. More info...
First bio-sourced payment cards in Germany
