The solar panel generation system will supply about half of the electricity needs for the center, essentially halving the carbon footprint of Croda’s facility and is the equivalent to powering 42 homes.
Kevin Gallagher, president Croda North America, told CosmeticsDesign.com USA that it is this kind of innovation that is enabling Croda to reach its global goal of obtaining 25 percent of its energy from non-fossil sources by the end of 2015.
Aligning commitment with customers and consumers
And Gallagher believes that aligning Croda’s commitment to sustainability with its customers and ultimately the consumer is important, particularly in the future.
“Finished Product manufacturers, like the consumers whose lives they touch, are placing greater emphasis on sustainability. We share their [manufacturers] commitment to improving the lives of the consumers they touch with their products in a sustainable way. It’s important to consumers, finished product manufacturers, ingredient suppliers and our shared future.”
Croda is a member of the American Cleaning Institute (ACI), who has developed a set of sustainability metrics that are being reported on a yearly basis and being made public. These metrics are gathered from the 21 member companies, including Croda.
“We see real evidence of growing commitment every day,” said Gallagher. “We expect to see similar commitments from other industry organizations as the need for sustainability measures will only increase with increasing consumer awareness.”
Metrics reported
Many of Croda’s most important customers publish their sustainability metrics and goals in their annual reports, separate corporate responsibility reports or both, as Croda has been doing for a number of years.
We believe that those who haven’t already begun this process will need to do this in the future, as consumers are increasingly looking for evidence of industry’s commitment,” explained Gallagher.
Since 2006 Croda has reduced waste to landfills by 22 percent and reduced VOC (volatile organic compounds) emissions by over 25 per cent per ton of product manufactured.
The installation is also not the first project of its kind within the Croda organization. The company also installed a wind turbine at one of its largest manufacturing facilities in the UK.
This turbine currently produces about 40 percent of the energy requirement for this manufacturing facility.
Kevin Gallagher revealed that “Croda has a number of other projects that will help us meet our 2015 “non-fossil energy source” goal in the feasibility stage around the world. This includes additional projects here in North America and we’re expecting to be able to announce another major new project in 2012.”