Sharps, the UK’s leading fitted bedroom furniture and wardrobes specialist, places emphasis on producing beautifully crafted and bespoke products with care for the environment, and that includes the use of EGGER’s decorative faced board in production.
As part of its ongoing sustainability efforts, Sharps recently carried out an ESG audit, assisted by EGGER, which included an analysis on waste. The findings revealed that Sharps generated a significant amount of waste MFC off-cuts during production and manufacturing.
As a result of the audit, Sharps began to look at more efficient ways of both reducing the amount of waste generated and recycling it, via waste service providers.
“As an industry leader and a manufacturer, we really need to pay more attention to this,” said Peter Welsh, operations director at Sharps. “On a brand level, it’s important that we do the right thing for our customers and for the planet. Our products are covered by a long guarantee, showing that they are truly designed and build to last. We’ve also partnered with Forest Carbon to offset our carbon emissions and use renewable electricity in our showrooms – just some examples of how we are actively working to reduce our environmental impact.
“After researching the market and speaking with EGGER, we decided to work with Timberpak (a subsidiary of EGGER UK) and Olivers Transport. The waste MFC off-cuts were collected, processed and then transported to EGGER for use in the production of future MFC boards at its Hexham manufacturing plant.
“This brought with it numerous benefits for us as a manufacturer and the wider industry. From a material circularity and environmental perspective, recycling the waste back into useable material for production is hugely positive. As well as helping to prolong the lifecycle of the product and reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill, it can preserve precious raw materials and store in captured CO2 for longer. It was also a more cost-effective process, when compared to the waste collection and removal fees we were previously paying.”
Sharps then chose to take this one step further, installing a woodchipper on its Bilston site. This enabled any waste wood material to be processed directly by Sharps before being collected and delivered to EGGER, helping to cut down on transport costs and ‘empty miles’.
“Historically, the waste timber material was collected in skips and then transported to various recycling centres at third party sites,” said Mr Welsh. “Now, by processing the timber in-house, the overall process is more streamlined and the waste chips are far easier to store and transport than solid board off-cuts, meaning there are fewer lorries on the road.
“Wood is an incredibly valuable and natural commodity. As such, if through this initiative we can reduce the number of virgin trees being used in manufacturing, extend the lifecycle of our existing timber and use less transport, it can only be a positive. Indeed, if everyone were to recycle more, our planet and its inhabitants would all benefit.”
“I believe it’s key to highlight the importance of the waste hierarchy in waste disposal; we need everyone to understand the value of wood as a resource and as such, ensure we use it fully before it’s burned,” said Mark Hayton, head of wood purchasing at Timberpak. “We encourage collaboration to facilitate recycling and provide producers with outlets, all while promoting sustainable waste management practices.”
Some 45% of EGGER’s UK MFC products are manufactured from recycled timber.
