FMJ.CO.UK
ENVIRONMENTAL WORK PAYS OFF
FOR DURABLE AT UKWA AWARDS
MONTH IN FM
AUGUST 2019 49
No matter what industry we work in, we all
know how important it is for businesses to
be aware of their social and environmental
responsibilities.
As a large manufacturer with five production
facilities across Europe, DURABLE have always
exuded a culture of corporate responsibility, long
before it became fashionable to do so, in a bid
to reduce their carbon footprint and commit to a
sustainable future.
What initiatives have DURABLE implemented in
recent years?
Lowenergy
building lighting: At their UK site they
have installed low-energy lighting throughout their
buildings, first installing low-energy LEDs in the
warehouse in 2015 and then upgrading all of the
o ice lighting in January 2017. Over 100 light fittings
were replaced which are projected to save 51 tonnes
of CO2 over their lifetime.
This investment in lowenergy
o ice lighting has
reduced energy consumption
and therefore reduced energy
costs. Electricity used to
power the o ice lights has
dropped from 22,831 to 6,610
KWh/year and so the annual
spend on electricity has
reduced by over 70%.
Solar Panels: In early 2016, Durable UK installed
solar panels. Since then the solar panels have
produced enough electricity to power all electrical
needs within the building with enough spare to
return to the grid.
90,645 kWh of electricity have been generated by
the panels since February 2016, the environmental
benefits of which equates to:
64.1 metric tonnes of CO2 emissions saved
8,173,502 smartphones charged
22.4 tonnes of waste recycled instead of landfilled
Manufacturing site and process improvements:
As far back as 2014, 100% of plastic waste that arose
during production was internally recycled. DURABLE
use the waste from producing one product to create
the raw materials for manufacturing another.
They have also modified production processes
so that as little energy as possible is wasted. Waste
heat from the production process, compressors and
refrigerators, is used for heating the buildings or
passed to energy recovery systems.
In addition, energy-saving lighting is used
throughout all five of their production and
distribution facilities.
UK Recycling: As part of the company’s CSR
commitment they are always striving to reduce
waste and increase their recycling year on year.
Since 2016 they have seen a 6% reduction in general
waste and increased recycling by 121%.
The team have also returned 64,785 kilos of
Euro Pallets from the UK warehouse back to their
production sites to allow them to be re-used and
redistributed across Europe.
The reward
All of this hard work and dedication was recently
recognised at the prestigious 75th annual UKWA
awards in June where DURABLE were awarded the
‘Environmental Award’ for 2019.
The ‘Environmental Award’ is given to the
company that best demonstrates a commitment to
sustainability and the most successful application
of energy e icient processes aimed at cost savings
and/or carbon reduction
Kate Robson, Sales Manager at DURABLE UK
said: “It was a pleasure to join in the celebrations
of the UKWA’s 75th-anniversary awards. We are
thrilled to win the ‘Environmental Award’ in which
we demonstrated how we strive to make changes
across our entire supply chain and help protect our
world in the future.”
To find out more about the changes that have
been and continue to be made at DURABLE UK,
head over to www.durable-uk.com/company/
sustainability.html
www.durableuk.
com 01202 893 799
/sustainability.html
/www.durable-uk.com