July 2023
Converting single use plastic waste into long life community assets
As part of our commitment to serving our communities with high quality long term infrastructure assets, we are constantly improving our products. Our MicroScrubbers are a key product in delivering on this mission. Part of its construction includes the use of foam from Gurit. Together we are converting a single use, problematic plastic waste material into a long life community assets. This blog post celebrates supply chain improvements with a component spot light on Gurit PET structural foam KerdynTM Green (Recycled Core Foam).
At the 2022 CANZ conference our sustainability committee was pleasantly surprised to learn that our supplier Gurit was already providing us with up to 100% recycled PET product. Gurit has been working to replace virgin PET with that recovered from plastic bottles as standard process. With a guaranteed minimum of 50% (limited only by the availability of materials). This is a notable example of our suppliers leading in their area of speciality & recycled product providing the same high performance product as virgin materials, with the added environmental and social benefits.
Gurit has a clear commitment to sustainability & product stewardship that enables us to support our customers sustainability goals & build better infrastructure.
The value chain for recycled post-consumer waste that is manufactured into foam sheets by Gurit.
Armatec’s factory fabrication team use the PET recycled structural foam when building walls or panels in products such as the Armatec MicroScrubber . This contributes to overall sustainability considerations within the MicroScrubber design aimed to reduce consumption during manufacturing & operation.
The Gurit PET structural foam KerdynTM Green foam used within the Armatec Microscrubber range enables single use materials to be transformed into long life community assets.
Armatec MicroScrubbers are designed for odourous wastewater networks and treatment plants to solve odour and corrosion issues in a cost effective way with a compact footprint . Armatec MicroScrubbers use a 2 stage odour control system, consisting of a bio-trickling filter first stage and activated carbon polishing stage, providing consistent high-quality air treatment outcomes and available in a range of sizes to suit any application. The biological first stage also improves sustainability outcomes by increasing the lifetime of activated carbon consumables, and reducing operational expenses and resourcing required. Micro-scrubbers are designed with the aim of enhancing neighbourhood liveability by reducing odours, while minimising noise and providing full security wrapped up in a visually appealing exterior. These have been deployed in several regions around New Zealand including Northland, Auckland, Taupo, and Christchurch Working with Gurit, we have calculated at least 9329 bottles are recycled into an MSL-120 and at least 26980 into a MSC-240.
This is an important element towards our targets of minimum 30% recycled materials in all our products. To read more about the development of our sustainability program click above
The use of recovered and recycled materials is a key product focus for Armatec Sustainability Programme. Using PET recycled structural foam from Gurit assists towards achieving our current target of minimum 30% recycled content for all our products.
We would love to hear about other supply chain improvements occurring across the sector and encourage other suppliers & manufacturers to share success stories along the journey!