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GIVING MANUFACTURING SMES A HELPING HAND IS ESSENTIAL TO NET ZERO SUCCESS
Sustainability has become a strategic priority for the manufacturing industry.
Together with the transport and storage industries, the sector produces 15% of the UK’s greenhouse gases.
The pressure for manufacturing companies to align processes and products to the health of the planet is now coming from all directions: employees, customers, the government, investors, and the wider communities.
This challenge is acutely felt in Lancashire where manufacturing has remained a defining sector from its heritage as the cradle of the industrial revolution to its present day home to specialised aerospace and automotive clusters, as well as a staggeringly diverse 50-plus manufacturing sub-sectors. All in all, there are upwards of 3,600 manufacturing companies, employing over 86,000 people across the county.
While there are several major employers in the region, it is SMEs that make up the majority of the manufacturing base. Who better than SMEs to spearhead the use of eco-innovation to help the UK slash emissions by 78 per cent by 2035 and achieve net zero by 2050.
And help is on their doorstep. A government- commissioned Science Innovation Audit led by Lancaster University has demonstrated that the ‘North West Coastal Arc’, which encompasses Lancashire, hosts a unique range of assets in research quality, people, technology, and place to exploit clean growth and lead the world in the development of low
carbon and eco-innovative products, services and technologies.
This hotbed of collaboration is being supported by The Centre for Global Eco- Innovation at Lancaster University, which undertakes business-led R&D to deliver low carbon products and services.
It’s latest initiative, Eco-I North West, is a £14m R&D programme giving SMEs access to a regional knowledge base, cutting-edge research facilities and skills involving six leading universities - Lancaster, Central Lancashire, Cumbria, Liverpool, Liverpool John Moores and Manchester Metropolitan.
Since its launch two years ago, more than 100 businesses have collaborated with universities to test their ideas which could help solve global challenges such as water supply and
quality, waste, energy, resource efficiency, natural capital, air quality, and food security. Among these are 36 SMEs from Lancashire.
Kerax, based in Chorley, the UK’s leading manufacturer of formulated wax products from vegetable and petrochemical raw materials, have started working with Lancaster University on a project to develop hydrogenated vegetable waxes, together with oils and waxes derived from post-consumer plastic waste (PLASWAX©).
Ian Appleton, Chief Executive of Kerax, said: “Innovation and bespoke products are key to Kerax’s future growth and our ambitions to fulfil the industry demand for emulsions of hydrogenated vegetable waxes as sustainable alternatives to petrochemical equivalents.
“No currently existing surfactants have proven effective in creating a durable and
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