Plastic netting manufacturer Conwed has published its Global Sustainability Report 2014. Headquartered in Minnesota and with locations in two continents, Conwed has implemented best practices at all of its locations with the objective of increasing efficiency in their day to day operations and creating netting solutions that require less material and generate less waste.

Conwed says it went through an extensive review of its operations worldwide in 2009 and set new sustainability goals in four major areas: carbon footprint, water consumption, cubic yards of waste and total process resin waste generated.

“Conwed specializes in oriented netting, which basically creates strong but lighter weight products. Our customization capabilities allow us to redesign our products to use less material; however, we decided to go further and evaluate our day to day operations. We made changes in four major areas and we see the impact on our overall sustainability,” says Ivan Soltero, strategic marketing manager at Conwed.

Since 2009, Conwed has incorporated closed-loop systems to minimize use and disposal of processed water. Ongoing water usage audits, preventive maintenance, and identification of further improvement opportunities are designed to drive down water consumption in all of their plants. They have also focused on reusing as much resin waste internally as practical.  Additionally, Conwed found recycling outlets for waste that had previously been sent to landfills and invested in equipment and separation processes to facilitate the recycling of these materials.

“Our R&D and engineering teams work closely with our customers to develop sustainable features in a wide array of products. Whether it is reducing, reusing or recycling elements in our netting configurations, our team thrives on finding alternatives that help customers do more with less,” says Soltero.

To access or download the complete report, visit the Sustainability section at www.conwedplastics.com.