Environment

on metal and glass materials, Carl Zeiss uses coolants, lubricants and abrasives. In the past few years, water-based emulsions have replaced oily emulsions. Improvements on the machining processes in the Oberkochen plant have led to a reduction in annual water consumption despite an increase in production volume during the same period.

and abrasives are broken down into their individual oil and water components by an emulsion fission reactor in the Oberkochen plant. The oil is then reprocessed and recycled. The water is cleaned until no residue is left.

A number of directives, laws and ordinances imposing restrictions on certain substances have been enacted at European and national level. They include:

• the EU directive (2002/95/EC, RoHS) on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment,
• the EU directive (2002/96/EC) on the prevention of waste electrical and electronic equipment, and in addition, the reuse, recycling and other forms of recovery,
• the EU directive (2000/53/EC, ELV) on end-of-life vehicles,
• the German Electrical and Electronic Equipment Act (ElektroG)
• the German End-of-life Vehicle Act (AltfahrzeugG),
• the EU directive related to restrictions on certain dangerous substances (76/769/EEC), and
• the German Prohibition of Chemicals Ordinance (ChemVerbotsV).
  

In its corporate vision, the Carl Zeiss AG accepts its responsibility for sustainability and has therefore initiated the „Prodius“ project (product-integrated environmental protection) in order to comply with the legal requirements of WEEE, RoHS and ElektroG. The objective of the project is to ensure that the legal requirements are met by the required date.

The WEEE directive regulates the take-back, recovery and recycling of waste electrical and electronic equipment and for that purpose assigns the products to different product categories.

The RoHS directive restricts the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment. As of July 1, 2006, products falling under categories 1-7 and 10 set out in the WEEE directive may no longer contain lead, mercury, hexavalent chromium and the polybrominated flame retardants PBB (polybrominated biphenyls) and PBDE (polybrominated diphenyl ethers) above 0.1% by weight (in homogeneous materials) and cadmium above 0.01% by weight (in homogeneous materials). The RoHS directive allows for certain exemptions for products falling under the categories 8 and 9 and a number of special purposes.

In Germany, the two EU directives on WEEE and RoHS have been transposed into national law by the so-called ElektroGesetz as of 23 March 2005.

To conform to the requirements of the directives, laws and ordinances, the suppliers of the Carl Zeiss AG need to provide the information required thereby. It is essential for the suppliers to confirm that the materials, substances and preparations delivered to the Carl Zeiss AG comply with the above-mentioned directives, laws and ordinances. Our purchasing departments will therefore address the suppliers, asking them to forward their declarations of conformity.

coolants, abrasives and lens rinsing water are each contained in closed circuits. Purified water is channeled back in its entirety to the lens production area. The filtered glass slurry is used to produce bricks for the construction industry. Chips resulting from metal working are collected by the various Zeiss plants separately for each metal and are then recycled.

in the administration areas of the company. All office materials are selected and used with environ- mental aspects in mind. And the path followed by the product to the customer’s doorstep is also carefully monitored: every day, experts in the company seek the best solutions for packaging and transportation. In other words, Carl Zeiss takes a holistic approach to environmental protection.

water is a vital resource and must be used sparingly. By the use of the appropriate recycling systems, water consumption in the production, washing and cooling installations has been reduced by 60 to 95%.

has drastically cut the amount of energy consumed for lighting purposes. However, energy can also be saved by the recycling of energy: by means of heat exchangers on production installations and by utilizing the cold/warm water generated by machining processes for heating and cooling purposes.

A list of valid certifications of companies in the Carl Zeiss Group is available at the DQS Germany online database (German Association for the Certification of Management Systems). Here, you can look for specific certificates and download them as a PDF.

For further information please use our request form.