Environmental Protection
Environmental protection - now and on a sustained basis - is very important to us.
SOLIDA complies with and takes account of all the major national and international environmental laws, regulations and standards.
All staff are involved in our continuous improvement process when it comes to our eco performance. In our daily business, we use energy and material resources in an efficient and environmentally friendly way and expect the same from our business partners.
Avoiding waste takes precedence over its recycling or disposal. We reduce emissions and waste to a minimum.
We use our DIN EN ISO 14001environmental management system to monitor and continuously improve the attainment of our objectives and further refine them.
The introduction of an energy management system is a logical consequence and supports the continuous improvement of our planned and existing energy-related objectives. It also makes sure that our reporting is systematically managed, checked and analysed.
Generation of energy with our own combined heat and power plant
As a company, SOLIDA takes it on itself not to produce at the expense of the environment. For this reason, SOLIDA has been operating its own combined heat and power (CHP) plant since 2015 and is improving energy efficiency by generating electrical energy and heat. The system replaces an old gas boiler, which has been replaced as a part of the energy management.
Since then, the medium-sized CHP unit has produced 20 kW electrically and 43 kW thermally within the framework of combined heat and power generation. In contrast with conventional power plants, the waste heat from a combined heat and power unit is also used in the same block and fed into the heating or energy system. In this way, around 100,000 kilowatt hours flow into the company's own requirements every year. They reduce the inflow of external electricity and thus also the annual costs, even though the plant runs through the entire year.
The modernization of the heating system with an investment volume of 250,000 euros was subsidized by the European Union and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia with 6,800 euros. Its amortization is planned for 10 years. With this and other extensive measures, SOLIDA has been able to significantly reduce gas consumption within four years, and electricity consumption is also being reduced continuously. This is not only a financial advantage, but above all a relief for the environment.
With an internal energy recording system that can analyze consumption down to the individual machine in detail, the company is working on further savings measures such as replacing the old HQL lamps with LED technology in the four sectors of the shop floor. Further steps will follow continuously.
As a big energy consumer, SOLIDA is very conscious of its environmental responsibilities. Wherever there are environmentally friendly alternatives that - especially in the use of production equipment - can be used sensibly, the aim is to implement them.
Bee pasture project: Three beehives on 1,400 sqm of fallow land converted into a flowering meadow
The bee pasture project was developed as part of our corporate responsibility for the environment. An unused lawn on the company premises next to the employee car park has become a meadow for useful insects to feed on. It was planned and implemented in a sustainable, long-term manner with irrigation systems, the selection of the right seeds and suitable flowering shrubs. Since May 2020, there have been three beehives on the edge of the 1,400 square metre site.
For SOLIDA, bees are a testimony to its efforts to act in an environmentally sustainable manner. This is reflected in permanent improvements in the production process, such as reducing the consumption of electricity and water and optimising packaging. SOLIDA is four times TÜV-certified, not only for quality and occupational safety but also for energy management and environmental protection.
The idea of the SOLIDA bees was born in a conversation between SOLIDA managing director Thomas Schäfer and hobby beekeeper Sven Chudzinski, who owns the honey bees and takes professional care of them in the safe environment of the company premises and at a sufficient distance from the mother colonies in his garden. The first honey production – for employees and customers – is scheduled in 2021.
