Sustainability Program
In today’s environment, companies endeavour to develop products and solutions that meet the key functional requirements of their customers.
As a rubber manufacturer, we acknowledge that our materials and our products have an impact on the environment. However, rubber and its variants are chosen because rubber is the best solution for many of the harsh environments and applications they are chosen for. To reduce this impact, we have embarked on a program to mitigate and offset the effects of our products in the marketplace to ensure our products are manufactured and used in the most sustainable way.
Sustainable
product design
Product longevity is key for Derby Rubber, and this has been the mainstay of our success.
Our innovation in design and compound formulation means robust products providing exceptional application performance which are the longest lasting in the market.
Unlike inferior variants which require regular replacement, Derby Rubber’s sustainable products design results in less material ending up in the landfill prematurely.
Examples of the way we use product, compound and material design, to achieve sustainable outcomes includes:
- Derby Rubber’s Solid and Hollow Ballastick®, a range of revolutionary new broom elements, extend the wear life by 60% over conventional hollow brooms. Users of these products also achieve improved performance through better efficiencies, lower fuel costs, and reduced changeover times.
- Our commitment to research and development led us to undertake and sponsor a 3-year post-doctoral research program into Spinifex CNF to understand the benefits of this sustainable product and its ability to reinforce compounded rubber materials.
Sustainable
work environment
Through raising awareness and progressive initiatives, we encourage our employees to share their ideas for advancing sustainable development in the workplace.
- We protect the physical and psychological health and safety of our employees.
- We increase their well-being at work by providing flexible jobs, family-work balance, and respect.
- We create a safe work environment that encourages trust, co-operation, and diversity, where all employees can grow and contribute to progress and innovation.
- We ensure the tasks are dynamic and the workflow is well distributed to avoid repetitive tasks and keep jobs interesting.
- We ensure skill development and training.
Our employees contribute to the industries we serve, and our culture and strategic planning work in harmony resulting in lower staff turnover and greater job satisfaction.
Our employees enjoy working at Derby Rubber with open-minded colleagues and the variety of work. They value the genuine commitment Derby Rubber has, to operate with honesty and integrity in all aspects of business operations.
Sustainable
business practices
Sustainability is a focus in every aspect of our organisational operations including:
- Transitioning our paper-based processes to a digital workspace.
- Solar panels on the roof of our Wingfield facility to further reduce our carbon footprint,
- Automation of our cooling tower to operate on-demand translating to a reduction in energy and water consumption by 80%.
- Offcuts of material generated in The Netherlands are recycled.
- Solid waste in Australia is sent to Suez as part of their Dry Waste Recycling. All ferrous materials are recycled, and non-ferrous materials are recycled into Process Engineered Fuel, diverting 95% of solid waste from landfills.
Derby Rubber is committed to responsible environmental management and reducing the impact of manufacturing on the natural environment. Our sustainability program represents this commitment, and we will continue to advocate for innovation with a focused effort on leading the industry through this initiative.
A copy of our Environmental Policy is available upon request.