Kingspan, a global leader in high-performance insulation and envelope solutions for low carbon buildings, has committed to recycling 500 million plastic bottles each year by 2023.
The company said that it has a further target of 1 billion bottles each year by 2025.
Supporting A Circular Economy
The initiative is part of a broader programme, together with the company’s 2020 Net Zero Energy manufacturing target, to produce its energy-saving products in a low carbon and environmentally responsible way.
While the group already manufactured insulation using recycled plastic, it added that, from today, it will be adding recovered ocean plastic to this manufacturing chain.
“Today’s announcement, part of the Planet Passionate commitment in Kingspan’s sustainability plan, forms part of a longer-term strategy we are developing around supporting the circular economy and increasing our use of recycled materials,” Gene Murtagh, CEO of Kingspan Group said.
“With the construction industry contributing 30% of all the global waste that goes into landfill, it is vital that we at Kingspan find responsible ways to reduce waste at all points in the supply chain.”
EcoAlf Foundation
To achieve this target, Kingspan has partnered with the EcoAlf Foundation and under a 3-year partnership, the company will proactively help to remove up to 150 tonnes of waste from the Mediterranean each year.
Through the EcoAlf Foundation’s network of fishermen, Kingspan will reuse as much of the ocean plastic recovered as it can in its production.
At present only 9% of the plastic ever made in the world has been recycled, and according to the United Nations Environment Programme, more than 8 million tonnes of plastic ends up in the ocean each year.
“We are excited to have formed this partnership with Kingspan, which will help us expand our initiative to clean the oceans,” Javier Goyeneche, founder of the EcoAlf Foundation said.
“Kingspan is an ideal partner because they can help us close the loop by using large volumes of the materials we recover from the seas in their products.
“But even more importantly we want partners who share our values of wanting to make the planet a cleaner and more sustainable place and we look forward to working together with Kingspan in this spirit.”
© 2019 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Aidan O’Sullivan. Click subscribe to sign up for the Checkout print edition.
