With a greater focus on sustainability throughout supply chains and increased consumer awareness of eco performance from brands, it is more important than ever to support sustainability through innovation. Sophie Weston, channel marketing manager at Geberit, explores the role of global sustainability goals in shaping product innovation and reducing environmental impact.
At Geberit, we believe that sustainability starts with product design. By placing sustainability at the heart of design, factoring in everything from raw materials and production processes to packaging and recyclability, manufacturers can help to drive sustainable performance throughout the entire supply chain.
All of our products are developed in line with eco-design principles, ensuring that each product is better taking into account the best raw materials, the right suppliers, local production and green logistics, in order to develop products that are made to last, repairable and recyclable.
Sustainable sanitary solutions
We have developed a comprehensive range of products that are regarded as sustainable sanitary solutions, and that contribute to increased quality of life with low energy and water consumption and with ecologically friendly materials.
For example, the Geberit urinal system offers major water saving opportunities thanks to the different operation modes and the associated low operation and maintenance costs. An integrated urinal flush control can be operated using three power supply variants, whilst flushing out the urinal ceramic appliance with 0.5 litres per flush ensures compliance with EN 13407, the European standard for wall-hung urinals. Additional opportunities for saving water are made possible thanks to different operation modes, including dynamic flushing time adjustment (hybrid) and waterless operation.
Revised flush technology
One innovation helping to drive the sustainability of toilet installations is new flush and fill valves for ceramic cisterns, made with more than 50% recycled material.
These new valves are made from more than 50% recycled plastics, recovered from high-quality plastic waste from the electronics industry, with no impact on quality or functionality. Insourcing has also reduced transport distances by up to 50%. In total, around 1,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions are saved as a result of the changes.
Plastic regranulates
This is just one example of using plastic regranulates to improve the sustainability of plastic-based products.
Not all plastic is the same. The quality of Geberit products is defined by their environmental friendliness, durability and conservation of resources. This principle also applies to the use of plastics and we increasingly use plastic regranulates, or recycled plastics.
At present, this is primarily ABS (acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene), which has been recovered from electronic scrap such as plastic cases from home appliances and computers. In 2020, we processed 940 tonnes of this material worldwide.
Long-term look
Good sustainable performance is now a requirement of success, promoted by governments and demanded by consumers worldwide. Leading manufacturers should view product development process through the entire life-cycle – and we must all work in partnership to look beyond the obvious and consider the value of sustainable performance at every stage of the supply chain