INSULATION
ZERO WASTE S
uperFOIL Insulation says it now sends zero waste to landfill. While the company has recycled waste from its production line in Lincoln over many years, recent investments and partnerships are having a major positive impact on the firm’s environmental contributions.
Everything that cannot be immediately recycled is delivered to waste recovery partners, Mid UK Recycling and ShredMaster, which shred and sort the material to extract and process as much recyclable material as possible. Any remaining waste is then used to generate electricity for the national grid.
SuperFOIL managing director William Bown, says: “We’re thrilled to be able to announce that SuperFOIL now sends absolutely nothing to landfill, helping us toward our goal of having a positive impact on the environment. We’re very passionate about sustainability and strive to do everything we can to help our environment, reduce our carbon footprint and help our clients do the same with insulation.
“In addition to offsetting the carbon emissions
of every member of our team, we’ve switched to local suppliers to reduce transport, shifted to plastic-free packaging, invested in an electric fleet and we use more recycled material in our products. Now, we’ve cleaned up our act even further by eliminating waste.”
As part of SuperFOIL’s commitment to zero waste to landfill, the company has set up points across the site to separate all waste, monitor waste creation and reduce excess packaging. A
dedicated member of staff at the Lincoln HQ has also been appointed to oversee and manage the waste, baling and collections.
Through recycling, waste reduction and energy production, insulation manufacturer Superfoil sends nothing to landfill
Lincolnshire-based corporate waste and recycling firm, ShredMaster collects all of cardboard and plastic waste from SuperFOIL’s factory and then sorts it into grades. It is then baled and recycled into other components - for example, back into cardboard boxes for reuse. SuperFOIL also works alongside Mid UK Recycling - which operates two state-of-the-art materials recycling facilities to process the waste and extract different materials. While the vast majority of material is recycled, anything that cannot be used to produce electricity is then exported to the national grid.
SuperFOIL’s move to achieve zero waste to landfill is the latest in a series of green initiatives in the last year. Last summer, the company switched to UK-based suppliers to reduce transportation and increase the quantity of recycled material in its products to 45% on average.
The company is also switching to more easily recycled, cardboard and paper packaging for all of its products and has updated its fleet of cars to electric vehicles - as well as committing to offsetting the carbon emissions of its entire workforce. Through continued product development, SuperFOIL has been able to reduce the package product size, which further reduces the transportation costs and emissions compared to traditional insulations and other multifoils. BMJ
BRE HIGHLIGHTS INSULATION’S ROLE IN HEALTHY HOMES
A new report by the Building Research Establishment highlights the importance to health of ensuring homes are properly insulated.
T
he BRE report - The Cost of Poor Housing by Tenure in England - suggests that tackling illnesses caused by living in a cold home could be costing the NHS £540 million a year. Insulation specialist Actis says the report hammers home the fact that retrofitting homes to improve their energy efficiency is more than a ‘nice to have’. As well as saving a fortune on heating bills and helping the environment, living in a warm home can stave off cold-related illnesses as well as falls, and poor cognitive functioning.
The BRE analysed 2.4 million examples of poor housing across England - in the owner-occupied, private rental and social sectors.
Of these, 700,000 were deemed officially
‘excessively cold’, meaning that millions of people across the country could be at risk of ill health as a result of poorly insulated and inadequately heated properties. These were predominantly owner occupied or private rented homes. Actis UK and Ireland sales director Mark Cooper said: “The BRE report estimates it will cost more than £6,000 per home on average to improve the most excessively cold properties. Although the Minimum Level of Energy Efficiency (MEES) for private rented properties, which require a minimum E energy efficiency rating, might only cost landlords £3,500 per home. “The new £1 billion ECO+ scheme, which comes into force this spring, is targeted at home owners living in certain types of homes - in council tax bands A to D in England, A to E in Scotland and A to C in Wales - and which have
May 2023
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net
EPC (Energy Performance Certificate) ratings of D or lower. While this is helpful, home owners are only being offered grants of up to £1,500 - a long way short of the cost the BRE says is required.
“Research shows that more than 12 million homes had EPCs of D or worse in 2020. In fact, we have some of the least energy efficient housing stock in Europe. Installing insulation is the most cost-effective way of stemming the flow of heat escaping from these homes. “This latest research is an important piece of evidence showing that something radical needs to be done to ensure the UK’s leaky housing stock is fit for purpose. This is important for the purses of those living there, for the planet, for the health of the nation and now, as this report shows, for the economy.” BMJ
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