Preserving our planet

RECYCLING ON SITE

Every one of our employees, whether working on the shopfloor or in our offices, has been long aware of the importance of recycling: paper, cardboard, plastic, metal, wood: it all gets sorted. Our waste treatment facilities are also regularly put to the test.

However, beyond the legal obligations, we are also keen to make good use of our other types of waste. Our lids are transformed into solid recovered fuel (SRF) thanks to a specific recycling process that we have developed. As for our cartons, they are made into PolyAl, a material used to make furniture and outdoor seating. Lastly, our biowaste products are sent off to methanisation plants.

Only waste that cannot be recycled is incinerated and every effort is made to minimise the amount that is subjected to incineration. Our Research and Development department is currently looking into alternatives to plastic packaging.

CUTTING DOWN ON CONSUMPTION

Our employees are well aware of the importance of cutting wastage as well as reducing energy and water consumption on a daily basis. A monitoring system has been installed in each of our plants in order to indicate excess usage and rapidly remedy the situation.

Whenever we renew our equipment, we systematically take any updated energy-efficiency and eco-friendly requirements into consideration.  Back in 2013, SILL took the decision to install a biomass-fuelled boiler at our head office in Plouvien, resulting in a saving of 10,000 tonnes of CO2 each year.

Our Plouvien site, as well as our Malo dairy, also obtained the 1S0 50001 quality standards certification in 2019, which confirms our willingness to manage our energy consumption, reduce the contribution of our factories to climate change and to protect our natural resources. Lastly, each of our sites is equipped with an electric vehicle.

OPTIMISING ENERGY RECOVERY

In order to reduce our consumption of fossil fuels, we plan to optimise the energy we recover. For example, when we replace our refrigeration equipment at our site in Plouvien, we plan to set up a system of energy recovery from the compressors with the idea of reusing it in various ways and reducing the use of steam.

A WIDE-RANGING APPROACH

At SILL Entreprises we are committed to following CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) guidelines with particular regard for the environment. We have at least one person on each of our sites who is responsible for environmental and energy-saving issues. Our employees have made a real contribution by taking part in beach clean-up sessions over the last three years running. We have also set up twenty beehives at our base in Plouvien and in 2020 we planted 600 indigenous trees in the local area of Saint Divy.

Even though we are under no obligation to undergo a carbon footprint audit, we have nonetheless carried out audits for all our subsidiaries. Working with the consultancy firm Carbone 4, we are aware that our way of working may well be put under the spotlight, but we are committed to improving in any way we can.