Faes gives PE foam waste a second life by shredding residual pieces and reusing them in applications such as underlays for artificial turf pitches. This reduces residual waste, lowers the carbon footprint and contributes to circular entrepreneurship.
Johan Faes
•5 minutes reading time
•9 October 2024
In the context of sustainability, Faes recently purchased a special shredder and installed the corresponding extraction system. "Disposing of something that is still usable as residual waste is out of date," said Faes CEO Johan Faes. Residual waste PE foam that previously disappeared into the gray container is disposed of in a constructive way so that this foam rubber can be reused as mats for under artificial turf fields.
At Faes, we use PE foam to produce custom interiors. Although we do this as efficiently as possible, we always have to deal with cutting waste. The recently installed shredder is a sustainable solution for the 15 m3 of foam rubber waste we deal with every week. This polyethylene-foam (PE-foam) is easy to recycle, but its light weight (40kg/m3) makes it of no interest to larger recyclers. “For a long time, landfilling as residual waste was the only option for us and that didn’t sit well with me,” says Johan Faes.
“We have since found a company that can reuse this waste. The only requirement is that we have to deliver our residual waste in flakes 4 centimeters in diameter. For this we have invested in a shredder and a corresponding extraction system. The flakes are collected in a container, which is regularly taken to the matting company. In this way, the material gets a second life and also provides us with something.”
Reducing our CO2 footprint through this shredder is a stepping stone to circular thinking, design and production; in short, circular business.
Circular business is a new way of working, a new way of looking at the production process. You not only look at the lifespan of a product but also at its place within a larger system. A product is designed to close its cycle. Used raw materials are reused to avoid waste and wastage.
“Our focus is on sustainability within industrial packaging,” Johan continues. “However, industrial packaging is not nearly as current and top-of-mind as consumer packaging. The focus in industry is on the product, not the packaging. Optimizing this, however, contributes enormously to cost savings and a better environment. As Faes, we deal with integral packaging optimization. There are still great opportunities there.”
More and more companies still hardly realize the great impact of an efficient packing policy within the chain. According to Johan, that too is an aspect of circular business:
“What companies are already beginning to realize is the impact of packaging and shipping on the environment. Although the cost of packaging in the industry is relatively low, there is still much to be gained when it comes to sustainability. The great thing, however, is that in absolute numbers this can also still make a lot of money.”
That same thought underlies the purchase of this shredder.
“The payback period of this business case is 8 years. For many companies this is not interesting, because often the maximum ROI for their investments is at most 2 years. We save landfill costs and we even get a little money back, but we consider the contribution we make to the environment in this case to be worth much more.
We made this investment primarily with a contribution to our environment in mind. By thinking about circular business, we hope to contribute to a better and more sustainable environment now and in the future in other areas. We also hope that other entrepreneurs will take a closer look at the cycle of their products and raw material use. Such things take time and require new insights, but when companies take this up together we can make a greater contribution to our living environment. After all, circular business is something you do together!”
The Dutch economy must be fully circular by 2050, according to the government’s government-wide program. To make that happen we all have to do our part; government, citizens and companies. Read here about the ways in which we at Faes pay attention to sustainability. Would you like to know more about this or are you curious about how packaging can contribute to sustainability within your company? Ask your question in the contact form below or contact us directly.
Johan Faes
CEO
Johan Faes is founder and CEO of Faes. His vision for innovation, sustainability and supply chain collaboration is leading the company into a future as a 4PP partner for the manufacturing industry. His contributions share insights on strategy, leadership and the power of packaging as a process.
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