Our Sustainability Journey
23rd September 2024
Small changes can lead to bigger, more significant impacts, and individuals and businesses alike have a responsibility to do their bit on behalf of the planet. As a business and manufacturer, we are patently aware of the need to run sustainably and take responsibility and action for the sake of the future of our planet and our people.
We have been taking tangible steps towards operating more sustainably, and this year we have consolidated our efforts so far to form the foundation of a greater plan that pushes us towards becoming the most sustainable business that we can be.
What we’re doing
Our in-house sustainability committee help us to keep accountable and push us forward towards setting and ultimately meeting goals, whilst also identifying areas for development and missed opportunities.
Our current focus is gaining insight into areas where we can improve. We are tracking and monitoring our outputs throughout the factory, particularly focusing on water and energy usage. We will use this data to set science-based SMART goals that cover the next few years. Alongside this, we have audited our supply chain and are now looking at how we can use the full picture to underpin our future decisions and plans.
What we’ve already done
The steps towards sustainability make up a far greater journey, and one that we embarked on a few years ago. One of our first steps was to phase out plastic from our factory. In the factory itself, we have replaced plastic cups with recycled paper alternatives and removed as much plastic as we can. Any plastic that we cannot avoid is recycled, and to discourage use of single-use plastics, all staff have an aluminium water bottle.
Along with the plastic in the factory, we have also phased out plastic in our packing department, and now our packaging is made of recycled and recyclable card, eco-friendly tape, and paper.
In the factory
We have changed 48 filter socks on our main extraction unit in the polishing department and installed air monitors on all our lathes. Not only does this ensure that the machinery is working properly, but it also sends an alert when there is an issue or blockage which could release contaminates into the air. This has improved efficiency, but crucially, it has increased safety within our finishing department.
Alongside this, we have installed a new cleaning machine that has a lower energy consumption and features that decrease the risk that the use of solvent poses. These features include a better enclosure, automated handling and better refrigeration. This makes the machine safer to use and minimises solvent waste by recycling and recovering the dirty solvent with approximately 90-95% of solvent recovered.