From worn-out to wear parts: certified circularity in the Sandvik foundry
What happens to a worn-out mantle or concave when it’s replaced? At our foundry in Svedala, Sweden, the answer is simple: it becomes part of the next one.
Sandvik is the first supplier in the industry to be certified for circularity in the production of key crushing components . Through a validated process, worn-out steel parts are collected, recycled, and reintroduced into the melting process to form new genuine parts – like mantles and concaves. This closed-loop approach reduces the need for virgin material, lowers CO₂ emissions, and minimizes waste, without compromising quality or performance.
A journey years in the making
This is not the result of a recent initiative, but the outcome of more than 15 years of continuous improvement. What began as a cost-saving initiative evolved into a sustainability driver, reducing emissions and rethinking resource use. At the heart of it all are practical innovations that make high circularity possible. By finetuning furnace recipes, re-melting in-house machining chips, and investing in advanced scrap analysis tools, the foundry can maximize the use of recycled materials without compromising alloy quality. The result: more than 90% recycled steel now used in production, avoiding large amounts of virgin raw material, and saving over 16.000 tons of CO₂ emissions annually.
Customer value built in
For customers, Sandvik’s approach delivers benefits beyond sustainability. Through a long-running buy-back scheme, worn parts are returned, recycled, and reintroduced into the process, helping customers reduce their own waste and footprint. In addition, Sandvik has introduced the industry’s first certified Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) for manganese crusher wear parts, giving customers reliable and transparent data to compare environmental impact while ensuring consistent, premium quality – reinforcing why buying genuine wear parts matters.
"It’s not just about recycling. It’s about designing for circularity – ensuring our products come full circle with traceable, certified impact”, says Jesper Löfgren, Vice President Product Offering & RD, Stationary Crushing division at Sandvik.
Looking ahead
The work doesn’t stop here. Current act
ivities include expanding lifecycle assessments across major components, working closely with suppliers to further improve circularity, and exploring new ways to scale resource efficiency across the value chain. In Svedala, circularity is more than a target for the future. From first melt to final fit, it’s a proven way of working today.
