Environment

Maintaining the natural resources and environment in which we operate is imperative to the sustainability of our business. We work with our suppliers, partners, customers and employees to continue to reduce our impact on the environment, through mutual long-term partnerships based on environmentally and socially-responsible business conduct, as well as through constant measurement & improvement of all our operational processes. Our plants and sites across Greece, India, Romania, Russia, South Africa and our Head Office in Athens are certified to the ISO14001 environmental management standard.

Energy use & greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

• Energy use: A significant part of Frigoglass’ environmental footprint is comprised of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. As our LCA has shown, our production sites are responsible for the majority of energy consumption and emissions, followed by transportation of our products and people. Natural gas and electricity are the main sources of power for our plants and facilities. Besides these energy sources, we also consume diesel fuel, petrol and LPG.
• GHG emissions: Every year, we report on our scope one, two and three emissions. Scope one emissions include the direct greenhouse gas emissions from sources that are owned or controlled by Frigoglass such as natural gas combustion and company owned vehicles. Scope two emissions account for greenhouse gas emissions from the off-site generation of purchased electricity, heat and steam. Scope three emissions include all other indirect emissions such as those from waste disposal, business travel and staff commuting. In recent years we have implemented a series of initiatives aimed at reducing energy consumption and emissions across all of our manufacturing sites. A key aspect of this is our program of monitoring greenhouse gas emissions and publishing detailed data on our carbon footprint.

• ISO 14064 Verification: Frigoglass is verified against ISO 14064 standard. The ISO 14064 standard (published in 2006) is part of the ISO 14000 series of International Standards for environmental management and provides businesses with a complimentary set of tools for programs to quantify, monitor, report and verify greenhouse gas emissions.

Water. Water is an essential input into our manufacturing process and a limited resource that needs to be conserved. Our business functions depend on water and community livelihoods cannot exist without it. It is therefore essential that we manage our operations in a way that promotes water sustainably for both our communities and our business. While water consumption is heavily correlated with production volumes, we actively undertake initiatives to eliminate leakages and reduce consumption.

Waste and recycling. Hazardous and non-hazardous wastes are produced as by-products of our manufacturing processes. At Frigoglass we are adopting policies and measures that contribute to the minimization of waste and to the increase of recycling and reusing. We have a number of different hazardous wastes in each plant including oil, rubber, fluorescent lamps, batteries and heavy metals among others, and have put in place detailed procedures for their collection and disposal. Once generated, waste is then separated by material and stored in a safe warehouse within the plant’s premises. All our sites are fully compliant with the EU Directive on waste of electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) and we have contracts with authorized waste management companies to implement the WEEE guidelines.

E-Waste collection and recycling, India. Frigoglass is fully committed to complying with all applicable Environment, Health and Safety regulations. We have taken many steps in line with international standards and we’re consistently following responsible business practices in manufacturing, aiming at natural resource conservation and optimization, thereby contributing to environment preservation and safeguarding the greater good of society.

In India, Frigoglass has partnered with an authorized e-waste recycler for channelizing E-Waste collected from all over the country. Any consumer can call our Toll Free Number 18001020830 in India to get more information about our E-Waste EPR program and the nearest collection center where appliances can be dropped off. We ensure proper disposal of E-Waste in compliance with regulations through our authorized e-waste recycler.

Materials use and resource efficiency. The nature of our business requires heavy material use. We attempt to reduce overall materials used in production by sharing best practice examples in this area with all our plants across the world. Key material categories include metals, glass, plastics, refrigerants, insulation and paints.

Sustainable sourcing

To find out more information about supplier relations at Frigoglass click on the following link.