Global Fastener News

Bulten AB signed an agreement with Dutch wire rod manufacturer FNsteel for access to the most circular steel on the market. The deal reduces Bulten’s carbon footprint by enabling the Swedish company to manufacture automotive fasteners with heavily recycled steel.

“The partnership with FNsteel, which has been ongoing for a little over a year, is an important step toward achieving our vision to create the most innovative and sustainable fastener solutions,” stated Bulten CTO Emmy Pavlovic. “We have long worked with scrap-based steel when manufacturing our products, but with this new steel we can provide customers with an even more circular alternative.”

The steel is based on 60-80% recycled scrap from end-of-life products and is made using fossil-free electricity, whereas the most common scrap-based wire rod used in fastener production today uses steel scrap from industrial manufacturing processes. FNsteel’s products enable Bulten to take a step toward a product offering based on material with less than 300 kg carbon dioxide per ton of steel, a milestone on the way to carbon neutrality. Web: fnsteel.eu

“This exciting collaboration allows end use customers to access a truly bespoke green product which is best in class from a carbon footprint perspective when compared to any alternative in the market,” stated FNsteel Managing Director Matthijs van der Schoot.

Bulten’s agreement with FNsteel runs for three years and enables Bulten to work toward its goal of reducing emissions from suppliers by 25% per ton of products sold by 2030.

The wire rod will mainly be used to produce fasteners for the automotive industry at Bulten’s European plants. These currently account for the majority of the company’s global production volumes. Web: bulten.com