Holophane unveils sustainability plan
UK lighting manufacturer Holophane Europe has unveiled an ambitious sustainability initiative.
The EarthLIGHT initiative sets the company on a path towards a more sustainable environment, carbon neutral operations and the circular economy. It also addresses corporate governance and social issues.
Holophane has taken the strategic decision to ‘on-shore’ its production and supply chain to the UK and EU supply partners.
One immediate benefit, says the firm, is a reductions in transportation time, reliability, and costs.
Luminaires are now completely assembled at its factory in Milton Keynes and over 95 per cent of components are sourced from the UK or EU.
As well as reducing its environmental impact, having luminaires designed, compliance tested, tooled and manufactured in UK helps to eliminate supply chain issues caused by Brexit, Covid and the conflict in Ukraine.
EarthLIGHT also describes Holophane’s journey and roadmap to net zero. In 2021, Holophane moved to purchasing all its electricity from renewable sources and it has installed solar PV roof panels which are expected to provide 70 per cent of electricity requirements this year.
The 686 solar PV panels are mounted on the roof of its head office and manufacturing facility in Milton Keynes and return approximately 45,000 kWh to the grid each year.
The remaining 20% is procured from 100 per cent renewable sources such as hydro-electric, wind turbine, thermal and biomass sources. These suppliers are certified by the Carbon Trust and conform to the Greenhouse Gas Protocol.
EarthLIGHT also provides the strategy ensuring that Holophane makes steps in moving from a linear economy of take-make-waste to a circular economy model of take-make-repair-reuse-recycle.
Additionally, all Holophane-designed products have been calculated to provide a TM66 CEAM score customers can use when specifying Holophane products.
The company now returns the plastic trays used by its LED board supplier for recycling. This has resulted in almost 8 tonnes of plastic waste avoided since 2019 or the equivalent of almost 400,000 (500ml) plastic bottles.
By using recyclable paper instead of plastic for packaging void filling, Holophane has saved almost 3.5 tonnes of plastic waste per year.
