Thanks to its aptitude for product and production innovation Bond It has become one of the UK’s largest independent manufacturers of sealants, adhesives and building chemicals. Increasingly, it is using its expertise to meet the need for greater sustainability. PBM finds out more.
There is no silver bullet to the environmental issues currently facing the world.
Challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss, environmental degradation, and resource depletion are unlikely to be solved overnight or by one action alone.
Instead, the onus is on all of us to do what we can, where we can, to reduce our environmental impact and to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem.
This need for greater sustainability is already well understood throughout the building, maintenance and improvement industry.
Merchants and building product manufacturers alike are continuing to step up to the plate with Bond It being a case in point.
Kirstie Cooper, marketing manager at the UK-based manufacturer of sealants, adhesives and building chemicals comments:
“At Bond It, our commitment to ever higher levels of sustainability continues to manifest itself in many different ways.
“As an example, for some time we’ve used solar panels on our own factory roof to help meet our energy needs and to generate electricity from a completely renewable source.
“We are also using increasing amounts of post-consumer recycled (PCR) plastic in our packaging to help keep material out of landfill and in circulation.
‘Plus, through ongoing investments into our extensive production infrastructure, we are continuing to enhance our operations with the aim of increasing efficiency, reducing consumption and minimising waste.”
INVESTING IN THE FUTURE
Highlighting this, Bond It has recently made a major investment into upgrading the powder plant at its West Yorkshire site.
This plant now houses new mixing technology which enables the business to produce cementious products, such as its tanking slurry and self-levelling compound, more efficiently.
It can manufacture larger quantities of product in less time and with fewer unplanned stoppages thanks to the plant’s impressive reliability. Further savings in time and resources are derived from a simplified post-use cleaning processes.
Bond It has also invested into new machinery to enhance its production of specialist acid-based cleaning products – such as Bond It Brick Acid.
This machinery includes a new fume scrubber which can scrub the acidic vapours created during the manufacturing process to create a weak acidic solution. This solution can then be reused as the starting material for the following batch of product.
In this way, the new technology delivers double-edged benefits. Not only does it prevent waste but it also reduces the need for virgin raw materials.
NEXT GENERATION PRODUCTS
Kirstie comments:
“In line with our focus on increased sustainability, our product range also continues to evolve.
“Our pursuit of opportunities to improve the environmental performance of our products is relentless and see us looking for enhancement and refinement in all manner of areas.
“This could be in terms of their yield, the packaging they employ, the raw materials they use or their ability to contribute to the energy efficiency of the wider building envelope.”
This approach has led to the introduction of Bond It Breeze Block Foam – a multi‐purpose polyurethane foam which is ideally suited for use as a gap-filler on joints where movement is likely.
It can accommodate this movement whilst maintaining an airtight seal around the components, reducing heat loss and subsequently heating and energy requirements.
Another new product that sits alongside Breeze Block Foam within the Bond It Sustainable PU Foams range is MGF Ultra Yield.
This foam can be used for a huge variety of bonding, filling, sealing and insulating tasks as it adheres to most common construction materials. It also yields 55 litres of foam from a 500ml cannister which is 50% more than conventional foams.
The ability to extract more foam from each cannister means fewer cannisters are required reducing post-use waste as well as the resources need to make and transport cannisters.
Bond It has also recently introduced Bamboo Wipes. These anti-bacterial cleaning wipes are made completely from renewable and sustainable plant-based materials. They are also 100% biodegradable and outperform traditional polypropylene (plastic) based alternatives.
Kirstie explains:
“Our approach to sustainability at Bond It remains holistic.
“We look at our production processes, our product offer and every single area of our operations to identify how, and where, we can make changes that reduce our impact on the environment.
“These enhancements, no matter how small, have a cumulative affect and help to ensure we can offer merchants and their customer sealants, adhesives and building chemicals with ever improving environmental credentials.”