The Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI) this week announced the certification of Germany’s Gerhardi AluTechnik GmbH under its ASI Performance Standard V2 (2017) Certification with a focus on Material Stewardship.
The Lüdenscheid plant specializes in the production and sale of semi-finished aluminium profiles for clients in the automotive, construction, electronics, mechanical engineering, medical, furniture, and lighting sectors. Gerhardi AluTechnik is a family-owned enterprise and employs 70 workers at its plant in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Fiona Solomon, Chief Executive Officer at ASI, congratulated the firm in a press release.
“ASI congratulates Gerhardi AluTechnik GmbH on achieving Performance Standard Certification at its Luedenscheid facility. One of the key sustainability contributions of downstream users of aluminium is the assessment of their products over the life cycle, which can inform both improvements to the product itself, its end-of-life management, as well as customer purchasing decisions through Environmental Product Declarations. Gerhardi AluTechnik GmbH’s ASI certification demonstrates that small and medium size enterprises are playing an important role in fostering a responsible aluminium value chain.”
ASI’s Performance Standard is the product of consultations with a multitude of stakeholders throughout the aluminium value chain, which ASI asserts is the sole comprehensive voluntary sustainability standard initiative in the aluminium sector. The standard defines 59 criteria categorized in three sustainability pillars that cover several issues, including biodiversity, Indigenous Peoples rights, and greenhouse gas emissions. Third-party audit of the certification was conducted by SZI GmbH.
Andrea Leukel, Gerhardi AluTechnik spokesperson, said that the certification underscores the company’s commitment to sustainability.
“Sustainability is more than environmental protection. We are aware of our responsibility towards all stakeholders and are continuously working to improve our carbon footprint. Careful use of our resources is a matter of course for us. Therefore, the next step for Gerhardi AluTechnik to support our sustainability strategies was to get audited according to the ASI Performance Standard – we have successfully completed this and received the ASI certificate. Certification to this standard confirms our honest and ecological approach to our work and we are proud to be able to guarantee our customers that their products are produced integrating principles for the material stewardship of aluminium.”
The ASI is a worldwide organization dedicated to setting industrial standards and certifications in the aluminium industry. The association brings together the various stakeholders in the aluminium industry in order to achieve objectives including sustainable production methods, material chain-of-custody procedures, recycling, social impacts related to aluminium production, and production standards.
