The Vita Group aims for 50% of products to have sustainable alternatives by 2030

The Vita Group has launched a new sustainability strategy which aims for half of its product range to have a sustainably-sourced option by 2030.

The strategy will enable the company, which employs 2,700 people across Europe and is headquartered in Middleton, to further develop its Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) strategy.

The company, which produces polyurethane foam, is hoping its 'Enhancing Everyday Life' strategy will inspire businesses from within its supply chain and the wider foam industry to follow its lead and set similar goals to help drive the momentum for more sustainable manufacturing materials and processes.

Vita’s aims for the next three decades includes:

• aiming for the use of 100% renewable electricity across all Vita plants by 2030
• being Scope 1 and Scope 2 carbon neutral across all wholly-owned manufacturing operations by 2050
• ensuring that no manufacturing waste is taken to landfill after 2040, an ambition which it has already achieved across two of its largest sites at Middleton and Accrington

To achieve these targets, The Vita Group will harness the potential of its four state-of-the-art innovation centres in Middleton, Accrington, Northamptonshire and Lithuania, which cater to emerging customer needs through developments in chemistry, processing, material usage and new product research.

Ian Robb, Group CEO at The Vita Group, said: “Sustainability is integral to our culture, purpose, and values. We have a long history of innovation in sustainability, investing in circular economy products and using lower carbon and more sustainable alternative raw materials. Our new Enhancing Everyday Life strategy lays out our ambitious plan to continue leading the ESG agenda within our industry.

“Thanks to our state-of-the-art innovation centres we will accelerate our product and service capabilities in line with eco-friendly options. While we are seeing a greater demand from customers for more sustainable products, we also see it as our responsibility to innovate in order to develop a circular economy that will help reduce carbon outputs and increase End Of Life (EOL) recycling.

“By announcing and implementing these new pledges, we look to inspire others across the manufacturing sector to set similar targets so we can all work collaboratively to achieve higher and greener standards across the industry, in order to help protect the world around us for future generations.”

 

 

The Vita Group has been making industry-leading products from 100% recycled PU foam for over 50 years. It recycles and re-bonds over 30,000T of its own and its customers’ process trim each year into a range of products from carpet underlay, foam shock pad for artificial sports pitches, materials for green roof applications and many more upcycling solutions.

As of March 2021, Vita has created a range of sustainable polyols, including CO2 derived polyols and renewable polyols from sustainable sources, such as soya bean and castor oil. The Vita Group’s new sustainability strategy aims for all foaming facilities to be capable of producing foams using sustainable polyols by 2030.

Recently, The Vita Group’s Middleton Innovation Centre developed FRee foam, an environmentally-friendly alternative to standard foams that is fully compliant with UK flammability regulations.

Other recent investments include a new collaboration with Dow on its ground-breaking RENUVA™ Mattress Recycling Program. The partnership involves mattresses being processed through Dow’s in-house technology and converted back into a base raw material used to make brand new foam for a variety of applications, including more mattresses.

Production quantities of foam will be manufactured using RENUVA™ Polyols at Vita’s production site at ICOA in Crancey, north-central France.