Every tiny step you take counts a lot!

For me and I assume, for many of you, the recycling is already a part of the daily life. We recycle plastic, glass, metal, newspapers and cardboard. Sometimes I feel that I have already done my share, at least when the combustible food bag breaks to the kitchen floor. There are also days that I feel that I have not done enough. In my job as a Sales Director I travel quite a lot: take a flight or drive to the customer or internal meetings. I try to use train and bus as much as possible, but not all of our mills or customers are located near to the train station or a bus stop.  
I think SSAB’s is right when saying that the sustainable expedition has just started. Sustainable world is just not something that we can achieve in one night. It takes time and we all know it. If you feel HYBRIT and the year 2035 is too far away, remember that good, smaller steps can be taken every day, like SSAB Raahe’s pilot to use the biocoal to replace fossil coal. 

I had the opportunity to listen a presentation of the futurology Ilkka Halava at the annual Ohutlevypäivät and I must say he has an interesting approach how to solve the environmental problems. He says that one of the solutions to the more sustainable world is to stop wasting the resources and to use better the technology we already have. We of course need the technological leaps and new ways of doing things, but the main point is that we can all contribute.
He gave examples that we should stop wasting the office and school space: After five o’clock in the evening, all the offices are empty, but they could be used for something else rather than build new buildings for those activities. He also stated that we have 10 times more cars in the city centers than we actually need. Most of the times, the cars are parked in the huge car buildings, built just for the cars. Not very clever use of space, or what do you think? What about our car trunks then? They are empty, unless we go to the skiing holiday once per year with our family, then we have too little space and we dream about having a bigger car. Why not to use the trunks for something useful, like transporting packages to our friends or even to a stranger?

SSAB can offer great products that can really help to stop wasting the resources and to use better the solutions we already have. One of those product is biotechnology based GreenCoat® -color coated steels. I would like to see that in Finland, new house builders would know that we can offer an environmental friendly option for roofing, rain water systems and building facades. Our target could be that we can make the world more environmental friendly roof by roof. Let’s see if that is possible.  At least we can say that the journey has begun. 

Lotta Ruottinen, Sales Director