For the sixth consecutive year Swish has succeeded in reducing its carbon footprint; we now produce 32% less CO2 than in our base line year of 2008. In 2014 we processed a record number of tonnes of material and despite our carbon emissions from our manufacturing processes we were down 6.5% per tonne on 2013.
Once again 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 our largest resource consumption; due to the increase in manufacturing, last year saw us use more gas than ever before. Yet, even with this surge in usage, we were over 50% more efficient than in the previous year; overall our 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 usage showed the 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.
Greg Wilde, Swish Marketing Manager 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.”