OUR FOOTPRINT

In 2022, we commissioned the fourth audit of our greenhouse gas emissions in compliance with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. The audit was carried out by South Pole and lists our emissions along the entire supply chain in three different “scopes” or areas: direct emissions from energy consumption (Scope 1), indirect emissions from energy consumption (Scope 2) and other indirect emissions (Scope 3).

Our emissions in 2022 increased by 2.1% to 3204 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent compared with the previous year (2021 corr: 3139 t CO₂ equivalent). The key factor was increased production due to recovering markets following the Corona pandemic. However, when we consider emissions relative to products sold, they decreased from 7.6 kg CO₂ equivalent per unit the previous year to 6.2 kg CO₂ equivalent.

Most of our waste comes from truck tarps. Our primary source material is not new but derived from waste products in other industries and needs suitable processing before it can be upcycled into a bag: Superfluous elements, such as eyelets, buckles and straps, are removed from the truck tarps together with unusable sections of tarpaulin.

The waste produced by dismantling accounts for about 15% of total tarp waste. The general operational waste category also includes tarps that cannot be processed following quality control, as well as the scraps generated when cutting the pieces for unique items (bag design). We reduce tarp wastage in bag design by producing small accessories from the cuttings. In addition, we are always on the lookout for project ideas, such as The Real Rip-Off, to recycle unused remnants.

Tarp waste from the Zurich production site is now sent as part of general operational waste to the local waste incineration plant. Our former recycling partner, who specialized in PVC tarps, was forced to discontinue operations in 2018 following a fire. We realize that this is not a satisfactory way to dispose of waste, so continue to search for a PVC recycling solution.

The remaining materials, such as cardboard, wood and metal, account for a comparatively small proportion of operational waste and are sent to specialist recyclers.

We aim to operate in closed cycles not only with our products, but also at the NŒRD premises. We therefore use rainwater drained from the roof and collected in the rainwater tank to wash incoming used truck tarps.

To get the dirty tarps clean, we wash them twice. The still relatively clean rinse water from the second wash cycle is in turn used for the prewash of the next truck tarp. The heat released by the washing process is also used to heat the clean rainwater.

The water tank contains 350,000 liters. It is fed by rainwater that seeps through the gravel from the roof garden and runs through pipes to the tank. Depending on rainfall, we can cover an average of 50% of our water needs in production with collected rainwater.

In 2022, total water consumption more than doubled compared with the previous year. The increase is explained by the fact that, in addition to production and stores, we now include water consumption by our offices.

Our figures for stores and offices are based on estimates, for which we use more conservative values from 2022 onwards, showing a daily value twice as high as before (100 l/person instead of 50 l/person). Water consumed in production at Noerd (excluding collected rainwater) also increased by 37% due to increased production volume.