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Green Cleaning
The cost of sustainability
Is it possible to provide your customers with environmentally-friendly, sustainable
products without paying the earth? Dr Martina Eisenbeis, of Tork manufacturer SCA,
looks at how to reconcile sustainability with cost-effective solutions
t used to be accepted that environmentally-friendly products were operations in Sweden while the rest will be fed into the national grid.
I
often more costly than less ‘green’ alternatives. And in some cases SCA is also constantly striving to reduce its freshwater intake by
environmentally-friendly solutions were not even expected to cleaning and re-using process water. While this scheme eventually
work as well as other products, for example ‘green’ detergents often brings a reduction in water consumption costs, initial investments in
relied on less aggressive formulations than their traditional efficient water treatment technology have had to be made.
counterparts. But when the environmental movement first took hold,
many companies were prepared to overlook these drawbacks in their Lay waste to waste
willingness to become greener. Such large-scale, long-term projects are not practical solutions for
However, the crippling effects of the recession over the past few every company. But one of the key ways in which all companies can
years has put the issue of keeping down costs at the be environmentally friendly and cost-effective is by
top of the agenda. In the meantime, the term reducing waste. We are seeing this phenomenon
‘environmentally-friendly’ has been replaced with everywhere: Packaging is being kept to a minimum,
the wider concept of ‘sustainability’. To be supermarkets are persuading customers to re-use
sustainable today, any company, product or ethos plastic bags and super-concentrated chemicals are
needs to be highly workable both in terms of becoming more prevalent, leading to smaller bottles.
effectiveness and costs. Besides reducing companies’ waste disposal costs,
these moves also cut down on the number of
Sustainable investment deliveries from manufacturer to supplier and from
‘Sustainability’ encompasses everything from supplier to customer. This reduces both CO
2
emissions
business ethics and corporate social responsibility and fuel bills.
to community position and environmental In January, SCA was named in the Global 100 list of
concern. A sustainable business has to be competitive in order to the world’s most sustainable companies for the fifth year running. We
survive, and an increasing number of companies are discovering that look at the environment and sustainability at every stage in the life
cost savings can go hand in hand with sustainability. However, an cycle of our products, and we reduce waste and over-consumption
initial investment is often required. wherever we can. For instance, Tork Elevation dispensers (launched
In 2003 at SCA’s tissue mill in Lilla Edet, Sweden, we invested in a earlier this year) are designed to minimise the amount of spare space
boiler and sludge combustion unit for two reasons: We were keen to inside the dispenser and around the refill. The dispenser is more
implement a sustainable energy system, and we also wanted to compact, so more of them will fit on to a lorry. Pallet fit is a simple
reduce the amount of waste we sent to landfill sites. method of improving sustainability while also reducing costs. We
The unit takes the sludge from the recycled paper de-inking take the ‘air’ out of pallets by filling all available space with boxes of
operations and turns it into steam. The heat and steam from Tork tissue products. This reduces the number of lorries required to
combustion produces electricity for use in the mill, and the surplus is transport our products, reducing energy and transport costs
used for district heating in the Lilla Edet community. throughout.
Since its introduction, the boiler project has reduced CO
2
emissions Tork Elevation dispensers are designed to be highly durable, again
within SCA Tissue Europe by 6-7%. And as energy prices have avoiding unnecessary waste. The dispensers can also be recycled. All
increased over the years, the investment has turned out to be a real Tork dispensers have been developed to limit consumption of
cost saving. product by giving out only one portion at a time. Controlled
The sludge produced from recycled paper contains a large amount consumption helps to eliminate waste by discouraging the user from
of clean ash which can be used for ecological agriculture, road taking more than they need.
construction and asphalt production. The ash can replace cement Reducing energy consumption, cutting down on unnecessary
and lime which are both highly CO
2
-intensive to produce. transport and minimising waste are all important elements of
Another example of our long-term sustainability investments can sustainability that also bring cost-savings.
be found in the forests of central Sweden where SCA is building a By taking a holistic view and thinking through every link in the
wind power park in conjunction with Norwegian power producer production and supply chain, companies can indeed bring down
Statkraft. When fully operational the plant will produce around 2.8 their costs while also being
42738 or
cleaning-matters.co.uk/enquiry
terawatt hours of electricity. Part of this will be used by SCA´s environmentally-friendly. Tel: 01582 677400
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