Sustainability
Sustainability is the capacity to endure. It connects with economics through the social and environmental consequences of all business activities and can actually be a business strategy that drives long-term company growth and profitability by including such issues seamlessly into your business plan. Traditionally, the foundry trade has always recycled - remelting metal, for example, to produce new items - and we are no different. However, it can always be taken further.
The concept of sustainability – meeting our needs today without jeopardising the ability of future generations to meet their needs tomorrow – can be applied to any business, and should. The level of inclusion will depend on a company’s budget, availability of resources and demand for it from their customers.
It clearly works best when all businesses in a supply chain adopt it. Durey Castings took the decision many years ago to embrace the concept of sustainability but they cannot work alone. To deliver the benefits to our customers we expect the same commitment from our suppliers.
No one should expect grand sweeping transformations that are not affordable but, conversely, sustainability is not merely window dressing. Adopting the correct practices should result in greater competitiveness, higher standards, increase in market share, more customer loyalty and greater profits. What’s more, the growing demand for ‘green’ products has created major new markets that we intend to explore.
Durey Castings Limited has produced a Sustainability Strategy to maximise our company, customer and employee value whilst managing risks to both the environment and people from our activities. We require all our suppliers to adopt a similar strategy.
Operations. It is a necessary evil that deliveries in our industry are still best completed via road transport. All our delivery vehicles are classed as low emission and our HGVs have modified engines to conform to strict emission laws within the London area. Additives are used to further reduce emissions and signage is applied to these vehicles to warn cyclists of the dangers when passing. Our transport manager has strict targets regarding figures for deliveries per driven mile and this is aided by traffic management support from the FTA. We are also opening depots in areas of high demand so as to hold stock nearer to the customer. We will continue to reduce our effect from operations.
Our main supplier delivers to our yards using LNG fuelled vehicles to reduce our CO2 emissions even further.
Environment. Our offices, workshops and warehouses are all equipped with energy saving devices and we will continue to assess for best practice. We have calculated that 23kg of CO2 is produced in the manufacture and distribution of 1 tonne of cast product.
Employees. The health of our staff is monitored to ensure productivity is maximised and a strict health & safety regime throughout the company helps to maintain performance and adaptability. We also ensure the right talent is in the right place to take advantage of any opportunity. Improvements to our systems will continue to be made.
Waste. We strive to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill. A recycling programme is in place in the company and all staff have formally committed to the reduction of waste, the conservation of energy and the reduction of water usage. We aim to reduce waste further still. Reduce – Reuse - Recycle.
During 2020 we worked closely with our suppliers to utilise 63 tonnes of recycleable material within our products. This included recycled glass, rubber and metal.
Development. We have developed, and encourage others to so, products that reduce the impact on the environment or improve the life of people in it. Examples of this are a range of gratings compliant with the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and bedding mortars utilising high percentages of recycled material.
Re-assessment. Everything we do has an impact on the environment and people around us. We have worked hard to understand how this works and how we can reduce that impact. We will continuously re-evaluate our strategy in this respect.
Supporting local causes. In addition to supporting the Mencap charity Durey Castings supports local schools and sports clubs with equipment and funds. More details are available upon request.
http://www.mencap.org.uk/what-we-do
In 2017, 2018 and 2019 we were the sole sponsors of the Dartford Half Marathon, Kent's oldest road race. In 2023 we hope again to be the main sponsor.
