Electrolux Group has proactively driven down water use in its global operations through good water management practices, improving water efficiency by 39% since 2015. Besides promoting water efficiency in its operations, the company also provides consumers with products that use less water. Here are some highlights.
Electrolux Group factories have implemented various water efficiency measures in recent years. These have included systems to recycle process water and rainwater harvesting to reduce the amount of potable water sourced for operations.
The Group has been using the WWF water risk filter to assess potential water-related risks at a factory level.
Electrolux Group reports climate and water data to the non-profit CDP and received a Leadership score of A- for its water response in 2022.
São Carlos factory – a water role model
The company’s São Carlos factory in Brazil is an example of how Electrolux Group can significantly reduce water use in its factories around the world. Since 2012, the washing machine and oven factory decreased its water use by 53% per product in 2022.
The factory has implemented innovative systems and processes to monitor both water consumption and discharge. Since 2017, it has also had a wastewater treatment system to treat and reuse water from its operations. Today, the factory reuses around 80% of all its water. It also has a rainwater harvesting system that reduces the amount of groundwater it needs to source.
The factory additionally has 154 test stations to test a proportion of the washing machines before they leave the factory. Water for testing is used in a closed loop before it is repurposed for toilet flushing at the factory.
More comprehensive tests are also run with detergent on a small proportion of products. The water from these tests is purified before being used in other processes.
Promoting water efficiency through products
Besides promoting water efficiency in its operations, Electrolux Group also provides consumers with products that use less water. For example, front-load washing machines in North America save an average of over 450 liters (120 gallons) of water each year, and the latest washing machines launched in Europe have steam functions that allow consumers to refresh their clothes with 90% less water than a full wash.
And in Latin America, the Pure 4X water purifier is bringing clean drinking water to millions, avoiding the use of plastic bottles.
