APPLELEC SUSTAINABILITY
Helping to lead the way to a more sustainable future
Our Award Winning Eco Pledge
As a responsible manufacturer operating in a sector with high waste material, Applelec is committed to finding ways to be more sustainable, both as a company and in the products we supply.
With temperatures reaching an all time high at a staggering 40.3°C* in some areas of the UK recently, it’s time to act now in our fight against climate change.
The UK government has mandated that every UK business must reach net-zero by 2050 or before and at Applelec we take our impact on the environment seriously.
Inspired by the Earthshot prize, which challenges the global community over the next decade, to come up with innovative ways to help repair the planet under 5 focus areas, we decided to take on our own challenge for 2022, which we have encapsulated into our Applelec Eco Friendly pledge.
Our eco-friendly pledge is our promise to look at ways, big and small, to influence four key areas including, Nature, Climate, Waste and Manufacturing. This directs our activity as a company into areas that will positively influence our impact on the environment.
With our Research and Development team (R&D), along with our Carbon Footprint Committee we are putting in place changes that can be made to our manufacturing procedures as well as product improvements to continue providing superior, brilliant signage and lighting products for our clients that promote sustainable design.
*Figures taken from Met Office July 2022
Our Partnerships
Made in Britain
Green Growth Programme
As part of our membership, we have partaken in the Made in Britain Green Growth Assessment, which measures how our business is performing in terms of our carbon footprint.
From this we are able to better understand the progress we are making with our current eco procedures, as well as provide information for us to map out our path to fine tune our sustainability journey.
Design Conformity
Design Conformity (dc) is an organisation that helps bring retail brands more sustainable retail display equipment and products for improved alignment to the retail supply chain.
The dc mark is the first independent quality and sustainability design standard for retail display solutions and helps supports its members to reduce their greenhouse gas contributions.
As dc members Applelec put relevant Eco products through the DC testing to ensure they comply with the Retail Design Guidance.
We are proud that our Green Applelec LED Light Sheet is recognised as a dc approved product, demonstrating the adherence to high quality products, and a commitment to sustainable practices. Likewise our recently launched ECO Lightbox passed testing with flying colours, "The Applelec Eco Lightbox is the most efficient design we’ve tested and exceeds the dc 005 testing by more then 18%.”
"It’s great to work with companies who are really committed to good design and Applelec are one of the most respected lighting and signage suppliers in the retail display industry. We’re proud to be supporting their Carbon Footprint Committee to help deliver sustainable solutions to global retailers and brands.”
Adam Hamilton-Fletcher Founder & Director, Design Conformity
JUST ONE Tree
To help us reduce our impact on the environment but also contribute to our four key sustainability focus areas, we partnered with JUST ONE Tree and non-profit community interest company who aim to reverse biodiversity loss and remove CO2 from the atmosphere, through partnering with carefully selected reforestation organisations across the globe. These projects hire and train local community members to plant native trees and care for them through to maturity. This not only educates and alleviates extreme poverty but positively impacts areas where deforestation has been devastating such as Madagascar, Haiti, Indonesia, Mozambique, Nepal, Kenya and Zambia. Scientific evidence also shows that in planting trees in areas closer to the equator, it maximises its effect on global warming, having the greatest cooling effect on the planet.
However, reforestation doesn’t just begin and end on land, Just One Tree’s ground-breaking kelp forest regeneration off the coast of Australia and the Philippines, addresses the issues our oceans are facing, such as acidification, rising sea temperatures and marine diversity loss. What’s more, they bring environmental education into thousands of classrooms across, the UK, Europe and around the globe, helping to enlighten the next generation about the importance of protecting the natural world.
Applelec now pledge to plant a tree on your behalf for each order placed from our growing eco friendly signage and lighting ranges. This means that in choosing Applelec as your trade supplier, your purchase is really making a tangible difference to the world.
Comply Direct
Each year, as much as 2 million tonnes of WEEE (waste electrical and electronic equipment) items end up in landfill when they could easily be recycled. With many harmful materials in their assembly, electronic devices in landfill cause significant environmental damage. They:
-
Contaminate surrounding areas
-
Kill living species
-
Take up a lot more space than most other landfill waste
Comply Direct is a market leading environmental consultancy and compliance scheme, who support and empower organisations to achieve their sustainability obligations and aspirations. Applelec partnered with Comply Direct to help us with our WEEE obligations that require UK businesses to:
-
Minimise waste arising from their electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) products and promote their reuse
-
Ensure the waste products are treated correctly and meet recovery and recycling targets for the waste materials
-
Design products by reducing material use and enhancing reusability and recyclability
882
TREES PLANTED*
*In partnership with JUST ONE TREE count updated monthly
Our Carbon Footprint
M
Our Eco Product Range
Made in Britain
As our eco products are manufactured at our West Yorkshire premises, this helps significantly reduce contribution towards global emissions when compared against similar products that are shipped from overseas, where inevitably the CO2 impact will be greater.
Waste management
Recycling is a vital action in preserving the planet and an important factor in Applelec’s environmental strategy. This is why we engage several processes, business and organisations to ensure that we make every effort to recycle and prevent waste going to landfill.
We partnered with a carbon neutral waste and recycling firm. This means that 60% of the materials we have collected is recycled into new materials and the remaining 40% is used to create energy. They then offset their operational carbon footprint but planting forests.
If we are unable to re-use offcut material elsewhere in the business then we have a number of local businesses that we engage with to responsibly recycle them, reducing pollution, diverting waster from landfill and protecting the environment.
Supply Chain
Having good relationships within our supply chain and making them aware that we are looking for more sustainable options, is really key to our strategy. In having access to new materials, allows us, as product developers and manufacturers, to eco engineer our products, making eco-friendly swaps, that maintain the quality that our customers have come to expect from us but are kinder on the environment. We hope in offering quality eco friendly alternatives the choice to use more sustainable products will soon become a no brainer.
