Lightening the burden

Rising energy bills are a major concern for UK manufacturers and the issue is a greater concern than labour costs, falling consumer spend and the administrative burden of regulation. According to a recent survey by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 60% of the 1,000 manufacturers polled said that energy costs were of ‘high concern’. Put bluntly by the Institution President John Wood, higher energy costs are inevitable in the transition to a low carbon economy.

In this new business climate, companies are looking at options for reining back energy usage. Their plans for growth in production and supply are embracing low-energy processes and they are calculating investment payback ‘in the round’, accounting for future energy savings. Sustainable solar power is also on the radar.

This link between lean and green thinking is explained in a PrintCity Alliance report, which shows how the printed packaging industry can become more energy efficient.

Kurz, M-real, manroland, MKW, Sappi, Sun Chemical, Trelleborg and UPM, with project partner Muller Martini worked together on the report entitled Carbon Footprint & Energy Reduction for the Graphic Industry Value Chain. This 32-page guide sets out to improve collaborative environmental performance of printers, converters, publishers, brand owners and their suppliers.

Quick wins

Printing is a sector where the impacts are closely linked to customer requirements. Often customers do not specify the most sustainable option due to a lack of awareness or incorrect perceptions. Key to improved resource efficiency is good communication with the customers, according to UK-based energy consultants at Sustain Lincolnshire, a project offering free support to help small and medium sized businesses introduce environment management systems. The Ten Quick Wins plan is intended to help printers cut back on energy usage.

Monitor and manage energy:

1. Improving energy monitoring is the key to managing energy consumption. If you are on a maximum demand electricity tariff you should be able to obtain half-hour data from your supplier. Calculating your usage during non-operational hours will help identify waste – what’s being left on unnecessarily? The Carbon Trust offers guidance on better energy monitoring and management.

2. In paper and board substrate storage, a steady 12°C is generally acceptable. Heating or cooling above that is generally not necessary.

3. Plan work so machines can be switched off when not in use rather than remaining on standby. Factor in energy consumption performance when making purchasing decisions on new equipment.

Optimise your process to cut waste:

4. Monitor and manage your overs and understand from the client its tolerance of overs.

5. The average substrate wastage rate for the industry is an estimated 17%. Establish KPI around wasted substrate and set targets to reduce those levels. Monitor levels. The average cost of waste to the industry is an estimated 8% of turnover. Reducing waste substrate levels represents a direct cost saving.

Avoid use of hazardous chemicals:

6. If you use computer to plate (CTP) technology are you using process-less plates, which do not require a chemical developer so removing a hazardous waste stream and the related risk and administration?

7. Work to reduce and eliminate IPA from fount solutions by controlling water hardness using hydrophilic rollers, chillers, fount additives and my maintaining fount cleanliness through filtration. See the Envirowise Good Practice Guide.

8. Consider using vegetable-based inks. They are less hazardous, they come from a renewable source and can be set using UV light.

Work with your customers:

9. Offer them a viable alternative. Create an information sheet stating the types of recycled product you can supply. It can be a useful marketing tool for winning orders from businesses with a similar green ethos.

10. Minimise materials used in finishing and select materials that can be easily recycled. For packaging consider the recyclability of the design, avoid additional adhesives or staples and envelopes with windows or laminates that cannot be recycled.

So, what has been happening on the factory floor to produce leaner, greener processes? Supported by detailed analysis, technological innovation and business-wide commmitment to sustainable processes, raw material producers and converters in every sector are responsibly investing to manage and reduce energy bills and address their overall environmental impact. Here is a selectionof recent initiatives.

Pet:

Sabic’s new cast film resin is said to ‘stretch the limits’ in energy efficiency. Sabic LLDPE 430BE is also a ‘reliable and consistent’ product that ensures smooth processing. It offers the potential to improve line speeds ‘considerably’ and achieves ‘noticeable’ energy savings, states Krzysztof Rozensal, Technical Marketing Engineer LLDPE Sabic. In addition, it makes feasible cast film line speeds of up to 1,000m/min.

Octal, a producer of PET resin and PET sheet, has a new production process that uses far less energy and it is looking to solar energy to supply future needs. Its latest DPET raw material uses a proprietary process that eliminates five energy-intensive steps from the traditional PET making and uses 67% less grid electricity, says the company. The shorter ‘direct-to-sheet’ process also offers thermoformers better optical and mechanical properties and increased productivity.

In addition, Octal is saving energy for lighting by integrating extensive use of sunlight in the building architecture.

Flexible plastics:

Mercury Packaging expects to offset energy price rises with its investment in state-of-the-art solvent abatement plant.

The £6.2 million turnover flexible packaging manufacturer and printer, has made a business virtue out of its regulatory responsibility to deal with its own emissions. Companies involved in printing and using over five tonnes of solvent/year are obliged to manage and reduce their solvent emissions.

“An EZ Air Pollution system from Italian company Ecociprea will help to make cost savings for us in the long term,” says Tony Stanger, Managing Director at Mercury Packaging. The system generates warm air that can be redirected back into the building, to reduce future heating costs.

Paper:

UPM has improved its energy efficiency ‘significantly’, it says, by introducing process and equipment modifications and engaging employees in a global energy-saving campaign. The company says that these measures have reduced electricity and heat consumption by around 9% per paper tonne. In the two years between 2009-2010 UPM reaped €55 million from its energy savings activities and 7% reduction in carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions.

As part of the campaign, the staff made innovations and investment proposals, and some €9 million was spent on implementing 140 of their development ideas.

“We achieved signifi cant improvement with relatively minor measures,” says Director Markku Taavitsainen from UPM's Paper Business Group. “For example, at the Rauma mill the manufacturing of mechanical pulp was developed. The renewals have resulted in major annual energy savings equivalent to heating 10,000 houses.” The most energy-intensive processes are mechanical pulp, pumping, vacuum systems and the drying of the products. UPM generates all the heat and one-third of the electricity it needs for papermaking in combined heat and power (CHP) production plants operating on paper mill sites. Biomass-based fuels make up 80% of fuels used by UPM in Finland and 68% worldwide. The company produces 30% of the renewable bio-energy in Finland. UPM is the second largest biomass-based electricity generator in Europe.

Arjowiggins Graphic, a supplier of coated and uncoated recycled papers based in France with sites across Europe, recently reported that its UK operations had achieved the Carbon Footprint Standard. The appraisal, which was compliant with ISO 14064 for ‘scientifi c rigour’, examined the use of gas and electricity, waste recycling and other relevant business areas.

A Carbon Healthcheck at the Basingstoke offi ces, showed where CO₂ emissions can be further reduced. This was the latest in ‘a huge number of certifi cations’ awarded for its products and mills, the company told Converting Today.

Containerboard:

Mondi Swiecie in Poland says it has conserved signifi cant environmental resources since it started up the ECO7 line in September 2009. It adds that the €285 million investment also focused on fast processing speed and lightweight containerboard and takes advantage of the company’s central location in Central Eastern Europe. The 2010 production of ProVantage Testliner and ProVantage Fluting WB from waste paper consumed less electricity than in any recent year. It saw a 10% reduction in electricity use between 2009 and 2010.

The water consumption figures for the Swiecie mill also show an ‘outstanding’ downward trend.