Metallurgy / Chemicals / Rubber & Plastics

'From cradle to cradle' is an important concept emphasizing a nature-based circular economy, advocating the return of consumer goods to biological or technological cycles to save valuable resources and raw materials. Sports plastics specialist igus is working towards the same goal and has launched the world's first energy chains made entirely of recycled materials, all from the chainge energy chain recycling program.

Consistent quality and sustainable reuse: igus has launched a new energy chain, the "cradle" energy chain, which is made entirely of recycled materials, enabling efficient use of resources and promoting the development of a circular economy.

From extreme weather to natural disasters to ocean pollution, the climate crisis is getting worse and more people are starting to realize it. "Even customers are paying more and more attention to the sustainability of their products when they order products. So we put a lot of effort into product development to produce more resource-efficient products without sacrificing product quality." igus drags Jörg Ottersbach, head of the Chain business unit, explained. One of the results is a new energy chain E2.1.CG made from the new igumid CG material, and these energy chains made of recycled materials are named "cradle energy chains". Extensive tests carried out in the in-house igus laboratory have shown that the technical properties and load-carrying capacity of the new range of energy chains are comparable to energy chains made of standard igumid G material. In addition, its price is comparable to energy chains made of standard materials. The new e-chains® category "Cradle" currently has 5 series and 28 e-chains® available from stock.

From waste energy chains to recycled materials

The new cradle energy chain is made entirely of recycled materials, all of which come from the chainge energy chain recycling program. This recycling program, launched by igus in 2019, proposes to recycle waste plastic energy chains from customers, so as to prevent these waste energy chains from becoming completely industrial waste. The recycling program is not only for igus engineering plastic energy chains, but also accepts plastic energy chains from other manufacturers. To date, igus has recovered more than 32 tons of material from 13 countries. The recycling target for 2022 is 500 tonnes. The recovered waste material is sorted by type, cleaned and processed by igus to give it a new look. During this process, the recycled material is also chemically analyzed and its ingredients are appropriately adjusted to optimize its performance, thus ensuring that products made from recycled materials are still of high quality. Optimized recycled materials, such as igumid CG, are made into new energy chains, which igus calls "cradle energy chains". Their wear resistance, stability and flexural fatigue strength are uncompromised, with consistent quality.

Sustainable recycling of raw materials, reducing CO2 emissions by 28%

Making energy chains from recycled materials is a new attempt by igus to save resources and develop a circular economy. According to the Environmental Product Declaration (EPD), this sustainably recycled raw material reduces CO2 emissions by 28%. Jörg Ottersbach added: "Our focus is not only on the first use of a product, but also on the reuse of raw materials. We see great potential 'cradle to cradle' and we strive to use as many raw materials as possible. And waste products are reused, so that valuable resources are not wasted and can be used efficiently for a long time."