Since we began our story, the LiQuid team have always been thinking of ways to reduce the environmental impact of our operations. As we work hard to deliver the vaping products our community know and love, we do unfortunately create some waste. While some waste is unavoidable, there are lots of great ways in which we have tried to reduce and offset our ecological footprint.
In fact, we are one of the first vaping manufacturers to introduce a fully-fledged Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Policy. What this means is we have given our community and the rest of the industry total transparency of everything we are doing to try to be environmentally and socially responsible. One of the five main pillars of our CSR efforts is environment! This means we promise to keep doing more and more to reduce our ecological footprint across our operations.
We have already taken some excellent steps including switching to 100% recycled PCR 10ml bottles, and even donating waste wood to a local scheme that built a playscape for goats! You can learn more about all this and more in our blog One Bottle, One Pound, One Planet – but read on to discover the very latest CSR environmental efforts here at LiQuid.
Reducing energy consumption and increasing efficiency
We’ve made a number of changes to our Manchester Headquarters that help it to run efficiently without consuming excessive fossil fuels.
LED Lighting Conversion
All the lighting in our HQ have been converted from traditional bulbs to LEDs; improving operating efficiency and drastically reducing energy consumption. Motion sensors have also been installed to ensure unoccupied areas are not using electricity unnecessarily – it can be a little spooky when all the lights in a corridor turn on one by one as you enter though….
Efficient Heating
Our Production and Warehouse areas make up the largest open spaces in our operations which are naturally difficult to heat efficiently. To combat this, we have installed storage heaters to improve our heating efficiency during colder months. Additionally, destratification fans are utilised alongside heat exchangers. They can reverse their rotational direction to push or pull hot and cold air between the factory and the outside depending on which is most extreme. Helping to maintain a consistent building temperature that’s comfortable for our staff, without consuming gas.
Recycling and Wate Reduction
The vaping industry gets through a lot of bottles and other types of packaging, let alone the flavourings and other chemical products that are part of the process. Many of these materials come with strict rules and require special care during disposal. Here at LiQuid, thanks to some great technology and working smart, we have been able to do a number of things to help control our waste and recycle as much as possible!
100% Recycled PCR bottles
Because they come into contact with nicotine, both we as manufacturers and you at home are unable to recycle our 10ml PET plastic bottles used to package the vast majority of the e-liquids we produce. In order to try to reduce the amount of plastic we consume; we have worked with our supplier to replace all ‘virgin’ PET bottles with 100% recycled PCR PET. This material is produced using repurposed waste plastics contributing to the reduction of waste “single-use” plastics entering the oceans and empowering underprivileged communities with paid collection schemes at the same time!
Waste Wood for Local Communities
We donate our old and broken pallets to a local allotment scheme, where they are applied in a number of creative ways from building planters and agricultural resources to crafting a playscape for goats!
Recycling
Special bins are in place throughout LiQuid HQ, allowing for the separation and recycling of all aluminium and metallic, paper, and cardboard waste – the latter being bailed using special in-house machinery for efficient collection. This machinery is also used to bundle up all waste shrink-wrap and recyclable plastics, ready for collection and processing.
Thanks to our loyal community, LiQuid has grown to become quite a big business which has made it easier for us to be creative when reducing our ecological impact. To pay this forward, we maintain an open-door policy for all our neighbouring businesses here around HQ, inviting them to bring us their recyclable waste as regularly as possible to be sent alongside our own for proper processing This helps our smaller neighbours to be greener without burdening them with the costs.
Battery and Chemical Disposal
Because they require extra care, specialised waste areas have been created for the collection of waste tech, batteries and chemical waste such as line-flushings and waste flavouring. Batteries are collected and disposed of in accordance with WEEE regulations along with scrap IT equipment wherever possible.
We use specialist contractors who regularly collect all bulk chemical waste and carefully carry out a treatment process to ensure its safe disposal without impacting the environment. We also make use of a specialised trade effluent drainage system which is carefully monitored and audited by the appropriate official authorities.
Our bulk PG, VG and nicotine are all delivered and stored in large 1000 litre containers known commonly as IBCs (intermediate Bulk Containers). As they have contained chemicals, are made of mixed materials and are very large in size, they can be difficult to dispose of. Thankfully we have partnered with a local authority which collects and safely processes all our waste IBCs allowing them to be broken down and recycled or repurposed for other functions.
Outside of Our Business
While we have the power to control our own actions at LiQuid HQ, we still rely on many external suppliers and distributors to ensure we can produce and deliver your orders. While we can’t have eyes everywhere, we take special care when choosing who to do business with, and we have a special process that helps us to make sure our partners have the same ethics as us!
External/Supply Chain
LiQuid only works suppliers that uphold the same or similar values to our own. As such, wherever possible we only work with businesses that are demonstrably: environmentally conscious, supportive of positive human rights and followers of ethical business practice. This ultimately offsets scope3 emissions (pollution from your supply chain) and reduces commercial and human risk factors as much as possible.
We enforce this approach with our onboarding process which includes a detailed Pre-Qualification Questionnaire. This document must be filled out and reviewed before any business can commence between LiQuid and a supplier. The questionnaire challenges suppliers to provide their policies on: CSR, Anti-Bribery, Anti-Corruption, Code of Ethics, Health & Safety, Environmental Systems and Accreditations, Waste Management and Disposal as well as any history of environmental offences – alongside a plenty more, from ISO accreditations and compliance to Insurance.
We’re Still Working On It!
While we’d love to say we’re already perfect, we’d only be lying – that’s why we brought in our CSR policy, because we wanted to be honest with our community and show we care enough to keep working hard to improve. Some things are beyond our control, but we are constantly working towards a more sustainable future for vaping, for all.
A Paperless Future
Continued efforts are being made throughout the business to go paperless wherever possible favouring digital and cloud-based computing services to reduce the need for paper consumption and storage. We are also looking at using more recycled paper and card in our operations, including our packaging!
Non-Recyclable Waste
All non-recyclable waste where possible is collected and sent to be incinerated in a controlled environment wherein the burning process is harnessed to create additional electrical energy, ensuring even our highest-impact waste can make a positive contribution toward a sustainable future. We know this still isn’t ideal however, and are making every effort to reduce the amount of waste that must be disposed of in this way.
