Our journey to low carbon operations
The environmental necessity for manufacturers and customers to share a clear ambition for a more sustainable future is growing increasingly urgent.
It is now a business and industry imperative to provide or be supplied by a low-carbon design, production and delivery service, says Jennifer Spence, Environmental, Social and Governance Director at Essentra Components.
- A more sustainable future with Essentra Components
- Why do our five pillars matter?
- Tackling emissions to reach net zero
- Reducing waste to landfill
- Investing in people and equipment
- Essentra Components blazing a trail in innovation
- Achieving targets ahead of schedule
- Upstream and downstream: Leaving no stone unturned
- A culture supporting sustainability and reducing plastic waste across the pillars
- Biggest risk and greatest opportunity
A more sustainable future with Essentra Components
Customers looking for more sustainable options can now explore Essentra's global range, offering 7,981 products designed to minimise reliance on single-use plastics. Reducing plastic pollution is essential for a sustainable future, and Essentra is committed to helping customers make more responsible choices.
In its first year, our new Centre of Excellence grew our range of industrial electronics products that will contribute to a low carbon future by 10%. Those statistics, underpinned by investment, dedicated research and a firmly held social responsibility, are fuelled by our passionate commitment to the environment and sustainability.
Why do our five pillars matter?
As a global manufacturer we have a responsibility to ensure our actions always lean into our five closely linked ESG pillars of planet, components, customers, culture and community. Reducing our impact is essential for a more sustainable future, and our unique business model combining manufacturing and distribution in a supportive, healthy and innovative culture means we are ideally placed to support our customers in their low-carbon transition.
With the cogs of the five pillars working in unison, we aim to reach our net-zero target by 2050 or sooner, bringing significant emission reductions in our value chain through energy efficiency, recycled materials and transport choices.
Tackling emissions to reach net zero
The journey is well underway with a 38% reduction in scope one and two Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions since 2019 and a 30% drop in scope three GHG emissions intensity since 2022. This progress is crucial given the significant impact of GHG emissions today, with the energy sector the source of around three-quarters of those.
The targets for both are clear – a 50% reduction by 2030 and net-zero by 2040 for one and two, and a 55% drop in scope three by 2030 with net-zero by 2050 at the latest. Immediate and bold steps are necessary for reducing emissions, including the massive deployment of clean and efficient energy technologies.
The largest factor in scope three emissions areas are the goods and services we produce and purchase and the transport we use from suppliers and to customers. Work with our metals and packaging suppliers on carbon emissions reduction initiatives, optimising shipment routes and modes and working with our transport providers to decarbonise their operations continues at pace.
Reducing waste to landfill
Plastic waste is a major global challenge so reducing our waste generation while also increasing reuse and recycling will create cost and resource savings.
Fourteen Essentra sites achieved zero waste to landfill in 2023, and 94% of waste across our operations is now diverted from landfill. That was an increase of 18% on the previous year and a step towards our target of all sites sending zero waste to landfill by 2023 at the latest.
Investing in people and equipment
Culturally this is a key focus for management and site teams, with over 50% of all employees now being incentivised around waste reduction measures and sustainability goals in this year’s targets. The Centre of Excellence will also play an increasingly important role in research, design and manufacture of renewable energy hardware, reusable, recyclable and biodegradable materials.
We have also made significant investment in new equipment manufacturing systems and infrastructure to allow us to reuse our internal manufacturing polymer waste in the manufacturing and operations process at our Kidlington UK headquarters.
Essentra Components blazing a trail in innovation
Essentra is taking steps to stay ahead of the market need for a growing range of sustainable items for emerging high-growth, low carbon markets such as renewables, electrical heating and cooling and vehicle charging.
Our dedicated Development Engineer is testing injection moulding materials that offer reduced emissions, improved recyclability, and enhanced circularity. Assessing how recycled, biodegradable, and bio-based materials perform when integrated into existing components.
Achieving targets ahead of schedule
In 2023, our manufacturing teams helped us hit our 2025 target early by achieving 20.7% of sustainable materials in our polymer ranges. This ongoing innovation forms the basis of our drive towards 100% of raw materials in general protection and security seal ranges and 50% across our polymer ranges, coming from sustainable renewable sources, by 2030.
Our commitment to trialling new materials means we can show customers how they will behave in the manufacturing process as well as the impact of a wide range of different types of tooling at our manufacturing facilities. The findings allow us to further drive efficiency and integrate more sustainable practices across supply chain products and processes.
Upstream and downstream: Leaving no stone unturned
Once products are approved, packaging is critical to ensuring our products reach customers undamaged and quickly with minimal environmental impact, so we have been looking at the current rates of recycled content in our suppliers’ packaging.
By the end of 2023, we reached 28% recycled content across all our packaging, and 58% of it was widely recyclable or compostable. We want to make all our packaging reusable, recyclable or compostable and half of our packaging materials made up of recycled content by 2030.
A culture supporting sustainability and reducing plastic waste across the pillars
With a supportive work environment championing equality, celebrating diversity and recognising the importance of wellbeing, safety and recognition, we have a culture that allows changes to bloom.
Our latest engagement survey showed that 86% of people would like to be working for Essentra in a year’s time, while 84% said they were satisfied with us as a place to work.
Biggest risk and greatest opportunity
We cannot succeed without our community of suppliers, supporters and customers that we continually strive to grow. They share a commitment to sustainability underpinned by our first Climate Transition Plan.
This sets out our net-zero emissions reduction targets and approach to reduction of global emissions as part of the Paris Agreement which aims to limit global warming to 1.5°C in the near-term.
We will continue to significantly strengthen our efforts to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 in line with the United Nations Framework Convention, requiring the submission of the Net Zero Strategy to ensure alignment with global climate goals.
Because end of life for products is a major concern for plastic, the focus on making it reusable, recyclable or compostable to reduce its carbon impact is one of the biggest risks, but also one of the greatest opportunities facing our customers in reducing climate change.
It’s a challenge we are relishing and will meet head on as part of our always evolving sustainability strategy. Find out more here.