Over the past year, TransFIRe have been working alongside North Lincolnshire Council, in order to create a ten-month action plan to tackle the subject of sustainability performance.
The action plan promotes guided peer-to-peer learning by sharing knowledge and experiences across different types of foundation industries and their supply chains. The plan has consisted of three-phases:
- a) June 2023: An introductory webinar open to all industries from North Lincolnshire (Stage A)
- b) July 2023: A workshop with a small group of companies (Stage B)
- c) Oct 23 – Jan 24: Group work with four companies (Stage C)
Currently, our TransFIRe researchers are working on stage C of the plan, “Peer to Peer Network of Practice”, which brings together a small number of companies to answer questions such as: why are you making and reporting sustainability measurements and how accurate is your data?
It is expected that participating companies will learn from trusted peers, showcasing each other’s challenges and achievements. Key to setting up this peer-to-peer network has been fostering an open, trusted and shared vision for the activities and outcomes. This was achieved with the Chatham House rule and the absence of NDAs. This has allowed the companies to be confident that what they share and what they ask for help on would maximise the mutual benefits.
The first meeting of the group took place on October 18th at Harlequin, a furniture provider of companies within the foundation and construction industry.
A number of key sustainability challenges were identified by the host company and were shared with the attendees, including, how they could demonstrate net zero commitments (and climate credentials in general) in a standardised and recognisable way?
The company explained that they have detailed information available, for example packaging metrics and recycling rates, and have the willingness to commit to net zero goals but need to further understand what the right path to follow is as there seems to be many options (standards, regulations, policies).
Other challenges presented included high energy costs, complexities of supply chain and strategy for end-of-life products, amongst others.
The second meeting of the group in mid-December was held at the Omni-Pac Group offices, the UK’s leading manufacturer and supplier of moulded pulp packaging products.
Omni-Pac products are made from recycled cardboard, are biodegradable and compostable, and are exported to several countries around the world.
A tour of two sites in Scunthorpe where fibre packaging was produced for various uses (medical products, food producers, tailor made products, etc.) set the scene for the challenges around sourcing, energy, water and staff development. With around 150 employees in Scunthorpe (with operations also in Germany and France) and highly automated processes their challenge was how to drive improvements with existing and new capital across multiple sites.
They have a Net Zero goal for 2035, have measured their carbon emissions (Scope 1, 2 and 3) and have a decarbonisation strategy with annual intermediate goals. Live projects include heat recovery, reducing product weight, water and transport efficiency. Their water efficiency strategy has led to 100% reuse of the water at one of the sites. An emerging challenge shared within FI is technology readiness to achieve their Net Zero goal, including hydrogen transition.
What was striking about the atmosphere was the mutual vision around the Net Zero challenge and the willingness to support each other by sharing practices. The sense of ‘place’ certainly played into this and the convening power and level of council engagement significantly enhanced the cooperation. Importantly the council treated this as part of a portfolio of wider industry engagement and support to reinforce the activities.
The other two selected participants are Trent Refractories (a UK based manufacturer and supplier of bespoke refractory products and solutions) and Rocal (an experienced manufacturer of high quality composite doors, uPVC external door panels and bespoke plastic extrusions), with company visits scheduled for January 2024.