NottinghamBUSINESS: NOTTINGHAM FAMILY-RUN FIRM SUPPORTING SUSTAINABILITY TARGETS FOR COP26

 

A Nottingham family-run firm, Shredall SDS Group, is supporting sustainability targets for the 2021 United Nations climate change conference (COP26) in Glasgow.

Helping to make the summit a completely carbon neutral event, the company is collecting and recycling thousands of volunteers’ uniforms on behalf of COP26. The material will be shredded and then used to produce electricity via a solid recovered fuel (SRF) process.

This approach to recycling will ensure that all of the fabric from the COP26 uniforms is transformed into clean energy. In this way, the local Nottingham business is helping to minimise the environmental impact of COP26 by reducing the conference’s overall carbon emissions.

To enable the summit to go ahead, the help of over 1,000 volunteers is required. All of these volunteers are wearing COP26 branded uniforms supplied by Lion Safety using only recycled and sustainable fabrics. A tree has also been planted for each of the thousands of uniforms that have been provided.

Rather than letting them go to landfill, Shredall SDS Group will convert all of the material from the volunteer uniforms into clean energy once the summit is over. This is just one example of the efforts to ensure that the 2021 United Nations climate change conference is as environmentally friendly as the goals it aims to achieve.

Other COP26 sustainability initiatives include employing local people and firms, using electric vehicles and solar energy, avoiding any waste to landfill, selecting suppliers based on sustainability requirements, and providing only locally sourced food as part of the catering.

Nik Williams, group managing director at Shredall SDS Group, had this to say about the company’s support for COP26:

“We couldn’t be more proud of our work in supporting the 2021 UN climate change conference. Protecting the environment is at the heart of everything we do at Shredall SDS Group – and this project is the latest extension of our contribution to the circular economy.

“Our business is fully aligned with the vision of COP26. We understand that the time to take action on climate change is now. With this global event taking place so close to home, we were always keen to play a part and felt that we had something valuable to offer.

“By recycling over a thousand COP26 volunteer uniforms, Shredall SDS Group is helping to make sure that the material doesn’t go to waste. The recycling process will transform the fabric from the uniforms into clean energy, reducing the carbon footprint of the summit.”