Conwed releases sustainability report

Minnesota, U.S.A.-based Conwed, a plastic netting manufacturer, has published its Global Sustainability Report 2016. The company has implemented best practices at all of its locations with the objective of increasing efficiency in their day to day operations and creating netting solutions that require less material and generate less waste.

Conwed made a conscious review of all its operations in 2009 and set new sustainability goals in four major areas: carbon footprint, water consumption, cubic yards of waste and total process resin waste generated.

“We believed we needed to focus on areas we could directly impact at each of our manufacturing locations. Improving our production efficiency while continuously reducing our expenses and waste was a natural way to impact our sustainability record”, said Ivan Soltero, senior strategic marketing manager.

Since 2009, Conwed has reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 13 percent, water consumption by 24 percent, cubic yards of waste by 79 percent and total process resin waste by 19 percent. Conwed performs ongoing water usage audits, preventive maintenance and identification of potential improvement opportunities in collaboration with manufacturing and operations teams at each location. The ultimate goal is to reduce water consumption in all of their plants until the most optimal level is achieved.

The biggest impact of this sustainability program has been controlling material waste by improving manufacturing processes and internally reusing as much resin as possible to drive down waste costs. The company has invested in equipment and separation processes to facilitate identification, collection and recycling of materials that are consequently sent to recycling outlets.

Conwed also collaborated with suppliers and customers to improve its own operations. “Although we are proud of the progress we made, we understand that sustainability is an ongoing commitment with significant value to Conwed and our stakeholders”, said Soltero.

Conwed manufactures extruded, oriented and knitted netting with unique customization capabilities. The company has five manufacturing locations on two continents and a global distribution network.