BATHROOM and kitchen surface manufacturer Rearo has revealed how the business used supply chain pressures caused by the war in Ukraine to help transform its environmental performance.
The Glasgow-based producer of laminate wall panels and worktops said it has ‘significantly’ reduced its carbon footprint by sourcing its main raw material from Ireland instead of Russia.
The company has also introduced a programme that it claimed has helped it to recycle 98.47% of physical waste, a performance recognised by the Scotland Excel Supplier Excellence Awards for Environmental Practices.
Rearo Âpreviously sourced birch plywood, the main raw material for its laminate panels from the Sekheza Pulp and Paper Mill in the republic of Karelia, in north west Russia. The firm was forced to look elsewhere following an embargo and sanctions on goods purchased from Russia.
While Rearo continues to source some birch plywood from Finland, it has now switched the bulk of its material to exterior grade MDF, supplied through the Medite Smartply production and research plant in Clonmel, County Tipperary.
The business imports 3,600 panels of MDF from Ireland and 1,200 panels of birch plywood from UPM Fibres, at Kaukas, Finland every month, compared with 4,200 panels of birch plywood from Russia prior to the pandemic.
In 2022, Rearo launched an environmental committee green team, led by support services manager, Daniel Danso, who said, “The invasion of Ukraine by Soviet troops in February 2022 signalled a major change in the way we do business and, while sanctions imposed on Russian exports caused huge logistical difficulties for us at the start, we have turned it into a positive.
“We were already aware, from the Covid pandemic, that there were risks involved in maintaining long, international supply chains, and we knew that in the long term we would have to change.”
Rearo already had a relationship with Medite from whom it has sourced a range of MDF products over the past 20 years. Working with the company, and the Irish Forestry Commission, it has now agreed an ongoing contract for the supply of exterior grade MDF for use in its production line, including for its Tradeline waterproof shower panel range for washroom facilities in housing and private care. Rearo also now uses Medite Exterior MDF boards for its Selkie shower panel range for the domestic market.
In seeking to achieve Zero Waste Scotland Green Champions certification, Rearo now recycles around 20 tonnes of waste per month, including paper, packaging, glass, timber, plastic, and textiles.
The company has also purchased a high-volume edge-banding machine, utilising low adhesive technology to apply colour matched ABS edgings ‘as environmentally as possible’.
