SFS Leeds and Welwyn Garden City partner to design out waste from its business

SFS’s Construction Division is the world’s largest manufacturer and distributor of carbon and stainless-steel fastening solutions for roofing, cladding, and façade systems. As part of sustainability initiatives, Leeds and Welwyn Garden City sought out the expertise of a national full-service waste and recycling operator.

Since 2017, all waste services at SFS Group Fastening Technology Ltd have been managed by Reconomy Group. With zero waste to landfill the standard, SFS was confident in Reconomy Group’s ability to help achieve its wider sustainability ambitions. Eagar to develop further sustainable initiatives, and turn waste into resources, it was necessary for SFS to adopt alternatives to its packaging.

The standard SFS procedure for protective packaging was to use bubble wrap to safely deliver its materials to customers. There was a desire to move to a more sustainable alternative material to reduce the impact on the environment due to its inability to be broken down by natural organisms. In addition to its environmental effects, it also has a high expenditure, with the sites spending £6,000 per annum to source. Reconomy Group explored alternatives to find an innovative solution that would significantly increase recycling and reuse opportunities.

Reconomy Group analysed and identified an approach that would offer a fully closed-loop solution. By utilising the cardboard skips that SFS had on site, and which were managed by Reconomy Group as part of the overall waste management partnership, the cardboard waste could instead be used as a packaging alternative, that was also fully recyclable to the customer.

Thanks to its extensive supply chain, Reconomy Group was able to source the best machine both operationally and commercially to shred the cardboard, ready for SFS to then use for its packaging. Communication was critical during this period, as there was a vast offering of different machines of different sizes, with different operational capabilities. It was also vital that the material could withstand all different product weights, and with the priority to ensure all products arrive to customers safely. Using its account management expertise, Reconomy Group supported the identification of and set-up of the Profipak 425 cardboard corrugator over a two-week trial period.

After the successful trial, SFS introduced the cardboard corrugator in March 2022. Since the rollout, it has irradicated the expenditure on bubble wrap within the business. SFS has only ordered one cardboard exchange, which means they have shredded around 1.5 tonnes of cardboard in two months. Additionally, they have seen a reduction in the number of cardboard skips being used on site, which has then reduced the customer carbon impact with fewer exchanges taking place on-site.