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Our goal is to take care of this home too
Comfortech Building Performance Solutions™
We are a proud Kiwi company with passion for Aotearoa and understand our responsibilities.
With 60 years’ record of manufacturing quality insulation for healthier homes and environments, we are equally focused on reducing environmental impact of our manufacturing process too.
There is always more that can be done – at Comfortech™ we are looking at areas to improve. Always.
Addressing climate change is a huge challenge we face globally. As part of Fletcher Building family, we are committed with Fletcher Building on ‘30/30 initiative’ which aims at achieving 30% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030.
This target is based on keeping global temperature rise well below two degrees Celsius. The target is verified by the Science Based Targets initiative, a recognised international third-party verification body, and in line with the goals set in the Paris agreement.
Our commitment to sustainable manufacturing
The last decade saw us making impressive improvements to our manufacturing site which included:
- Improving plant efficiency
- Improving binder technology
- Improving glass melting technology to use 50% less energy
- Lowering consumption of natural gas
- Water conservation and recycling
- Installing WESP- Wet Electrostatic Precipitator to reduce emissions
In 2010 Thinkstep completed our initial life cycle assessment (LCA) followed by the second one in 2019, the data from which was used and verified by the Australasian EPD Programme to prepare our Environmental Product Declaration.
Our current focus areas
- Installation of new machinery to reduce waste and improve energy efficiency
- Reduce blockages and off cut scrap
- Adjusting the size of bales to reduce the amount of plastic used in packaging
- Water conservation
- Incorporating recycled content into plastic bags
- Improving collection of recycling of waste plastic from bags and unitiser oversleeves
Recycling
- Recycling New Zealand glass: Pink® Batts® insulation is made from over 80% recycled glass sourced locally from New Zealand. Recycling and reducing our waste. Win-Win.
- Recycled content in packaging: More recently we have started to introduce recycled content of our used Pink® Batts® packaging into our own new bags, a process we will continue to evolve.
Reducing waste & usage
- Product size adjustments: We always look at the the size of bales to enable convenient product handling while equally reducing the amount of plastic used in packaging. In addition, the size of Pink® Batts® segments are chosen to reduce the possible need of onsite cutting and potential wastage of the product as much as possible. For example, we redeveloped the sizes of our Pink® Batts® wall products to provide best custom-fit for New Zealand style buildings and thereby reducing onsite cutting and wastage.
- Water conservation: We have reduced our average water intensity (the amount of water required to make Pink® Batts® products) by 45% from 2013.
Energy & equipment efficiency
- Glass melting technology: In 2008 we changed our glass melting technology so that we now use 50% less energy when making Pink® Batts® glass wool insulation. The energy used in the manufacturing process is now offset by a fully insulated home in less than 15 months.
- WESP installed: Our wet electrostatic precipitator (WESP) installed on site at our Auckland location deals with the emissions from the manufacturing process. The WESP removes 90% of PM10 emissions leaving no visible plume except for water vapour.
- Equipment efficiency: Our motor replacement policy allows us to keep track of the efficiency of motors used in the Pink® Batts® manufacturing process, and replace them with new more energy efficient models where appropriate to do so.
- Electric forklift: Introducing electric forklift on our site is another milestone in our goal towards reducing carbon emissions. In 2021, we have replaced five diesel forklifts in our Auckland warehouse with the lithium-ion battery forklifts and four in our new Christchurch Distribution Centre.
Our Environmental Credentials
Environmental Product Declaration (EPD)
Pink® Batts® insulation is the only New Zealand made segment insulation product to have an associated Environmental Product Declaration (EPD). Internationally recognised, EPD is a standardised and verified document that quantifies the environmental impact of a building product throughout its life-cycle.
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Environmental Choice Accreditation (ECNZ)
We were the first insulation company to achieve the Environmental Choice New Zealand Accreditation in June 2004- New Zealand’s only Type 1 government owned ecolabelling program. Identifies products and services that minimise negative impact on the environment basis how it’s made, energy-saving policies, ozone impact, recycling and waste disposal methods.
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