Our commitment to cutting our carbon footprint – revisited
We’re focused on helping our UK-wide customers cut their carbon footprint. We’re doing the same within our own aluminium recycling organisation too.
We’re also extremely passionate about sharing our sustainability story to help inspire and encourage other companies to follow in our footsteps. We first shone a spotlight on our journey so far back in 2022.
Now here’s a recap of what we’re currently up to…
All-electric kit
Where possible, we strive to invest in all-electric pieces of equipment; the most recent being our Bano shredder. As you can see from the image below, it’s a mighty piece of kit that sits at the centre of our everyday processes, swallowing up and spitting out mountains of metal (we’re talking entire track way boards) day in, day out.
Meanwhile, we’ve also purchased two next generation x-ray machines, which are industry-leading and sustainability-focused in equal measures.
Sustainable profile: Not only is our new shredder e-powered, it’s capable of chomping through significantly larger volumes of metal at any one time, generating valuable time-savings alongside its greener profile. As for our x-ray machines, they’re a whole other success story in themselves.
Greener fleet
A core proportion of our aluminium recycling work involves being continuously out on the road, collecting metal from our customers, wherever they may be in the UK. This means our DAF trucks rack up some serious miles every year which, in turn, can impact the environment.
We replace our lorries every five years, which means our fleet always comprises newer and more environmentally-friendly Euro 6-compliant models. At the same time, we always make sure they’re topped up with AdBlue to help keep harmful emissions to an absolute minimum.
Sustainable profile: We currently have 12 lorries, plus we’re gradually making the switch to electric cars for our office staff too.
Multiple collections
Being out on the road is an inevitable part of our work, but that doesn’t mean we don’t try to minimise how many miles our teams cover every single day.
Where possible, our operations team always looks to strategically plan our drivers’ trips so they carry out multiple collections from one area. Not only does this enable just one vehicle to be used, it cuts down on valuable travelling time too.
Sustainable profile: We’ve managed to slash typical journey times by 600 miles per vehicle per month.
Recycled skips
Yes, that’s right, we recycle our skips too. It would appear no metal is safe from being recycled in our yard!
We periodically recycle our old skips, which have been in service with us for 20+ years and have helped us shift thousands of tonnes of aluminium all over the country. Here’s a couple of shots of one of our skips that have recently been refurbed by the team at Fairport Containers.
Sustainable profile: Our revamped skips are anticipated to last us another two decades!
So there you have it, a glimpse of our current environmentally-friendly commitments. Our sustainability journey is far from over though – keep checking back for the very latest updates.
In the meantime, if you have any queries or would like to discuss your aluminium recycling requirements with us, email ed.george@alutrade.co.uk