Addressing customers environmental concerns is important to us – minimising impact on the environment is an attitude, and it is our attitude.
Environmental policies are nowadays often seen as ‘greenwashing’.
As a responsible and trustworthy manufacturer, we will not try to convince you that the industry of self-adhesive digitally printable and sign materials have no impact on the environment.
Instead, we can point out what we do to make a difference, not only in our philosophy, but our daily work and the processes we deploy – it is certainly not perfect for the planet, but the reality today is our industry cannot exist without PVC and oil based products.
UV-curing technology is more modern than the aqueous and solvent methods traditionally used in the Wide-Format industry.
Not requiring dilution, our adhesive is coated as a ‘solid’, which means:
- No dilution
- No solvents
- No drying ovens
- No post-production handling of chemicals or solvents
- No VOC emissions (Volatile Organic Compounds)
NU-COAT’s compact coating line is only half the size of a tennis court so no need for long, high-energy consumption drying ovens.
UV-curing at NU-COAT saves between 50%-65% of the energy, versus more traditional methods – this makes a major difference!
Also smaller machinery offers further environmental advantages, including:
- Smaller premises require less heating and less lighting
- Shorter production set-ups minimises raw material waste
We have signed up with ENGIE who recognise our commitment to reducing our impact on the environment by using renewable green energy: download our certificate here.
PAS 2060 and the ‘Race To Zero’
‘Race To Zero‘ is a global campaign to rally leadership and support from businesses, cities, regions and investors for a healthy, resilient, zero carbon recovery that prevents future threats, creates decent jobs and unlocks inclusive, sustainable growth.
Over 80% of Britain’s largest businesses have now signed up to the UN’s Race to Zero campaign, designed to accelerate the adoption of credible net-zero targets at, during, and beyond COP26.
‘PAS 2060‘ is the internationally recognised specification for carbon neutrality published by BSI (British Standards Institution).
It sets out the requirements for quantifying, reducing and offsetting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for organisations and products.
Our Qualifying Explanatory Statement in Support of PAS 2060:2014
» Self-Validation for the period 1st January 2022 to 31st December 2022: download “NU-COAT – PAS Qualifying Explanatory Statement 2022” PDF here.
It consists of 3 scopes:
- Scope 1 includes a calculation of GHG emissions for internal items including Fuels, Bioenergy, Refrigerants, Passenger vehicles and Delivery vehicles.
- Scope 2 includes a calculation of GHG emissions for external items such as electricity, steam and gas.
- Scope 3 includes a calculation of GHG emissions for transmission and distribution UK electricity, heat & steam, UK electricity T&D for EV’s, water supply, water treatment, material use, waste disposal, business travel by air, sea and land, freighting goods, hotel stays and homeworking. The only parts of Scope 3 we did not calculate were ‘Processing of Sold Products’ and ‘End use of Sold Products’ as we have no control over how and where our products are used.
For the period 2022 our total emissions were as follows in (tCO₂e):
- Scope 1 Direct emissions 1.9 tonnes.
- Scope 2 Indirect emissions 26.7 tonnes.
- Scope 3 Other indirect emissions 55.0 tonnes.
Total emissions for 2022 was 83.6 tonnes.
We then offset this 83.6 tCO₂e by purchasing 84 carbon credits in Verra – Verified Carbon Standard (VCS), the Gold Standard – Voluntary Emission Reductions (VER) and the United Nations – Certified Emission Reductions (CER) programmes. These were then retired in July 2023.
Our approach from concept to delivery
Preserve resources
Despite no specific regulation concerning ozone generated during production, NU-COAT decided from the day one to use specific filters, in order to have no impact on the environment.
Local sourcing
Our raw materials suppliers and our coating facilities are both based in Europe, avoiding the shipment of tons of goods around the world, and supporting local economies.
Product developments
Where possible PVC-free and oil-free solutions are offered if they can provide a good technically capable alternative.
Selective materials
While most manufacturers use 100µ printable PVC films, we reduce PVC content by 20%-25% with thinner but equally opaque films without compromising print processing, cutting or handling.
Our paper suppliers are FSC accredited.
Heating
The heat generated during our production process is, in part, captured and re-used within the NU-COAT building.
Attitude
Collectively staff constantly review products, processes and procedures to add sustainability to the life-cycle of our products and to minimise waste in all departments.
Recycling
The packaging of our rolls is made of recycled cardboard whilst 40% of the material used for producing endcaps is recycled.
Raw material and its packaging remnants are returned to the suppliers for reuse.
Non-coated PVC gets back into PVC products production at the suppliers.
Drums used for raw adhesive are processed through a local metal-recycling plant.
If you have any questions about NU-COAT’s products or our environmental impact during manufacturing you can contact us here:
T: +44 (0)1495 271341
E: sales@nu-coat.com