Quality & Environment

Climate neutrality has always been a major concern for us and our investments are constantly realigned to this. Our ambition is to be climate-neutral and sustainable in all areas in order to make our contribution to a life-friendly planet Earth.

ISO 9001

We are only content when you are.

We use the ISO 9001:2015 quality management system for continuous process optimisation and to ensure our high product and service quality in the long term.

ISO-certificate english

Solaranlagen aus der Nahaufnahme. Sonnenstrahlen scheinen darauf.

SOMMERly green electricity

Since 2006, we have been operating two combined heat and power plants that produce electricity and whose waste heat we utilise for our heating and water system, among other things. In addition, we have been generating ‘summer solar power’ via our photovoltaic systems on our company roofs since 2008.

In 2019, we doubled the collector output from 30 kWp to 60 kWp and integrated an E3DC storage system with an output of 40 kW, meaning that we currently produce more green electricity than we consume. We also have several wallbox charging stations for company and employee electric vehicles.

Eine Abbildung des Recycling Symbols, gehalten von zwei Händen. Im Hintergrund ist leicht unscharf eine Wiese zu sehen.

WEEE

Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment - EU directive to reduce the increasing amount of electronic waste from electrical and electronic equipment that is no longer in use. The aim is to avoid, reduce and dispose of the increasing quantities of electronic waste in an environmentally friendly manner by extending producer responsibility for the products.

SOMMER CABLE had already converted all cable, assembly and system production to EU Directive 2002/95/EC (RoHS) and 2002/96/EC (WEEE) before 2006.

RoHS

The RoHS Directive (Restriction of certain Hazardous Substances) of the European Union (EU) regulates the restriction of the use of hazardous substances to a maximum of 0.1%. The EU Directive 2002/95/EC (RoHS 1) has prohibited the use of cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg), hexavalent chromium (Cr (VI)), polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) as well as lead (Pb) in electrical and electronic devices since July 2006. Directive 2011/65/EU (RoHS 2) has replaced the previous directive since 2013.

From July 2019, Directive 2015/863/EU (RoHS 3) will apply, which has included the following additional substances: Bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP), dibutyl phthalate (DBP) and diisobutyl phthalate (DIBP). The RoHS information for our products can be found in a separate column on our price list.

Sustainable printing and packaging

Not only our company colour is ‘green’...

As a company, we have made it our constant task to act in an ecologically responsible manner. As a manufacturer of first-class quality cables and connection components, this is a particular challenge for us. Despite highly efficient production processes, we cannot manufacture our products completely without CO2 emissions.

In addition to generating green electricity, we therefore also attach great importance to producing print media and packaging materials as sustainably and climate-neutrally as possible. We offset the amount of CO2 generated during production - voluntarily, of course - by supporting selected certified climate protection projects. For each new print job, we decide in favour of a current - usually regional - project relating to forest protection, wind energy, hydropower, solar energy or similar.

We also work exclusively with certified production partners who source paper from sustainably managed forests for our print products. Thanks to our commitment, we have now been able to offset a considerable amount of greenhouse gases and are committed to responsible forest management.

In addition, our long-developed, fully modular stand construction system with integration of all transport cases on the stand is also resource-saving. This enables us to achieve short set-up and dismantling times and 100% reusability of the entire SOMMER trade fair stand.

Zu sehen sind unsere Printmedien und Verpackungsmaterialien.

Sustainability for Cables and Wires

As the electrical conductor of a cable typically consists of premium raw materials such as copper, silver, steel, or aluminum, the industry has a strong interest in comprehensive recycling. In practice, old cables are shredded, and the valuable materials are then extracted through heating. The separated materials can be reused in cable production as recycled copper and recycled PVC.

If, after decades of reuse, these raw materials are eventually exhausted and can no longer be separated from slag residues, the remaining materials are often repurposed into durable park benches or bases for traffic and warning signs.

A cable with a low-chalk, high-quality PVC outer jacket that remains flexible at low temperatures is inherently a sustainable product that can last over 60 years if handled properly. Plastics such as TPE, PUR, and silicone can also be easily recycled, typically do not contain toxic phthalates, and are therefore considered particularly environmentally friendly and safe.

Cables with braids made from cotton or hemp threads on the outer jacket may appear more sustainable. However, the braid is usually subsequently woven over normal cables, which is why almost the same materials are used for production as in a cable without a braid and therefore the braid does not make the cable more sustainable.

Additionally, these materials often have significant practical disadvantages: they are highly flammable, not very durable, unhygienic, prone to fraying, and absorb moisture, which can lead to mold growth and unpleasant odors.

A high level of sustainability also applies to premium connectors made of steel, copper, aluminum, and nickel, which can also be reused.