Protecting the environment

Hi, I’m Brett Gaskin, QSHE Manager for Captec.

As many businesses around the world embrace state-of-the-art tools and processes to ensure the consistency of products, customer demands and habits have shifted to not only ask “Does the product work and is it reliable?”, but also, “Do I like this organisation?”, “The way in which it behaves?”, “Its views on sustainability and its impact on the world around us?”.

Do Captec utilise renewable energy resources?

In 2016, as part of a commitment to reduce the CO2 produced by the business, Captec installed a 150-watt-peak solar panel array consisting of 600 panels, producing electricity for Captec and any excess being fed back to the grid.

We’ve also installed fast-charge EV charge stations, available for use by employees and visitors to promote and encourage the use of eco-friendly vehicles.

How do Captec manage their environmental processes?

Captec have developed and maintained an environmental management system which covers all activities carried out at our facility in Fareham.

To validate the handwork that’s been done here, we have been an ISO 14001 certified company since 2008.

We also have a team of internal auditors within the business, who, in line with our internal audit program, periodically access the control processes and critical aspects across the business.

Do Captec have targets for reducing resource consumption and how have they set out to achieve them?

Captec have a number of targets to control our energy and resource usage.

With regards to electricity, we have an improvement plan to upgrade all of the fluorescent tubes to LED lighting across the business with PIR motion sensors in many areas.

Regular servicing of gas appliances keep them running as efficiently as possible. Boilers for heating are turned off in the summer months.

We monitor our water usage and minimise the impact on the environment. Through this regular monitoring, we identify and eliminate water leaks efficiently and use different solutions and maintenance to cut down on our general use.

We monitor paper usage throughout the business, using IT solutions to move to electronic formats wherever possible.

All of our objective data is analysed monthly and is displayed visually around the business for staff and visitors to see.

How do Captec manage their waste? 

With waste, we follow Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

Firstly, we try to minimise the potential waste received by purchasing components in OEM packaging, as opposed to retail packaging.

Secondly, we reuse incoming packaging to ship to our customers – for example, our chassis and our crates for rack products. And have agreements with some suppliers to return and reuse the packaging that they ship to us in.

Thirdly, we have many different recyclable waste streams including cardboard, paper and metal. We’re also registered as a member of the WEEECare compliance scheme for responsible WEEE and battery disposal.

Finally, any general waste is transported to an energy recovery facility locally. We are proud to say that nothing from Captec is sent to landfill.

Do Captec promote sustainable and environmental actions within their supply chain?

Captec wishes to do business with companies who share the same ethics and values and therefore, wherever possible, we select suppliers with ISO 140001 certification above suppliers without approval.

We also provide support and advice where possible to our supply chain to encourage moves towards greener, and more sustainable business practices. Such as reducing packaging, changing packaging to products that are more easily recyclable, and other help as requested.

All packaging material will be sourced from a supplier who can source sustainable packaging.

What are Captec’s environmental goals for the future?

Captec are committed to continually improve our processes and we actively encourage suggestions for improvement from all of our employees, not matter what their role within the business.

We will continue to monitor and seek to improve energy efficiency of our operations, in conjunction with increasing our engagement with our suppliers to ensure they recognise and reduce the environmental impact of their products, processes and transportation.

To learn more about Captec visit our about us page.