ETI’s Sustainability Commitments
Electronic Temperature Instruments (ETI) has made significant progress in reducing operation emissions over the past year, with plans to reduce them further by 2030.
Some of the changes we have made already include sourcing materials responsibly and selecting suppliers with a policy centred on embracing sound environmental practices, reducing waste and increasing recycling efforts in order to conserve natural resources. We have also reduced our energy consumption by cutting down on unnecessary transportation and the use of electronic equipment, as well as investing in renewable energy sources.
Read on to learn more about our commitment towards tackling climate change.
Our environmental commitments
To deliver on our environmental commitment, we pledge to:
- Seek involvement in and encourage uptake of projects which have a beneficial environmental impact
- Promote solutions that protect or enhance the environment
- Select suppliers that have a policy centred on sound environmental practices
- Monitor and proactively manage our carbon footprint, including opportunities for reduction
- Prevent unnecessary pollution from our activities by reducing the waste we generate and our consumption of non-renewable resources
- Set objectives, goals and strategies to provide an easily understood direction for environmental performance
- Raise awareness of environmental impacts and provide guidance to our people around reducing these
- Be aware of the social and environmental issues important to our people and consider how we can respond to these
- Communicate this commitment statement to interested parties
What we have done
Initiatives implemented in last 12/18 months.
RECYCLING
To provide our colleagues with the opportunity to recycle more during their workday, we have increased the number of recycling bins in break areas. We have also created dedicated collection boxes for recycling coffee pods, crisp packets and other recyclables not collected by the council.
We now also reuse many of our packaging materials and repair items rather than replace them where possible. But there is still lots of room for reusing and recycling more materials across all areas of our business.
TRANSPORTATION
Road transport accounts for 22% of total UK carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions – the major contributor to climate change. Reducing business mileage by digitising meetings has cut our transportation emissions significantly. Company-owned vehicles are all hybrid or 100% electric, and in 2022 our area sales managers reduced their annual mileage by 14.78%.
We also encourage staff who drive to work to use alternative means or car sharing where possible.
RESPONSIBLE MATERIALS
Switching our product parts and packaging materials for recycled or more sustainable options is a great way to conserve natural resources and be more environmentally friendly.
The Thermapen ONE chassis is now made of a sustainable PLA material. Same high accuracy and performance, now with a lighter eco-footprint. This switch will save an estimated 40 tons of CO2 emissions each year. That’s the equivalent of driving a car for about 278,358 miles.
Some changes we have made to our packaging include switching to paper packaging and using biodegradable or 30% reused plastic bubble wrap. In addition, we have plans to switch some of our plastic trays to potato starch or recycled alternatives, whilst also using a smaller outer box for our Thermapen range. We also source products and materials from companies with recognised net zero/environmental policies where possible.
REDUCING WASTE
Paper has traditionally been a big part of our internal and external processes, but it takes large quantities of natural resources and energy to create. We have now made over 80% of our processes paperless by switching to electronic documents and expanding our cloud storage, and in 2022 we reduced our paper consumption by 12.5%. We have also reduced the size and circulation of our printed catalogue, promoting it digitally instead. In the future, we hope to use QR codes to replace printed product instructions to further reduce our paper usage.
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
We are committed to reducing our greenhouse gas emissions by cutting our energy consumption and investing in greener alternatives.
We have moved all of our buildings to a green energy contract using a renewable source, and installed an eco-friendly evaporative cooling system. In addition, all three of our buildings are now fully equipped with state-of-the-art solar panels. The amount of clean energy this will generate each year compared to conventional utilities will be equivalent to taking 19 passenger cars off the road, driving 221,963 fewer miles or growing 57,483 tree seedlings for 10 years.
Some additional practices we have adopted include turning off equipment when not in use, putting timers on electronics and using motion-sensing lights. We now use LED lighting throughout the company and have recently adjusted some of the tubes in office areas. This has helped us to reduce unnecessary energy consumption and has saved the business over £3,600 in 2022.
WHAT’S NEXT?
We are continuing to improve our packaging processes, reduce our paper usage and hope to use renewable energy sources across all of our buildings. Conducting regular environmental impact assessments with each department enables us to constantly identify areas for improvement and improve our processes, however big or small these changes may be.
We have a long way to go, but feel confident that our continued commitment will have a significant impact on our carbon footprint over the coming years.
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