Sustainability
Steeltronix's impact on the climate
Admittedly, Steeltronix is a newer company, borne on the shoulders of individuals who have worked in industry for more than 50 years. So how will we actively track, measure, calculate, and mitigate our impact? Moving forward, even though we are a small company, we have the potential to seriously help other companies mitigate their impact with some of the products we develop and sell. Currently, the requirements for smaller companies are fewer; however, we will collect data and identify opportunities that benefit both our customers and mitigate our impact on the environment.
Who is behind Steeltronix?
We are lucky to have a small but wide range of skills in our little company. Owen not only has a background in logistics and engineering but also studied environmental science and enthuses product design, where he gets to reduce the lifecycle impact. Karol also has a background in logistics, working across the supply chain as a supply chain planner and pre-sales manager. Tom, an engineer, has worked in sales, as a construction manager, and as a business owner.
What can Steeltronix do to mitigate theirs and other people’s impacts? Quite simply, we provide products to solve problems. The impact businesses and people have on the environment is a problem. So this is part of our scope. Reducing our energy consumption for our own operations and for the businesses we work with is a high priority. To this end, we have entered into a partnership with Danske fragtmænd, where we will be helping them achieve their sustainable development goals (SDG) and, at the same time, we will share office space. Sharing resources and knowledge is an easy win with regard to mitigating our impact.
Our company has several focus areas: providing space-saving products, products that can be used in automation, and products that have been optimised for reducing material impact. We also co-produce our goods with a factory in Poland; they help us, and we help them. For the future, we are currently looking into and considering installing solar panels so we are both more self-sufficient, reducing our reliance on external energy providers. This potential also has a future benefit: when the ROI is reached, we will potentially produce more environmentally friendly products, where we can balance costs and use the savings to spend more time on the backend, reducing the impacts of the products. In a current world of materialistic overuse, we need better, not cheaper, products.
How can Steeltronix reduce their impact?
From the perspective of most bang for your buck, the new black is “quids in for the climate”.
Examining our material usage and focusing on life cycle design strategies to reduce the lifetime effect of our products is one way Steeltronix can reduce their impact. This includes using recycled materials, promoting energy-efficient manufacturing processes, and designing products with a longer lifespan. Many companies are implementing a take-back programme to properly dispose of and recycle old products to further minimise the environmental footprint. However, the overall impact of Steeltronix’s products on the environment may still remain significant. For instance, if their take-back programme is not effectively implemented, it may result in a limited reduction in their environmental footprint. It is far better to focus time and effort on better design rather than just patching the problem. In doing so, companies can create products that have a smaller impact on the environment from the start. To this end, Steeltronix will, so far as possible, prioritise sustainable materials and manufacturing processes where:
- We will look to reduce waste and minimise the carbon footprint.
- Balance costs while still prioritising sustainability, showing both businesses and consumers the importance of environmentally friendly practices.
- Explore ways for Steeltronix and the companies we work for to actively reduce their environmental impact through various strategies such as recycling, energy-efficient manufacturing processes, or using renewable materials.
- Discussing the concept of “quids in for the climate” and how investing in sustainable products can provide long-term financial benefits, companies can continue to save money and contribute to a healthier planet after the return on investment is met.
Start early. Steeltronix is a newly established company that understands the value of sustainable products and their long-term financial benefits. With sustainability as one of its principles, Steeltronix aims to develop innovative solutions that reduce environmental impact and contribute to a healthier planet. After the return on investment is met, we hope that the company can reinvest this extra profit margin to further the sustainable development of the company.
What can Steeltronix do?
A product’s environmental impact is largely determined in the design and development phases. Here at Steeltronix, our goal is to focus on material sustainability from concept through product development and end-of-life recycling. We have all worked in industry and are aware of the multitude of challenges of providing the right product or service at the right price point. There is a general misconception that sustainable products cost more; in some cases, this is true; however, within industrial segments, recycling is already heavily underway; in Europe, we already recycle 82.5% of steel (https://metalpackagingeurope.org/sustainability). This level of recycling is high, and improving it requires a lot of effort for minimal results. Even the recycling has an impact on the environment. Because of this, Steeltronix endeavours to minimise waste both by optimising the design and production, which costs us ore. However, m much of this can be recovered by realising a slightly lower production cost coupled with the savings of less waste. “quids in for the cliamte”. A good example of this is our pallet drawer system, which was redesigned with less welding, more intricate bending of the sheet metal, and better nesting of the components when laser cutting the sheet (the last two took a while). However, the final product uses less material and is cheaper to produce. Another example is that, when possible, we nest components into the waste material, like letters, smaller components, etc., for other products that we can stock and sell at a later date.
What will Steeltronix work on in 2024?
Our goal in 2024 is to start creating a database for the materials used by us and our suppliers. To start with we will use generic industy values, but as we track our actual impact & validate our data this will be updated where the goal is to have significantly lower values that the generic industrail average.
Why?
The topic of the day is sustainability; this word is one of Owen’s pet peeves. The general idea is that we can sustain the current paradigm of production and consumption and just be better at recycling and moving across to renewable energies. As companies, we can provide token remedies that allow us to do business as usual, and each year we can publish a sustainability report.
Steeltronix has it’s own products, but we also produce custom solutions and our goal is that these solutions have a lower impact than our competitors and thus add a sustainability margin for our customers. Our goal will be to limit the impact of our products rather than rely on remedying or buying credits. However we do realize that we work with steel and there are challenges with reaching net zero.
Steeltronix is not just about hard industrial solutions, part of our business is to provide urban environment products, again we use the same ethos for producing these goods. Whether adding greenery to areas with our Corten planters, water features that allow for aquatic diversity, open woodsheds that also provide habitats for insects. Where possible our designs or our custom products try to incorporate the environment or at the very least limit the environmental footprint.