5 ways we’re cutting our carbon footprint

As an aluminium recycling industry leader, it’s only right that we’re committed to reducing our own carbon footprint just as much as we’re committed to doing the same thing for our customers.

This involves proactively analysing and refining every single element of our work to ensure it is as environmentally-friendly as possible. And with equipment and greener ways of working rapidly evolving by the day, sustainability is deeply rooted within our operations.

Sharing our sustainability story is also incredibly important to us too

By sharing our latest net zero-driven developments, we hope they will inspire and encourage other organisations to follow in our steps.

With that in mind, here’s a glimpse at a handful of ways we’re currently improving our environmental credentials:

1. Switching to an electric shredder

Thanks to the latest equipment innovations we mentioned earlier, we recently replaced our pre shredder with an all-electric Bano version.

It’s a mighty piece of equipment that’s essentially the ‘beating heart’ of our everyday processes, swallowing up and spitting out huge chunks of metal – as big as two entire track way boards (at the same time).

2. Investing in next gen x-rays

As well as upgrading our shredder, we’ve invested in two next generation x-ray machines, which are extremely special industry-leading pieces of equipment.

We were the first company in the world to install this particular version of the X-TRACT? x-ray machines which, thanks to their revolutionary sensor-based technology, has enabled us to recover 99% clean aluminium. More importantly, the technology has allowed us to instantly upgrade our material, so that it can remain in the UK rather than being exported, closing the loop on the recycling process as much as possible and converting scrap aluminium back into high quality aluminium.

3. Driving Euro 6-compliant lorries

Our drivers are constantly on the road, collecting metal from our customers, wherever they may be in the UK. This means our DAF trucks rack up some serious miles every year which, in turn, can impact the environment.

We replace our lorries every five years, which means our fleet always comprises newer and more environmentally-friendly Euro 6-compliant models. At the same time, we always make sure they’re topped up with AdBlue to help keep harmful emissions to an absolute minimum.

4. Strategically planning our journeys

We’ve managed to slash typical journey times by 600 miles per vehicle per month. We’ve achieved this by minimising how many daily miles our teams cover.

Where possible, our operations team always looks to strategically plan our drivers’ trips so they carry out multiple collections from one area. Not only does this enable just one vehicle to be used, it cuts down on valuable travelling time too.

5. Recycling our skips

No metal is safe from being recycled in our yard (even our skips get recycled!)

We periodically recycle our old skips, which have been in service with us for 20+ years and have helped us shift thousands of tonnes of aluminium all over the country. Here’s a shot of one of our skips that has recently been refurbed by the team at Fairport Containers and is anticipated to last us another two decades.

Our sustainability journey has only just begun...

By further leveraging the latest technological advancements and combining them with our pioneering processes and industry-leading thinking, we’re determined to continue to push the aluminium recycling boundaries at all levels and inspire others along the way too.

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