F Ball helping flooring go green
As part of our series of blogs asking our suppliers about their sustainability credentials, F. Ball evaluates its activities for us at its Staffordshire headquarters, as well as the entire life cycle of its products, in accordance with ISO 14001 standards.
"Our initiatives can be split into efforts to regulate the resources the company consumes, as well managing its outputs. This includes considering the materials used to make products, the manufacturing processes, and how the products can be recycled or disposed of responsibly following use."
Better Bottles
A key focus of the company’s efforts has been helping to reduce the amount of plastic waste produced by the flooring industry, with F. Ball introducing recyclable packaging for many of its products, and with much of the new packaging itself manufactured from recycled materials.
One of F. Ball’s first major sustainability drives was the replacement of its bottles used for gauging liquids, tackifiers and primers with 100% recyclable versions, which are themselves made from a portion of recycled plastic. The new bottles are manufactured from 30% recycled high-density polyethylene (rHDPE), with the material being able to be recycled up to ten times.
The positive outcome of the switch is that F. Ball and its customers have prevented over 100 tonnes of virgin plastic material – newly created plastic resin without using any recycled materials – from entering the waste stream each year.
Practical Packaging
More recently, F. Ball has introduced an environmentally friendly packaging solution for its floor finishing and repair compounds, including its rapid-setting, rapid-drying Stopgap Micro Rapid, which was launched last year.
The products are now supplied in 100% recyclable ‘eco pouches’, which require substantially less plastic to produce than previous packaging – just 10% of the weight used for the products’ former bucket packaging.
The eco pouches also offer some additional benefits for contractors: durable and waterproof, they are lighter and easy to handle, more convenient to use and deliver extended product shelf life.
Recycling Rigor
Apart from introducing recyclable packaging for several products, F. Ball has launched a scheme that provides contractors with a convenient means of recycling its plastic bottles and buckets.
The F. Ball bucket and bottle recycling scheme provides branded receptacles at selected distributor partners, where contractors can effortlessly dispose of any of the company’s yellow buckets that do not contain materials classed as hazardous, as well as its empty 5 and 20 litre bottles, for free.
What began as a trial three years ago, has been well received by the industry, with binloads of empty containers that would have otherwise been destined for landfill being taken away for reprocessing instead. In response to the positive reception, the company doubled the number of drop off points at wholesalers and distributors across the UK earlier this year. Subject to the continued success of the programme, there are plans for it to be further rolled out to achieve more widespread geographical coverage.
Manufacturing Measures
Behind the scenes, changes to address the business’s carbon footprint at F. Ball’s Staffordshire headquarters have been introduced with the aim of consuming less energy and increasing the proportion of the energy that comes from renewables.
For example, over 1,000 solar panels with a 250 KwP output generate around one fifth of the site’s electricity supply. The factories benefit from state-of-the-art equipment, including high-efficiency motors and boilers to minimise energy required to produce F. Ball products, as well as significantly lessening the energy needed for heating.
Further, LED lighting has been introduced throughout the premises, either connected to proximity sensors or programmed to turn off when not required. As a result, it has prevented 74 tonnes of carbon entering the atmosphere annually. Electric Vehicle (EV) charging points have also been installed on site, for both company vehicles and for employees making the switch to EVs.
Jenny Barnett, Safety Health Environmental and Quality (SHEQ) Manager at F. Ball and Co. Ltd., said of the company’s sustainability strategy: “People are increasingly looking to buy from businesses who take their environmental responsibilities seriously. F. Ball will continue to invest and develop so that customers have every confidence that they are making the greenest choice when selecting their flooring installation products.”
