Sustainability
Introduction
Being a family business - the business tends to take on the "ethics" of the families that founded it and work in it. From the companies inception the culture of waste and excess has always been quite foreign. When digging deeper to try and look back as to why this was the case there appear to be 2 main contributing factors. The first come directly from the founders growing up as children through the 1930's great depression or through living through WWII, the austerity in all facets of life obviously had a profound effect however rather than reacting against this situation once "times" improved our founders embraced the ideology that wasting something that another human being has spent time and energy creating or wasting raw ingredients derived from the earth was abhorrent.
Therefore Derivan has been using the philosophy of REDUCE REUSE RECYCLE long before it become obvious that humans were having an effect on the planet and it is still very much a part of the companies culture today.
Derivan's mission statement has been kept very simple so as to be easily understood and adhered to. We're very conscious of our environmental footprint, and plan our actions around a simple but effective creed:
Mission statement extract: "To become the leading supplier/manufacturer of artist's acrylics world-wide by providing unsurpassed quality and service ... employing environmentally sound practices both in the products and production."
We do everything possible to ensure that the surpassing quality of our products doesn't come at a significant cost to the environment. Below are some of the ways that Derivan is minimising its environmental impact, and planning for a sustainable future.
Derivan's Facilities
After literally hundreds of visits to potential factories we found a brilliant new home in Rhodes, at over twice the size of our previous factory – we have some more much needed room. Aside from space there are many other benefits in our move, firstly there is the opportunity to become even greener in the way we do things- some of the new things we will be doing are:
- The building was selected as it is sited well to make use of the natural movement of the sun for both optimal light and climate control
- It is anticipated that by the time we have fully retro fitted the building we will be using half the energy in lighting the new building, (one year on we are using just under 70% of the energy we were using at the old facility - and it is nearly 2 and half times the size, plus we are running classes and workshops)
- climate control – due to the way the building is situated and the fact the entire building is fully insulated -it is anticipated that by mechanical means the office does not employ air conditioning and the factory makes use of cross ventilation vents (more to be installed).
- We have implemented the first stage of our waster water treatment - which means all trade waste is "cleaned" on site - the second phase will be to re-use this water in the primary cleaning processes - this will lead to a"closed water" system – which in theory means we will be recycling all our water and will cut our water usage to less than half (which is down to 25% already from 10 years ago due to systems already implemented)
- This site was also selected as it is close to public transport being located 600m from Meadowbank wharf, 750m from Rhodes train station and 200m from the bus. In keeping with our sustainability program we have cycle parking and amenities to encourage staff and visitors to ride to the new factory.
- Further advantages will be greater efficiencies in production through better placement of equipment (plus some new equipment)
Product
No Derivan paints contain lead or chromates of any kind. Any other heavy metal elements contained in the paints are fully reacted, and as such will present no biological harm if introduced to the environment as land fill. Likewise, everyday use by artists disposing of their waste wash up water on the garden will present no biological harm. However, we would advise disposing of waste water on non-edible plants, in keeping with known best practices.
Packaging
There are several steps involved in our approach to packaging. We define "containers" as those containers that come in contact with the products, (such as jars and tubes) and packaging as those products which hold the containers (such as boxes, and PET clams and boxes).
Recycling of containers for re-use by Derivan:
After research we have found that the likelihood of having paint containers returned to us for re-use was, at best, very low.
The main obstacles to this strategy are:
- That product may be kept for extended periods (literally for decades in some cases) and continues to be used in that time, so tracking and monitoring return would be a slow process, on an individual basis.
- That products are sent all around the world and the environmental cost of returning them would far outweigh any positive effects of re-use especially taking into account the cleaning of residual contents.
Recycling of containers for re-use by Consumers:
Because of these obstacles, it was decided that the first step was to make the packaging more likely to be re-used by the consumers themselves: consumers may clean out and re-use the containers for other purposes after they have used the contents. As re-use of containers uses the least amount of resources and energy, this became a primary objective. We engaged design consultants and informally polled our customers, to arrive at the designs of our 36ml, 40ml, 50ml, 250ml and 500ml containers. We then introduced universally recyclable materials (materials that can be easily recycled at a local level, e.g.. PET) as our next objective.
This strategy was more practical than attempting to retrieve product containers.
Recycling packaging:
Locally, we have a program in place to encourage "clam" packs and cardboard boxes to be returned to us for re-use. Internationally, returns are not viable, so these packaging products are made from recyclable (and where possible recycled) materials only (namely PET and cardboard). For instance, at present, the PET clam packs, which contain the tubes, are made up of 30% in-house recycled material, and 5% post-consumer recycled material, however our suppliers are looking to improve this ratio. We keep a constant watch on new technology and new packaging innovations. Where possible, we ensure that our suppliers are using the latest energy efficient technology to produce our packaging.
Production
Water use and efficiency:
Over the past ten years, we have reduced our water intake down to 25% of what we once used (even though production has increased four-fold). This has been managed by:
- Improving cleaning practices
- Recycling primary cleaning water
- Developing in-house initiatives with our own research team (e.g. developing alternative lubricants for machines, which in turn help to make water cleaning more efficient).
We will commission a new water treatment plant in Sydney in 2010, where we hope to lead to stage 2 of our program which will see Derivan running a completely "closed water system" so that all primary cleaning and wash downs will be done with recycled water. We also plan to harvest rain water, for use in toilets and clothes cleaning by the end of 2010. At present, we recycle approx. 30% of our water for cleaning. Obviously, with the re-designing of a new plant, more efficient ways of doing this will get us to our goal of 100%.
Recycling inward bound packaging:
Where possible, we recycle all packaging that makes up our raw material supply chain. This is done in several ways.
- Through the use of pallecons and IBC's (large raw material containers) which are returnable to the supplier
- Through returning drums to the supplier (where possible) and recycling those that can't.
- We have initiated the return to our suppliers of many of the outer cartons we receive containers in. Where this is not possible or energy efficient, they are recycled via a company who collects and collates like size boxes, and supplies them on to other companies. By sending the boxes off to be reused, less energy is consumed than if they were processed and made into new cardboard boxes. Those boxes, cardboard and paper that can't be recycled are sent for recycling by Visy.
- As a last resort, a very small amount of cardboard may make it to landfill. To reduce the amount of cardboard going to landfill, we actively avoid "contaminating" i.e. paint or chemicals staining the cardboard.
Other initiatives
- Developing a cycle to work program/policy;
- Use of "enviro" shower heads in showers.
- Reducing the use of paper in the office and then what paper that is used is recycled paper and obsolete paper is recycled