We recently published our second annual Planet Passionate report which reviews the second year of progress in this 10-year sustainability program. Launched in December 2019, Planet Passionate is made up of 12 ambitious targets, addressing the impact of Kingspan’s business operations and manufacturing on four key areas of energy, carbon, circularity and water.
We are pleased to share some of the key reported highlights including a:
Other notable progress and achievements in meeting carbon, energy, water and circularity targets include:
Energy: Continued investment in renewable energy generation projects across our operations resulted in an increase in the direct use of renewable energy from 19.5% to 26.1%, and an increase in the percentage of wholly owned facilities with solar PV from 21.7% to 28.4%. Kingspan also achieved a 15% reduction in energy intensity year-on-year.
In North America, Kingspan’s Modesto plant is reducing its carbon footprint with the recent installation of a PV solar panel roof and our Columbus, Ohio, manufacturing facility is lowering carbon emissions by using direct-to-grid renewable wind energy to power the plant.
Circularity: Reduced company waste to landfill of 13%, as well as 843 million PET bottles recycled into our processes.
In North America, our Modesto, California facility continues to increase the use of recycled raw materials including using PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastic bottles in the formulation for production of Kingspan Quadcore® insulation to help prevent these bottles from ending up in a landfill or in the ocean.
Kingspan’s DeLand, Florida, manufacturing plant is diverting more and more waste from the landfill by implementing a system of nine color-coded waste streams to facilitate easy recycling as well as through a partnership with Atlanta-based Belter Tech to upcycle the plant’s foam scrap to make a variety of products including cement fill, ceiling tiles and panel products.
Our Langley, British Columbia, plant is also working to divert waste from the landfill by transforming waste into usable products and resources including a short-term waste-to-energy program that turns mineral fiber panel scrap into energy.
Water: Announced a partnership with SeabinTM, a project dedicated to cleaning up the oceans, to deploy their unique technology first in Sydney Harbour followed by LA later in 2022. This is the second of five ocean clean-up projects we’ll support, as part of our Planet Passionate sustainability program.
In North America, our Monterrey, Mexico plant is harvesting and collecting rainwater before it is dispersed as surface run-off. The water that is collected is used as irrigation.
Carbon: Increased the percentage of zero emissions company funded cars from 11% to 29%.
In North America, our Monterrey, Mexico plant increased capacity to charge four additional electric vehicles.