Seeing the bigger picture
June 1st 2010 Many of us have been led to believe that using a product made from 100% recycled material is good enough. But bpi.recycled products is one organisation that begs to differ
The shift towards greener cleaning solutions hasn’t just been beneficial for the environment. It’s also been something of a godsend for marketers. Today, it’s harder than ever for us to practise greener cleaning while avoiding the ever present threat of greenwashing. Take recycled polythene refuse sacks.
“The problem with most 100% recycled refuse sacks is that they’re actually made from waste plastic that’s sorted and reprocessed overseas, particularly in the Far East,” explains Sian Miles, environmental & materials director at bpi.recycled products – one of Europe’s largest manufacturers of sacks for refuse collection and recycling schemes.
“While these offshore recycled sacks do play an important part in reclaiming reusable polythene and in diverting waste from landfill, they also have incredibly high product miles and a major carbon footprint. From an environmental point of view, it’s a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul.”
Keep green by keeping British
In marked contrast, bpi.recycled products, which ranks as one of the largest recycler of waste polythene in Europe with the ability to reprocess some 70,000 tonnes per annum, insists on recycling UK waste at UK facilities. This results in products like the manufacturer’s flagship Green Sack range which has a carbon footprint up to 35% smaller than most other 100% recycled refuse sacks currently on the market.
On top of that, these ultra-low carbon footprint refuse sacks still deliver all the same environmental advantages as conventional recycled refuse sacks. This includes a reduction in attributable CO2 and other harmful emissions from their production as well as the ability to help conserve valuable resources such as crude oil and water.
Green through thick and thin
bpi.recycled products has also become a key exponent of downgauging. “Downgauging is perfectly aligned to the waste hierarchy principles of reduce, reuse and recycle,” continues Miles.
“It entails creating a film that offers all the performance of a conventional product but from a thinner film thickness This ensures that both amount of raw material used and subsequent waste created are subject to a marked reduction.”
The Green Sack range is again a prime example of downgauging. In its production, bpi.recycled products not only uses materials such as used silage balewrap and industrial packaging (all chosen because of their high strength), but also employs special downgauging technology. This allows Green Sacks to be thinner while still offering incredible strength and resistance to punctures and tears.
Closing the loop
In some cases waste used by bpi.recycled products can even come from its sister divisions. As part of British Polythene Industries (BPI) plc, bpi.recycled products is one of six operating businesses offering everything from agricultural films to pallet stretchwrapping. Where the waste used is from other BPI businesses, it’s a case of closing the loop in the strictest sense of the words.
One key player in the cleaning sector now enjoying the benefits of these closed capabilities is Yate Supplies. A founding member of the Maxima Group and a business with a 27 year history, this leading distributor of catering disposables, janitorial products and washroom supplies frequently deposits used pallet stretchwrap collected from its own warehouse at bpi.recycled products’ nearby Stroud recycling facility. bpi.recycled products then reprocesses this scrap along with other materials to create the Green Sack range of refuse sacks – which Yate Supplies also carries.
“Thanks to the phenomenon of greenwashing, any organisation’s claims of subscribing to the highest standards of sustainability can all too easily be seen as corporate rhetoric,” concludes Sian Miles. “Using products like the Green Sack on the other hand allows organisations to demonstrate a very real and in-depth commitment to making greener choices.
“It proves they care not only about using a recycled product, but also about where that recycling takes place and about other important environmental issues such as carbon impact and the conservation of the earth’s diminishing resources.”
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