Industrial thread manufacturer Coats has launched a new sustainability strategy in which it sets out seven “ambitious” targets for 2022 across five priority areas in order to accelerate the company’s progress towards a more sustainable future.
These are outlined in the UK-based company’s first sustainability report, which covers the key sustainability performance data for the period 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2018.
The five priority areas are water, energy, effluent, and emissions, social and living sustainably. Coats identified the areas by first considering the values and ethics which are most important to employees, customers, and investors as well as consumers of the end products. These key stakeholder groups are making increasingly influential demands for action on sustainability across all markets and industries, the firm says.
Coats then looked at where there was the most potential for improvement in its own manufacturing and operations.
Having identified the five priority areas, Coats has set seven targets to be achieved by 2022:
- 40% reduction in water used in litres/kg thread produced
- 7% reduction in energy used in kwh/kg thread produced
- Source renewable energy where feasible
- Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals effluent standards
- ‘Great place to work’ or equivalent awards for all key sites
- All employees involved in community activities
- 25% reduction in waste
There is also an additional target of manufacturing 100% recycled premium polyester threads by 2024. All reductions are against the 2018 baseline.
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By GlobalData“Sustainability is a core component of our value system. We are a company that not only performs well, but does good,” said Coats’ group chief executive Rajiv Sharma. “Our 2022 ambition and priorities build on the good work already done and importantly further align us with consumers and customers by putting sustainability at the heart of our strategy and business. We have set ourselves challenging targets that can make a difference to society and the environment. Sustainability will enable Coats to grow, innovate and thrive as a business well into the future.”
In order to achieve its targets for 2022, Coats is investing capital, time and resource in each of the five priority areas:
Water – 60% of Coats total water consumption is used in dyeing, one of the most important parts of the thread manufacturing process. Coats is investing in new machines with low liquor ratio. It is also exploring innovative developments in digital printing technology and the waterless dyeing opportunity that offers; in December 2018 it made a strategic investment in Twine, an Israeli based start-up which has developed a revolutionary digital thread dyeing system.
Energy – Coats aims to source renewable energy wherever that is feasible and is looking to expand its renewable energy generation which has grown from virtually zero to 28% in the last six years. There is already solar generation capacity at its Patrick Yarn Mill site in North Carolina, US and at Ambas, Southern India, which also has a biomass-based steam boiler.
Effluent and emissions – To support working towards a cleaner world, Coats is implementing online, realtime monitoring of liquid waste effluent for sites discharging to the environment. It is investing in the construction of new or upgraded wastewater treatment plants at sites as well as recycling water where appropriate. It currently recycles 20% of process water.
Social – Coats understands that a strong employee value proposition is a key differentiator in both attracting and retaining talent. It is implementing new health and wellbeing programmes, a ‘Journey to Zero’ Health and Safety roadmap and is also working towards all employees contributing to community activities.
Living sustainably – Coats is working proactively with customers and suppliers to help them improve the sustainability of their products. New products are being developed using recycled materials or that can be reused or recycled by others. In 2018 Coats launched Epic EcoVerde, the first fully recycled premium thread. In addition, a waste management process action plan is being rolled out across all operations.
“The lifecycles of products is reducing while the demand for individual variants are increasing. As manufacturing enters Industry 4.0, the fourth significant revolution in the way products are made, companies need to, and are expected to, be responsible and sustainable in the way they do business,” Coats said. “Through targeted use of time, people and investment in the five priority areas, Coats will drive towards even greater responsibility and sustainability in the way it does business.”
Headquartered in the UK, Coats has a presence in more than 100 countries with manufacturing sites in over 50 countries. It works with almost 30,000 apparel and footwear manufacturers and with about 4,000 retailers and brands globally, as well as with more than 7,000 performance materials customers.
At the end of last year, the firm acquired ThreadSol, the Singapore-based provider of material management solutions, in a US$12m deal.
Click here to view Coats’ Sustainability Report in full.
