So what is sustainability? To achieve sustainability in business – as a producer, employer and contributor to society and the economy – lots of things come into play:
- maintaining high quality, lean and efficient production
- using quality, responsibly sourced materials
- setting realistic pricing
- providing excellent customer service
- ensuring compliance
- mitigating risks.
All of these are key in ensuring our future. Strong financial performance is also critical, because without that, we could not invest in sustainability efforts.
But in this section, we are going to focus on environmental sustainability and social sustainability policies and practices. We believe that strong performance in these areas is a responsibility, as an established Irish manufacturing business. But we also believe that our efforts provide a competitive advantage for ourselves AND our customers.
Valuing the environment: moving towards a circular economy
We have an Environmental Sustainability Policy in place, to ensure that business needs are balanced with environmental concerns. This helps to ensure we are reducing emissions and combating climate change as much as we possibly can.
EFFICIENT MANUFACTURING WITH A LOW ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
We manufacture our products as efficiently as possible. The majority of the products we manufacture are fibre or cardboard, made with mainly renewable materials; requiring much less water or energy use than alternatives made of other materials; and producing much less emissions.
(The European Association of Fibre Drum Manufacturers lists the full environmental qualities of fibre drums and commitments of their European producers.) Still, we have energy efficiency and emissions reduction targets in production, as throughout our operations.
We also constantly think about how to make our product range even more environmentally friendly, to help our customers be more sustainable and extend our impact beyond our walls. For example, in 2021, we further improved the climate credentials of our Enviroloc drum, by removing the plastic base reinforcement option, making these drums fully kraft. In 2022, we invested in 68 reusable racks and changed from delivering our cardboard cores on pallets, stretch-wrapped and strapped, to delivering them on these racks, to reduce plastic packaging waste.
In addition to manufacturing our own products, we distribute products manufactured by others. When we enter into these partnerships, we inform ourselves about these producers’ sustainability practices, aiming to work with companies who are as committed as we are. You can find more information about the commitments of the main suppliers of our plastic industrial containers on their respective websites: Greif and Curtec. We have also started in recent years to supply reconditioned containers from Packaging Laundry, to encourage packaging reuse, in a move towards a more circular economy.
We also endeavour to offer options where possible. While sustainable fibre and long-lasting steel drum options exist for larger quantities, plastic has long been the only strong and cost-effective option for smaller quantities. We resolved to source a robust and economically viable alternative – and in 2022 we added tinplate pails to our range as a possible substitute for plastic pails, small drums and buckets. Metal is a good choice of material where sustainability is concerned – it’s robust enough to be recycled, again and again, maintaining its integrity. Today, about 80% of metal packaging is recycled in Europe.
MEASURABLE TARGETS
Not only have we processes in place to ensure compliance with all Irish and EU legislative requirements on a continuous basis, but we also continually assess activities with the specific goal of preventing pollution and minimising environmental impact. We set measurable annual targets to help us improve all the time. This results in undertakings such as replacing old equipment, altering processes to reduce energy demand and implementing energy efficiency practices throughout the premises, where possible.
A recent example is the implementation, throughout our factories and production areas, of LED lighting which automatically adjust up and down depending on the amount of natural light coming into the factory through the roof. This has reduced energy consumption on lighting by 20%. Our next step is to install solar panels on the roofs of both factories to power our lighting and production. We hope to achieve this by 2024.
Read also about recent investment in new machinery, to make our production more efficient.
WASTE REDUCTION
Waste reduction is a major priority for us.
In our sort of business, high volumes of waste can be generated due to poor quality product being produced, then rejected at Quality Control stage. This happens for a number of reasons, including technical failure of machines, operator errors and raw material quality or specification issues. We make great efforts to prevent these things occurring, firstly by meticulously cleaning, maintaining and routinely upgrading our machinery. We also ensure that good operator training and staff retention measures are in place. And we only buy raw materials from approved tested suppliers and quality check the material before it goes into production.
Unavoidable waste is separated by waste stream so it can be recycled.
For this purpose, we are voluntary members of Repak.
What is Repak?
Established in 1997, Repak has been at the forefront of driving the recycling and sustainability movement in Ireland, dedicated to transforming the nation into a leading figure in Europe for packaging recycling within a circular economy. With over 3,400 members, Repak not only aids businesses in fulfilling their recycling obligations but also finances recycling infrastructure across the country, including household bins and civic amenities. Emphasising the importance of reducing packaging waste’s environmental footprint, Repak actively engages in various initiatives and campaigns aimed at enhancing packaging sustainability and promoting recycling practices among businesses and consumers alike. Through its ambitious 10-year strategy, Repak sets forth primary goals such as becoming a leading force in packaging recycling by 2025, achieving a 50% recycling rate for plastic packaging by the same year, and surpassing the EU’s recycling target by reaching an 80% milestone for all packaging by 2030. For these reasons and more, we have teamed with Repak to recycle all cardboard core and tube waste.
ENGAGEMENT
We ensure that employees have the knowledge, resources and authority to implement the guiding principles of our Environmental Policy and we communicate about environmental issues on a continuous basis with staff at every level.
Our Environmental Management System has been independently assessed by Certification Europe, who awarded us the relevant certification: ISO 14001:2015.
More about our vision and values
Valuing people: ensuring health and safety
We recognise the social and economic importance of protecting the health and safety of anyone affected by our operations and we are committed to leading by example in social sustainability.
This commitment includes the provision of safe and healthy working conditions, as well as training, instruction, supervision, safety devices and protective equipment to enable employees to perform their work safely and efficiently.
It includes consulting with employees on issues relating to occupational health and safety and seeking expert advice from both in-house and external specialists.
We also communicate regularly about the importance of human health and safety with staff at all levels and conduct regular risk assessments, with the participation of employees.
Our Occupational Health & Safety Management System has been independently assessed by Certification Europe, who awarded us the relevant certification: ISO 45001:2018.