SUSTAINABILITY Product, Packaging and Production are key considerations to achieving a
sustainability in manufacturing, says F. Ball. We find out more about the steps the company is taking towards a greener future.
Tackling the environmental impact and sustainability of products is something faced by all manufacturers, including those in the flooring industry. Minimising the use of substances such as solvents, for example, has been a huge contributor to the reduction of harmful VOC emissions from products such as adhesives.
Less obvious is the work undertaken at manufacturing facilities to further improve the sustainability of products by addressing indirect contributions to their ‘carbon footprint’ from energy usage. F. Ball has, itself, made significant changes at it’s Staffordshire manufacturing facility to reduce such indirect contributions.
The installation of 1,000 solar panels generates around 20% of the site’s electricity. LED lighting with occupancy sensors has eradicated 74 tonnes of carbon emissions every year. High efficiency boiler systems in the office, production and security blocks have also served to dramatically reduced the energy needed for heating.
A sophisticated energy management and monitoring systems ensures the energy efficiency of the site is constantly optimised.
RECYCLED PACKAGING Over the past 12 months the company has also increased its focus on the sustainability of its product packaging. One of the first major initiatives was the replacement of its traditional five litre yellow bottles, used for gauging liquids, tackifiers and primers, with 100% recyclable versions that are themselves made from recycled plastic.
The new bottles are manufactured from 95-98% recycled high density polyethylene (rHDPE) and are ‘neutral’ in colour. They can be disposed of through the normal waste disposal chain for recycling and the material can be recycled up to 10 times.
In making this ‘simple’ switch to recycled plastic, F. Ball will remove over 100 tonnes of virgin plastic material from the waste stream every year.
However, the transition to the recycled bottles was not necessarily ‘simple’ as F. Ball Managing Director Mark Hughes explains: “In replacing our five litre bottles with the recycled/ recyclable versions, we went to great lengths testing and assessing the new bottles to ensure they were as strong and robust as their predecessors and maintained the quality levels customers expect from F. Ball. It was also important that we were able to guarantee the products they contain reach the end user in perfect condition.
MAINTAINING QUALITY ESSENTIAL Mark continues: “Changing product packaging, especially when it’s become known as a symbol of high quality as the distinctive yellow bottles were, is never something you do
twitter.com/TContractFloors
RECOFLOOR RECYCLING INITIATIVE Alongside this work on introducing more sustainable product packaging, F. Ball has entered into a partnership with recycling scheme Recofloor to provide contractors with a convenient way of recycling F. Ball plastic bottles and buckets.
Under the scheme, contractors can now recycle F. Ball’s five litre recycled/recyclable bottles, as well as the company’s 5 and 15 litre yellow buckets. Initially F. Ball is trialling the initiative at a number of participating distributors to gauge its popularity.
Meanwhile the company is continuing to progress further replacement packaging options for its products and is pursuing additional environmental and sustainability improvements across all aspects of the business, led by SHEQ Manager, Jenny Barnett.
www.f-ball.com/en SUSTAINABILITY | 21
lightly, but the benefits of making the change are obvious. We discussed the proposed change with contractors and wholesalers beforehand and the overwhelming consensus is that reducing plastic packaging waste is something that everybody instinctively knows is the right thing to do.”
The recycled/recyclable 5L bottles have since been joined by a 20 litre version for F. Ball’s Styccobond F41 carpet tile tackifier. And, last month, F. Ball introduced a new, more environmentally- friendly packaging solution for its Stopgap 400 Repair compound and Stopgap 500 Micro floor finishing compound.
The fully recyclable ‘eco pouches’ require significantly less plastic to produce than the existing packaging. The new eco pouches also offer some additional benefits to contractors.
Durable and waterproof, the pouches are lighter and easy to handle, more convenient to use and deliver extended product shelf-life. F. Ball also took the opportunity to introduce two pack sizes for each product, in response to feedback from the flooring trade, thereby offering contractors greater choice.
THE 3-PS OF
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54
