Wieland Werke AG

AUB environmental declaration for branded Wieland copper tubes

Certificate to promote development of sustainable construction

ISH Frankfurt, 6 – 10 March 2007, hall 6.0, stand B40



At the beginning of this year, Wieland has been awarded the Environmental Declaration Certificate of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Umweltverträgliches Bauprodukt e.V. (AUB), German Association for Environmentally Compatible Construction Products, for its branded copper tubes for domestic plumbing installations. The product-related certificate corresponds to the international ecolabel type III and describes the environmental performance of the individual products. It is based on the "Sustainable Construction Guide” of the Federal Ministry of Construction and serves to promote ecological construction. On the one hand, the voluntary AUB environmental declaration refers to coated Wieland copper tubes, such as cuprotherm.plus and WICU, and to the new flexible copper tube CTX which Wieland presents at the ISH. On the other hand, it refers to bare and tinned copper tubes such as SANCO, cuprotherm.bare and COPATIN. The declaration provides constructional data, information on basic materials and their origin, descriptions of product manufacture and processing as well as an environmental performance evaluation of the products concerned. Rolf Werner from Wieland’s Technical Marketing of Domestic Plumbing Tubes states: "Investigations in connection with the AUB certification have revealed that Wieland meets much higher environmental standards than required by law. We are very pleased about this, because we consider it important to actively promote sustainable construction. With the AUB certification and by manufacturing products on the basis of copper we make a major contribution to this development.”



In preparation for the AUB certification, Wieland conducted an environmental performance evaluation of its branded copper tubes in 2005. Subsequently, an analysis of all relevant corporate divisions and processes was carried out for the declaration by an independent, external committee of experts. Among the experts were representatives of the Federal Environment Agency, the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing and the German Institute of Structural Engineering. The entire life cycle of the individual copper tube products was analysed – from the ore winning and the manufacture to the recycling process. The declaration according to ISO 14025 is based on AUB’s "Metal Plumbing Tubes” PCR (product category rules) and is applicable for an initial period of three years.



Stringent environmental standards

The AUB declaration shows that Wieland meets particularly stringent environmental standards. For an efficient use of the precious resource copper, production scrap is remelted and processed into new products. The percentage of reused material consisting of internal scrap and scrap from external resources is above average with 67 % of Wieland´s total production.



Information on AUB e.V.

AUB is a voluntary association of manufacturers of building materials. Their common aim is to satisfy stringent requirements in terms of sustainable construction. The AUB environmental declaration has been developed in close cooperation with construction and environmental authorities in Germany and in compliance with international standardization. For reasons of quality assurance, the results are monitored by an external, independent committee of experts affiliated with AUB. The declarations are based on ISO 14025. The International Standards Organization is currently preparing ISO CD 21930 environmental declarations of building products for the construction industry.



Further information:

Wieland-Werke AG

Karin Maier, Public Relations

Graf-Arco-Straße 36 - 89079 Ulm, Germany

Tel. 0049 731-944-2663 – fax 944-42663

karin.maier@wieland.de, www.wieland-haustechnik.de, www.wieland.com



Public Relations:

Press’n’Relations GmbH – Bruno Lukas

Magirusstraße 33 - 89077 Ulm, Germany

Tel. 0049 731-9628717 – fax: 9628797

blu@press-n-relations.de, www.press-n-relations.de





Wieland-Werke AG started in 1820 as an art and bell foundry in Ulm, Germany. Today, the company is one of the leading European manufacturers of innovative copper tube products mainly used in domestic plumbing installations as well as air conditioning and refrigeration. Wieland’s production and sales of copper tubes are certified according to DIN EN ISO 9001. Its R&D is additionally accredited to EN 17025. The entire production meets the requirements of the European environmental standard EMAS II. cuprotherm is the leading copper tube heating system in Europe. With SANCO Wieland offers a branded copper tube for all domestic plumbing installations. The products of the WICU series offer solutions meeting the requirements of outer protection, sound proofing and thermal insulation. The Wieland Group achieved a turnover of 2,504 million euros in the business year 2005/2006, with an export share of 68 per cent. Wieland has a workforce of approx. 5,800 people worldwide.