ENVIRONMENT / NEWS email: news@signlink.co.uk 12 The Sign Group partners with CarbonQuota Leeds-based sign manufacturer, The Sign Group, has begun working with carbon footprint assessment specialist, CarbonQuota, to reduce its carbon emissions. The company, which also owns brands such as Neonplus and WeLoveLeds, first began partnering with CarbonQuota in July where it had a full carbon footprint assessment as part of its journey towards netzero. Keen to demonstrate transparency and to reduce its emissions and in turn support its clients to do the same, The Sign Group wanted an accurate measurement of its carbon emissions from 2021 to 2022. This is to enable the company to identify where it can reduce its environmental impact. The assessment by CarbonQuota found The Sign Group’s total carbon footprint for the reporting year of 2021/2022 to be at 36 tonnes CO2e. The Sign Group’s adoption of 100% renewable energy in 2017 was noted as already having made a significant impact, returning zero contribution to this footprint for electricity. The report provided an overview of the company’s operational carbon footprint, focusing on energy consumption and processes controlled within the facilities, and included 30 initiatives for energy efficiency and carbon reduction. Grey Hoole, managing director of The Sign Group, comments: “Over time we have attempted the somewhat daunting task of reducing our environmental impact, such as switching to 100% renewable energy, recycling the majority of our plastic and aluminium waste, and developing lower energy and more robust signage through our UKCA and British Standards Institute (BSI) certified Neonplus products. “In early 2023, our board and management team felt that it really was time to bite the bullet so to speak. The most logical next step on our sustainability journey was to engage a specialist to accurately measure our operational footprint. It meant we would know exactly where we stood, could transparently report to our customers, and plan ongoing emissions reduction work.” World-first breakthrough in textile recycling Project Re:claim, a joint venture between corporatewear specialists Project Plan B and Salvation Army Trading Company (SATCoL) has unveiled plans for the first commercial-scale, post-consumer recycling plant. SATCoL, which is the trading arm of the Salvation Army charity, has formed a joint venture with Project Plan B having successfully recycled polyester textiles back into raw materials. The new plant will recycle around 2,500 tonnes in its first year of operation and look to increase to 5,000 in year two. The technology creates polyester pellets which have been successfully turned into yarn. Tim Cross, chief executive officer at Project Plan B, says: “Polyester textile recycling is one of the biggest opportunities to reduce the harmful impact of producing garments and this new technology is the first proven commercial scale system that has been designed to cope with the challenges of recycling post-consumer clothing.” The Project Re:claim technology is a thermo mechanical recycling process known as a Thermo Mechanical Extrusion Recycler (TMER) machine. It will recycle polyester garments, and other manufacturing offcut textiles into rPET pellets made from textiles. The exclusive recycling system, developed by Project Plan B, is based on plastic bottle recycling and will help SATCoL at one of its processing centres, which processes around 65,000 tonnes of donated textiles every year. Previously there was no post-consumer polyester recycling scheme with the UK producing over half a million tonnes of polyester textile waste every year (research from WRAP), with only 1% of textiles in the UK being recycled (Ellen MacArthur Foundation). The initiative believes that workwear is a key target area of the project due to the two-year average lifespan of uniforms. Majonne Frost, head of Environment & Sustainability at SATCoL, concludes: “In preparation for full production, we are currently seeking 100% polyester textiles such as used hotel linen or post-event promotional banners.” SATCoL and Project Plan B are calling on businesses and end-users to donate textiles like promotional banners for a new recycling scheme By David Osgar The Sign Group has utilised CarbonQuota to assess its carbon emissions and move closer to its net-zero goals By Carys Evans Issue 250 - December 2023 / January 2024 www.signlink.co.uk
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