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AT&S Sets New Standards in the Recycling of Copper and Chemicals
March 25, 2025 | AT&SEstimated reading time: 1 minute

AT&S has been working for years to reduce the ecological footprint of its production sites worldwide with a comprehensive sustainability strategy and considerable investments. The technical upgrading of the wastewater and waste treatment plants at the sites is now bringing considerable success: in the financial year 2024/25 alone, 268 tons of copper, 170 kilograms of gold, 35 kilograms of palladium, 16 kilograms of silver, 284,000 liters of iron(III) chloride and 984,000 liters of hydrochloric acid have been recycled so far globally. This also reduces the amount of wastewater sludge, which would be expensive and time-consuming to dispose of. In addition to the recycling of metals, it is possible to recover up to 1.5 million m3 of water per year using water recycling plants. These figures will continue to rise in the coming years.
“As part of our comprehensive sustainability strategy, we are constantly analyzing where there is further potential for improvements in energy and raw material efficiency. With our outstanding engineers, we then independently develop tailor-made solutions, which we first test at individual sites and then roll out globally. The treatment plants for metals, chemicals and water that we enhance along these lines show that we are really on the right path here. In the coming years, our production will become even greener,” says Marina Hornasek-Metzl, VP Corporate ESG and Quality at AT&S.
84 tanker trucks and 6,700 kilometers of cable saved
By developing and using state-of-the-art recycling technology, AT&S is not only improving its own ecological footprint and cost accounting. If fewer raw materials have to be purchased through efficient reprocessing, CO2 emissions and energy consumption for the production and transportation of resource purchases are also reduced. By reusing ferric chloride and hydrochloric acid alone, long delivery trips of 84 tankers full of chemicals with a capacity of 15,000 liters each could be avoided. The saved copper purchases would be sufficient to produce a 6,700 kilometer long cable with a cross section of 3 x 1.5 millimeters. AT&S thus achieves a positive sustainability effect along the entire supply chain and can play an active role in shaping a green, livable future worldwide.
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AT&S Fuels Future Innovation with 'Young Wilds' Program
08/28/2025 | AT&SToday’s ideas are tomorrow’s innovations: Following a successful debut in the financial year 2024/25, the “Young Wilds” program offers ambitious young professionals at AT&S the opportunity to take on responsibility and accelerate their personal and professional growth.
Elementary Mr. Watson: Routing Hunger Games—May the Traces Be Ever in Your Favor
08/26/2025 | John Watson -- Column: Elementary, Mr. WatsonI’d like to share a harsh truth, and I say this as a friend: PCB designers are often their own worst enemy. It’s rarely the complexity of the circuit, the last-minute changes from mechanical, the limited enclosure space, or the ever-expanding list of design rules that send projects to the dust heap of failed boards. More often, it's our own decisions, made too quickly and narrowly, and with too little foresight, that sabotage an otherwise good design.
Inventing the Future: An Interview with Dr. Ed Schweitzer
08/20/2025 | Barry Matties, I-Connect007Dr. Edmund O. Schweitzer III, founder of Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL), has a corner office in the company’s world headquarters in Pullman, Washington. Forty-two years after his SEL-21—the first microprocessor-based digital protective relay—ushered in a new era of power-system protection, he has forever changed the way the world safeguards its electric grids. In this three-hour conversation, Dr. Schweitzer reveals that he remains excited to get to work each day, unpacking the “better, cheaper, faster, simpler” mantra that’s still driving SEL’s innovation, and the culture glue that keeps more than 7,000 employee-owners rowing in unison.
AT&S Launches HiPower 5.0 Research Project for Smart Electric Transport
08/19/2025 | AT&SAustria’s leading microelectronics manufacturer AT&S is participating as a strategic partner in the EU research project HiPower 5.0, which will develop new solutions for semiconductor integration and control systems for highly compact and smart electric drive components.
It’s Only Common Sense: Stop Chasing New Customers and Start Keeping the Ones You Have
08/11/2025 | Dan Beaulieu -- Column: It's Only Common SenseCustomer retention is not glamorous. It doesn’t have a flashy ad campaign, it’s not going viral on social media, and nobody’s handing out “Best in Retention” awards at trade shows. However, if you’re running a proper business, not a popularity contest, then customer retention is where you make your money. However, too many companies treat customer retention as an afterthought.