Sustainability

Upholding the principles of sustainability throughout every part of our business is a fundamental part of all we do. This core value coupled with our innovative spirit drives our relentless pursuit of environmental excellence through continuous product development, service enhancement and the use of innovative technological solutions.

We are extremely proud of our heritage and the locality in which we operate, so we strive to maintain the natural beauty of the local environment at all times, through initiatives such as the All Ireland Pollinator Programme and numerous proactive biodiversity preservation and enhancement projects.

Our commitement to sustainability is intrinsically linked to the products we produce and how we manufacture them. All of the products are highly engineered to maximize their sustainable and energy saving properties. We have an active environmental management system (EMS) which provides guidance and oversight which governs the operations within each facility and the potential impact of these operations on the environment.

The adoption of sustainability driven principles throughout the company in relation to lean manufacturing, waste reduction, responsible sourcing, recycling and energy usage, ensures we continue to improve every stage of production, from cradle to gate, to minimise the environmental impact of our work.

Sustainable
Manufacturing in Action

This prioritisation of developing sustainable products and solutions in the most environmentally responsible way has very much been a key area of focus for us in recent years, which has gained us international recognition for our achievements.

Our environmental sustainability programme reaches every area of the business and every individual who works here, from our attention to small details in each work station, to our most notable breakthrough innovations.

1. Leading the Pack

Our flagship packaging innovation, Detecta, earned a special recognition award for its contribution to plastic recycling in Repak’s Pakman Awards 2019. Detecta’s launch captured headlines around the world, reflecting the significance of the ground-breaking new product, which is the first fully recyclable black plastic packaging material.

Since the launch of Detecta, our packaging solutions division has continued its environmental innovation to launch two additional new products. Signum and Orbital, both of which are designed to address specific issues with the recyclability of plastic packaging and help move towards a true circular economy. We now only produce packaging solutions which are fully recyclable, reinforcing our position as environmental leaders in the packaging industry.

2. Build with Conscience

SIMS by Mannok, the Super Insulated Masonry Solution, is a sustainable construction solution which could revolutionise the way houses are built in Ireland. Using our lite thermal blocks, SIMS incorporates European best practice construction methodology to ensure homes are built to a far superior standard of energy performance.

Our unique mixed-load solution combines heavy and light products in one single delivery, maximising the trailer capacity and significantly reducing the volume of lorries on the road. As well as being highly convenient for customers, this has reduced the associated carbon emissions by almost 50%.

3. Environmental Transparency

Going beyond the development of market leading sustainable solutions, we focus on the necessity to ensure all products are manufactured in the most environmentally responsible way. This involves a comprehensive improvement strategy which considers every stage of production and with a broad portfolio of products, it is a significant undertaking. It is an area we have shown leadership, becoming one of the first companies in Ireland to develop third party verified Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for our product. The first certification was presented by the Irish Green Building Council in 2018, and the most recent in early 2020 for our precast hollowcore flooring, making it the first structural precast concrete product to gain EPD certification in Ireland. We now have a comprehensive suite of EPDs, with published certificates for our aircrete blocks, rooftiles, PIR and EPS insulation and Precast concrete products.

The EPD scheme was established in a bid to measure and reduce the environmental impact of products used in Irish construction by benchmarking products against a common set of rules for environmental impact, providing transparent, independently verified information.

Extending the same focus on transparency of the “cradle to gate” environmental impact to our packaging division, full Life Cycle Assessments have also been independently conducted and verified for all our packaging products.

These significant achievements, and many more sustainability initiatives in the areas of product and process enhancement, biodiversity, and fleet and equipment investments, firmly signal our standpoint on environmental development, and our promise is to continue in the same progressive vein, with environmental leadership a fundamental part of our mission going forward