Steel: as sustainable as possible

Moving toward circular manufacturing processes

How can galvanizing and powder coating of (construction) steel be done as sustainably as possible? Rotocoat has been working on this question for years. The company is strongly committed to making its internal processes more sustainable.

"By galvanizing or powder coating steel, we are, of course, already working to make steel more sustainable," says Marleen Bomhof of Rotocoat. "So sustainability is an important theme for us. We do everything we can to make our processes as sustainable as possible as well."

With four locations, in Kampen, Wolvega, Dieren and Heerhugowaard, Rotocoat is one of the largest galvanizers and coaters in the Netherlands. "We have everything in-house, which is unique and ideal for a steel builder. The combination of galvanizing and coating under one roof (duplex system) makes us a one-stop shop for preserving steel."

This year Rotocoat has again made strides in the area of sustainability. Bomhof: "Our location in Heerhugowaard was recently made much more sustainable. For example, we replaced the zinc oven here and installed a new chemical pre-treatment system. Our new zinc furnace is a lot more economical, we reuse its residual heat and in the pre-treatment we now work with heat pumps instead of natural gas."

In April of this year, Rotocoat was awarded the Cradle to Cradle Certified® Bronze certificate for its galvanizing work. "Under the name Zincular®, we galvanize with circular zinc. This certificate is confirmation that we are on the right track. But we continue to take steps to work even more sustainably. For example, in the powder coating departments we collect the powder that does not end up on the material during spraying. We also reuse this. So we continue to innovate to set up our processes as sustainably as possible."