Petzl - Impact report 2024

Contents

Scaling the model

Petzl is aiming for an ambitious target of 80% material recovery

from its waste by 2025, through recycling or reuse. Could the

rope recycling initiative be extended to other types of waste?

“First you need a minimum tonnage of one tonne per year for it

to be viable, and then you need to be able to organise sorting

ef fectively at source,” explains Marlène. A number of avenues

are already being explored, particularly for the polyethylene

foam used to transport helmet shells. “We throw away more

than six tonnes of it every year, and we’re going to try halving

this by restricting their use.” Another challenge is making the

silicone-coated paper label substrates (glassines) recyclable,

because they could be recovered and recycled locally. Manon

insists that it’s important to have a pragmatic approach: “We

can’t recycle everything. We need to strike the right balance

between environmental impact, technical feasibility and econo

mic constraints

Going further

Petzl is also thinking about going one step further by recove

ring used ropes from its customers The idea would be to put

in place a central collection scheme before sending them for

recycling But that means working through the strict regulatory

framework on waste transport and management points out

Tiphaine For her part Manon is already thinking about the next

stage the time when we will have eliminated rope of fcuts at

source by adapting the lengths of the ropes produced accor

ding to remaining stock

Rigorous sorting logistics

The issue of sorting quickly emerged as a major challenge We

need to make sure that the right materials end up in the right

bins Not all of fcuts can be incorporated into the recycling pro

cess particularly 100 polyester rope which is handled by our

waste management provider in France says Manon

Ef f iciency also depends on raising the awareness of inhouse

teams The production lines have had to adapt adjusting from a

single sorting bin to three But we are seeing a gradual increase

in skills thanks to constant educational work and transparent

communication with our service providers she adds

An innovative method

to avoid incineration

The idea of recycling rope of fcuts came about at a time when in-

dustrial waste management was becoming a key issue for com-

panies committed to a CSR approach. “My main role at Petzl

is to assess environmental impact, in particular via the carbon

footprint (at group level) and life cycle analyses (at product le-

vel). Managing waste at our three French production sites is also

part of the job,” explains Manon.

The rope of fcuts recycling programme involves a partner in Italy,

who sorts and recycles polyamide and polyester using a speci-

f ic process. Our partner has the technology not only to identify

the ma

terials the ropes are composed of, but also to separate

the core from the sheath when ropes are made of dif ferent ma-

terials: “the polyamide part goes back into the plastics industry

to make recycled nylon, while the polyester is used in Italy to stuf f

cushions and sofas,” continues Manon. This approach avoids

incineration and reduces the carbon footprint of production.

In 2024, we took a further step forward in our

environmental approach by recycling more than

21 tonnes of rope of fcuts from our production

process. This project is all about rethinking

waste management, and is led by a committed

team. Manon de Gaulejac, Environment and Eco-

Innovation Project Manager, Marlène Dechenaud,

Responsible Purchasing Coordinator, and

Tiphaine Gagneux, Eco-Design Manager, take a

look back at the programme they built together.

Recovering rope of fcuts:

rethinking waste

management

recovery of waste

through recycling

or reuse

Target

Manon de Gaulejac

Environment and eco-innovation

project manager