Waste Management

Waste management strategy

Our sustainable waste management focuses, in particular, on avoiding waste and preserving the value of the resources we use by adopting the principles of the circular economy. It is also based on the classification and separation of waste and the use of safe treatment methods in accordance with local legal regulations.

The manufacturing process for semiconductors requires a large number of chemicals and other production materials. Waste resulting from our own manufacturing facilities is treated externally. It comprises mainly chemicals, sludge and municipal solid waste. 

Besides statutory requirements, it is fluctuating production levels that have the greatest impact on the amount of waste generated and the treatment methods used. Nowadays, there are many technically viable and cost-effective processes for the treatment of waste. Infineon favors waste recycling over waste disposal. Consequently, waste is recycled or even reused rather than disposed of wherever possible.

We commit

The main aspect of our sustainable waste management is naturally the avoidance of waste. Without our comprehensive waste preventing activities as e.g. recycling, the figures on waste generation would be considerably higher. 

All the waste that cannot be avoided is collected separately wherever possible at the point where it is produced.

Infineon requires solvents in its manufacturing. After use, these can, if technically and economically feasible, be purified to such an extent by distillation, either internally or externally, so that they can be reused as solvents in our production. On the one hand, this reduces the purchase of new goods and, on the other, it reduces the waste generated.

Along the lines of our approach to optimizing our water consumption and as part of our NLoS activities, we have also set up a working group to look at dealing with the generation of waste. This working group will share knowledge between the main sites that offer significant waste-saving potential.

  • Infineon uses redestillation to successfully externally recycle the solvents propylene glycol monomethyl ether acetate (PGMEA), cyclopentanone, N-methyl-pyrrolidone (NMP) as well as dimethyl formamide (DMF).
  • At the Villach (Austria) site, reusable plastic packing which is sent back and forth between sites has been used in wafer transport, primarily for the site’s deliveries to Warstein (Germany) and Cegléd (Hungary). This activity has started some years ago and resulted in significant savings of e.g. up to 70,000 cartons and up to 140,000 pieces of foam plastic in the fiscal year 2019. This reusable packing was developed by Infineon employees on a cross-site basis in collaboration with suppliers.
  • Our site in Regensburg (Germany) began delivering used cardboard boxes to an external service provider for reuse in March 2016.
  • The recovery of precious metals (palladium and gold) from the galvanic sludge of the Regensburg site was awarded a third-place medal by the Idea Management Center of the German Institute for Idea and Innovation Management (Deutsches Institut für Ideen- und Innovationsmanagement) in Frankfurt in the “Best Sustainability Idea of 2016” competition.

These are some examples for the outcome of our successful waste management approach we apply since years.

We obtain excellent results

Have a look in our Sustainability Report page 36-37.

Documents