The central theme of Enneatech’s corporate philosophy is sustainability. Right at the top of the website it says: “Climate protection is one of the most urgent tasks of our time. This also applies to the plastics processing industry: every tonne ofCO2 saved benefits future generations.”
However,CO2 is not only generated during the production of polyamide compounds and polyamide recyclate, but also during their transportation. In April 2023, the Federal Environment Agency published the following figures: “While greenhouse gas emissions in Germany have fallen sharply since 1990, there has hardly been any improvement in the transport sector. The share of transport in total emissions has risen from around 13% in 1990 to 19.4% in 2021. Since 1995, kilometer-related emissions of the greenhouse gas CO₂ have fallen by almost 12% for cars and 8.5% for trucks. However, because more trucks are on the road, total direct CO₂ emissions in road freight transport are now 23% higher than in 1995.”
Almost a quarter more emissions in road freight transport within 27 years — an alarming development. For this reason, Enneatech works with freight forwarders who choose climate-friendly transportation routes. Head of Logistics Maxim Kiel explains: “We rely on intermodal transport and can thus reduceCO2 emissions by a good 60 percent. compared to pure road transport.” Intermodal — that means a mix of rail, ship and road. Enneatech’s goods are transported by truck to the freight forwarder’s depot. Here they are transferred to rail or on to a ship. Kiel uses an example to illustrate this: “We have a few customers in Italy. The container with the PA granulate is transferred from the truck to the train at the freight forwarder’s depot and travels to Italy. There, our freight forwarder has another depot where he loads the goods onto the truck and drives them to the customer.”
Every shift from road to rail means fewer greenhouse gas emissions. According to Deutsche Bahn Cargo, one freight train can replace up to 44 trucks. Another advantage: the traffic density on highways also decreases. Trains cause around 95 percent lessCO2 emissions than air freight transport and are responsible for only one third of the emissions of road freight transport on average. “That’s why intermodal transport is a must for us,” emphasizes Kiel.
Clean thing
It is also important to the people at Großenfehn that not a crumb of polyamide is lost. Why? Because the production of each individual granule consumes energy and therefore emitsCO2. In addition, the granulate should not end up as microplastics in the environment. This is where Operation Clean Sweep comes into play. Each container is equipped with an inlet. Kiel illustrates: “It’s basically a large bag into which the granulate is fed directly from the silos. This means that nothing falls out or ends up in any corners of the container.” The granulate is emptied from the bag at the customer’s premises. The carrier takes back the empty bag. A recycling company uses them to make new inlets or other products.
We have not yet reached the end of optimization when it comes to transport. Kiel explains: “This is an ongoing process; we have been working on the topic since 2018. Our freight forwarders work with low-emission trucks and gradually e‑trucks or hydrogen-powered ships and trucks may also come into play. We are monitoring developments and are continuously improving the transport concept with our partners.”
