For the sixth consecutive year Swish Building Products has succeeded in reducing its carbon footprint; it now produces 32% less CO2 than it did in its base line year of 2008. In 2014 Swish processed a record number of tonnes of material and despite this the company’s carbon emissions from its manufacturing processes were down 6.5% per tonne on 2013.
Once again the company’s electricity consumption proved to be the biggest saving, down 5.8% on 2013, giving an overall improvement of 30.5% on the base line year; in real terms that’s equivalent to powering 1050 UK homes.
While electricity remains the company’s largest resource consumption; due to the increase in manufacturing, last year saw the low maintenance building products manufacturer use more gas than ever before. Yet, even with this surge in usage, Swish Building Products was over 50% more efficient than in the previous year; overall the company’s gas usage now produces 40% less carbon emissions than in 2008.
Fuel efficiency continues to be an area of improvement; it is now nearly 20% more efficient than in 2008. This year there are plans to invest in a fleet of Euro 6 compliant trucks, further improving fuel efficiencies.
Water is the company’s most dramatic saving; it is 62% more efficient than in 2008, down from 0.7 cubic metres of water per production tonne (normalised) to just 0.27; or put another way, a saving of 5,500,000 litres of water in just six years.
Swish Building Products marketing manager, Greg Wilde said: “With 67% of UK consumers now more likely to buy a product with a low carbon footprint (Carbon Trust), and environmental performance high on the agenda for tender criteria, our continued improvement is incredibly valuable. It’s an asset that benefits the entire supply chain.”
