Ecology
A tradition with a future: our commitment to environmental protection.
Environmental protection within our operations and resource-efficient business practices are of great importance to us. Our company founder, Rudolf Brugger, grew up on a Black Forest farm specialising in forestry. There, one learns from a young age what it means to treat nature responsibly.
We continue to run our company today in keeping with this tradition of responsibility. The careful use of resources, the most efficient possible use of materials and largely closed-loop recycling systems are central to our operations.
We humans depend on our planet for our livelihood – protecting this foundation of life is therefore a matter of course for us, and there is simply no alternative. At Brugger, we put this commitment into practice every day through tangible measures – for our future and that of our children and grandchildren.
Sustainability Report
Our path towards low-emission production
As an industrial company, we recognise our responsibility to make an effective contribution to limiting global warming. Our primary objective is to continuously reduce the carbon footprint of our own processes.
Specific measures at our site:
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Green energy: We source only electricity generated from renewable sources (green electricity), as detailed in our sustainability report.
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Efficient heating: We operate our heating systems using a combination of internal heat recovery, regional district heating fuelled by wood chips, and wood pellets.
Through these and other consistent measures, we are able to minimise our direct and energy-related emissions as much as possible year after year.
We commission an independent annual assessment of the greenhouse gas emissions from our site and the key upstream logistics processes.
In addition to our reduction measures, we make a voluntary financial contribution to global climate protection by purchasing officially verified climate protection certificates. We use these funds to support specifically selected projects, without this funding being offset against the carbon footprint of our transport processes.
A transparent overview of the certificate standards used and the projects supported is available in our sustainability report here.
Our energy balance: Harnessing the power of the sun
At Brugger, we are firmly committed to generating our own electricity: with our three photovoltaic systems, we now cover almost 30 per cent of our total electricity requirements ourselves. But that’s not all: we also feed a further 15 per cent of the electricity we generate into the public grid as electricity from renewable sources.
Efficiency knows no boundaries
It’s often said that installing solar panels on north-facing roofs makes no sense – we’re proving the opposite! Our system on the north-facing roof (120 kWp) delivers an impressive 80 per cent of the yield of a comparable south-facing system over the course of a year.
Background information: To put this into perspective: 1 kWp of installed capacity on a south-facing roof in the Black Forest generates around 1,000 kWh of electricity per year.
Live insight: Our energy flows
The following chart illustrates our energy transition. It provides an overview of the data from the last 24 hours:
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Orange: Our current building power draw (our current consumption).
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Green: The solar yield from our three systems.
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Blue (net): The ratio between grid consumption and solar yield.
A look at the blue line: as soon as it drops below the zero line, we’re generating more electricity than we’re using, and feeding the surplus energy directly into the grid.
(To view the solar data, you must accept all cookies from the website.)
Best Practice: Measurable data for climate action
A current project on our company premises demonstrates how we put this responsibility into practice in our day-to-day operations:
Accurate local data is essential for a better understanding of the challenges posed by climate change. Since May 2024, a state-of-the-art weather station on the field behind our company building has been providing detailed measurements of regional weather patterns.
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The benefit: this data helps to provide a reliable basis for planners, local authorities and businesses to be better prepared for climate change.
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Local commitment: A special thank you goes to Jan Hagnberger, who operates and maintains this station privately with great passion.
For us, this project is a wonderful example of how private commitment and entrepreneurial initiative come together to make a valuable contribution to the wider community.
Climate protection data: Transparency in BRUGGER’s emissions accounting
We take responsibility for our operational emissions. To systematically track our environmental footprint, we produce an annual greenhouse gas inventory.
In doing so, we categorise our emissions precisely into the three internationally recognised scopes of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol.
- Scope 1: Direct emissions from our own operations (e.g. vehicle fleet, heating)
- Scope 2: Indirect emissions from purchased energy (e.g. electricity consumption)
- Scope 3: Other indirect emissions in our upstream and downstream supply chain
Our additional financial contribution to global climate protection
In addition to our internal reduction measures, we provide targeted support for certified climate protection projects in emerging and developing countries. In doing so, we finance the transfer of clean technologies and promote sustainable local economic development. Based on our annual emissions figures, we make a voluntary financial contribution to global climate protection through the purchase of verified climate protection certificates.
We provide our B2B partners with a detailed overview of the projects and certificates we support in a transparent manner through our Sustainability Report.
Magnet recycling: Professional disposal, safe recovery, resource-efficient recycling.
As an industrial company, we structure our processes around the responsible use of raw materials. A key component of our environmental strategy is the recycling of magnetic materials in collaboration with our partner Rocklink and the Magcycle take-back scheme.
Why we recycle magnetic material
In our production processes, it is technically impossible to completely avoid the generation of magnetic waste, defective magnets or surplus raw magnets. These contain valuable raw materials such as rare earths, the extraction of which is associated with environmental impacts. We specifically channel these valuable resources into recycling to make them usable again for industry.
Our recycling process with Rocklink
We use the specialised magnet take-back and recycling system Magcycle to ensure our magnetic material is properly sent for material recovery (process R4):
- Return by pallet: We collect our industrial magnetic waste, sorted by type, on pallets.
- Structured logistics: Rocklink collects the transport units directly from our site.
- Analysis & evaluation: At the recycling centre, the material is weighed and analysed in detail using X-ray fluorescence analysis. We receive a transparent assessment of the scrap’s composition as well as an official certificate of recovery (Annex VII accompanying document).
- Reintroduction into the recycling cycle: The recovered secondary raw materials are processed using thermometallurgical and hydrometallurgical methods and reintroduced into the global material cycle for the manufacture of permanent magnets.
Information on Magcycle can be found at: www.magnetrecycling.de
Our key areas of focus
- Resource efficiency: Minimising industrial waste and maximising the reuse of valuable secondary raw materials.
- Reducing environmental impact: Reducing the demand for primary raw materials through the use of closed-loop recycling systems.
- Support for circular economy solutions: Active involvement in establishing effective take-back schemes for magnetic products.
RESPEKT vor Rohstoffen
Magnetrecycling... Aus Schrott wird neue Anziehungskraft
Brugger GmbH Magnetic Systems: Outstanding resource conservation
As a forward-looking company, we at BRUGGER take responsibility for the resource-efficient management of our recyclable materials.
We are therefore delighted to have received the latest ‘resources SAVED’ certificate from Interzero for the year 2025. Through the professional recycling of our recyclable materials, we were able to save the equivalent of 148 kilograms of primary resources last year and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 12 kilograms.
We greatly appreciate having found a partner who is working with us to drive the transition towards a resource-efficient circular economy.
For your information: Interzero is one of the leading full-service environmental service providers and supports us in avoiding waste, securing raw materials and continuously optimising our sustainability performance. The efficient recycling of raw materials offers enormous opportunities – for the environment, the economy and society alike.
Interzero is one of the pioneers of recycling and has more than 30 years’ experience in developing and implementing tailor-made solutions for waste prevention and recovery.
For us, responsibility does not end with the product, but also extends to the journey to our customers. By using DHL GoGreen Plus, we are making an active contribution to more sustainable transport solutions. The emissions generated during transport are offset directly within the logistics network through targeted investments by DHL in green technologies. We have posted our official certificate for the past year here for your reference .
