World Environment Day 2022 with igus®
World Environment Day reminds us that we need to protect our planet! I have written other blogs about sustainable issues that igus® are tackling inside out outside of the business which can be read here
But this blog looks at the now, “what is World Environment Day?” and what is igus® doing right now to help reduce its carbon footprint?
What is World Environment Day and why do we observe it?
World Environment Day is actually not publicised enough, considering the severity of the topic. This day is to remind us and to raise awareness of the damage that we are doing to our planet. It wasn’t until 1972 that a committee gathered and registered the need for this to become a national day. In all honesty, this shouldn’t be one day!
This should be embedded into our brains, cemented into our everyday lives, and should be some sort of law. Luckily, more and more individuals, companies and large corporations are waking up and accepting their part to play in not destroying the planet.
What is igus® doing to further reduce their carbon footprint?
As a plastics manufacturer, we have never shied away from the perception of plastic in the media and among the public. We have been very transparent with “our plastic” and always highlighted the benefits of these long-lasting plastic components that we make over metal counterparts and highlight the positives of what we do. Sure, there will always be a negative connotation with being a producer of plastic; however, the positives far outweigh the negatives and even with the negatives, we are reducing the impact of these.
Chainge program
This program isn’t a new concept; however, the concept has become a reality in many forms in 2022 and people are really investing in this project.
The chainge program was started to reduce the amount of old energy chains going into landfill. We offer to take any old chains, regardless of manufacturer and recycle them. This is going well at our head office in Germany, but we have been implementing our own version of this project in the UK. Earlier in the year, we received some large batches of energy chains from a UK airport.
We managed to recycle these in a circular way by reusing them for construction hoardings and exhibition stands. The chains were sent to igus’ recycling partner, MyWaste in Hull, where they are remanufactured into Storm Boards – a proprietary name for versatile structural plastic boards. We then made them into our innovation displays/igus® corners and these are now displayed in a large number of customer establishments.
chainflex® recycling program
This program was set up to ensure that complete systems could be recycled in some fashion. The chainflex® recycling does exactly that. Like with the chainge program, we will accept any cables back from suppliers or customers. We collaborate with our recycling partner to ensure 100% zero-to-landfill recycling of electrical cables. We will then calculate the total proceeds generated from recycled copper at the end of 2022 and donate to tree-planting initiatives across the UK. Many large customers are getting involved with this to help reduce landfill.
Long term goals
As a company, every-day is world environment day. Our goal is to become carbon neutral by 2025 and we are well on our way with the above- mentioned initiatives, as well as looking at electric fleet cars and new moulding machines with 40% less energy required for the same output. If we all do our bit, we can slow down the destruction we are causing and days like World Environment Day help raise awareness for those that perhaps need a reminder.
