Circularity:
Target and performance

Durability is a leading circular principle as it directly addresses the issue of resource consumption and waste generation. With 83% of sales from highly durable products (>100 years), wienerberger exceeded its goal of 80% in 2024.

One success factor was wienerberger’s stakeholder engagement and collaboration with manufacturers, suppliers, builders, and policymakers to establish common goals and best practices. Raising customers' awareness of the benefits of circular products is an important aspect of driving the demand for circular products.

Our ongoing commitment to circularity involves designing products and processes that minimize waste and maximize the efficient use of resources. This includes constant innovation, optimizing manufacturing processes, evaluating materials and product designs, and incorporating new technologies and digital tools to improve recyclability and durability.

Aligning with environmental regulations and benefiting from incentives that promote sustainable construction practices are relevant factors, as well as the investment in technology.

The Netherlands and France: A market for used roof tiles

Some of wienerberger’s PV solutions are primarily made from recycled materials and are further recyclable. wienerberger is currently conducting an EPD analysis and will consequently participate in the Ecoscale program with the CSTB (French Scientific and Technical Centre for the Building), which will enable us to demonstrate the recyclability of the raw materials and the possibility of dismantling, reemploying, recycling, and repairing the PV solution.

In some countries, the reuse of products like roof tiles and ceramic pavers is already well established. However, expanding these return programs to all wienerberger countries will take time. Reusing wall materials will require innovative mounting methods that allow for easy disassembly.

Recycling plastic pipes and fittings is feasible, but many end-of-life materials are not properly sorted and used for thermal recycling.

By effectively leveraging circularity, wienerberger can significantly reduce its environmental impact and improve resource efficiency. Committed to this vision, wienerberger continues to design and produce highly durable products. In addition, it will focus on establishing a higher amount of reused materials to extend product lifetime well beyond 150 years.