Carbon Reduction Programme - Caro Group
Posted on 6th August 2023
Carbon Reduction is a hot topic at the moment and everyone seems to be on the bandwagon informing the world that they are dedicated to Carbon Reduction but not letting anyone know what they are actually doing.
Here at the Caro Group, we made the decision 3 years ago to take this to the next level and look at every aspect of our environmental impact to see what steps we could take to make some real changes, not just stick a plaster on it.
Building Fabric
The Caro Group took over a new building in 2021 and took the opportunity to completely refurbish the entire building with steel roofs and walls with the best Insulation possible to lower the levels of heat we need to produce.
LED Lighting
Over the past two years we have replaced every light fitting with LED, the entire factory lighting, flood lighting, Emergency Lighting, machine lighting, all now replaced with full LED.
Removal of Fossil Fuels
It was not easy to remove all fossil fuels from the Melting and production processes but it has now been completed and there are no longer any fossil fuels used in any of our processes. Gas forklifts have been changed to electric, even the boiler has been replaced with storage heaters and immersion based hot water cylinders.
Low Powered Machinery
Along with LoCASE and Manufacturing In Growth at Maidstone Council, we have managed to lower our power to machinery by 27% by installing low powered Compressors, CNC Machines, and Cutting Equipment.
Waste Reduction
We have gone through all processes to eliminate waste in every area possible. Reduced Sand waste via our Secondary attrition unit, lower packaging from Suppliers by making plastic reduction agreements
Heat Treatment Plant
Heat treatment was the last part of the processes that used Gas, mainly due to the fact that the temperature control was much easier to control with a gas oven. With a lot of R&D and some sleepless nights, we managed to convert the Heat Treatment Oven to electric only, finally removing the last Gas powered product we had in the Foundry.
Staff Travel
The group commenced a “Shared Driving Scheme” in 2020. Staff that were travelling in from similar areas could arrange to share lifts reducing our Environmental impact via commuting miles by 83,200 Miles per annum.
Solar Power
In 2023 the group added Solar Power to the roofs of all factories. Power was always a premium so this has not only had the effect of hugely reducing our costs for power but has also freed up a lot of the supplied power that was running short with all our changes to remove Fossil fuels!
All in all, along with a number of smaller projects, We feel that our Carbon Reduction Journey is not only well underway, but has also been carefully considered to assure that it is possible for us to reach Gold Status on Carbon Neutral for Scope 1 and 2 as quickly as possible.
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