Sustainable plastic production with FUTURE FIT

At Inter Primo, we think globally and take a leading role in building green business models based on circular economy and recycling. Learn more about how we aim for a more sustainable future with our program FUTURE FIT.

Primo’s commitment to sustainability

FUTURE FIT is Primo’s commitment to sustainability. It’s our promise to be a part of the global movement towards a sustainable future. We’re taking responsibility for creating best practices in our work — for everyone’s benefit.

Our own experts, external bodies, customers, and environmental organisations helped create FUTURE FIT. Now, we have a solid foundation — we are committed to sustainability. And we have set ambitious objectives with specific deadlines.

We are genuinely concerned about the environment, and we believe that the plastic pollution debate is an opportunity for forward-looking organisations and plastic producers to help define the future of plastics. We are already well underway. Primo takes a proactive position on sustainable production, use, and disposal of plastics, including PVC, leading the way with exemplary practices.

A key challenge for the plastics industry is to promote recycling and reasonable use of plastic. Part of the task must be addressed in conjunction with public authorities, private companies, and research institutions. In other cases, each company must try to increase the sustainability of its own products and materials. Primo works across all fields to meet that goal.

But there is no quick fix. It’s not something we change in any single area, nor a one-time solution. We must incorporate the sustainability agenda into the core of who we are and what we do. We need to think differently and put ourselves in a position where we can challenge the market with innovative and sustainable solutions and promote sustainability. With FUTURE FIT, sustainability becomes a key part of Primo. It becomes a way to proceed and an approach to any future challenge.

Recycling of plastic in practice

At Primo’s production plants recycling of plastic is a part of the daily process.

Our facilities have re-grinding machinery, that lets us reuse waste plastic, profiles with errors or pieces that for some reasons, cannot be delivered. Furthermore, at our plants, more than 20% of all the PVC used in Primo come from recycled PVC, and we are keen to support international and local recycling organisations like the Danish WUPPI initiative.

Currently, Primo is intensively studying what happens to the recycling properties of plastic over time. This work is part of a cooperation with laboratories, which are testing pigmentation, heat stability and other parameters in recycled plastic. In many cases, there is no difference at all between the original product and the recycled product. In other cases, it loses some of its properties. It is in these cases we need to obtain a deep understanding of the materials. Using the right processes, additives, and a mix of new material and recycled plastic, Primo can produce profiles within tolerance levels. That is particularly crucial when plastic is recycled in several stages.

Clean plastic plants

Committed to sustainable plastic production.

All our plastic production facilities live up to the industry agreement, Operation Clean Sweep. This means that all facilities have procedures in place that do not allow for plastic residues to be let out in nature. Recycling of plastic is an integrated part of our business model and our design, counselling and production of plastic for our clients. We always strive to consider recyclability, building it into our designs whenever possible.

“We are still in the early phase and can see that a lot is happening in this field across the entire organisation. We have re-grinders in all production units, and our customers are very interested in discussing the perspectives. When you compare plastic to other products, it is clear that plastic has some recycling properties you don’t see in other materials. That gives us confidence that - if treated wisely - plastic can be a green material, which can be part of the solution to our global challenges,” CEO, Claus Tønnesen.

Plastic innovation for a better future

Rethinking the plastic innovation process step by step for a more sustainable world.

Inter Primo excels in customer specific plastic solutions. Our process is based on several detailed steps to ensure a perfect match between customer`s needs and our more than 60 years of experience with plastic innovation. Every part of this process – from idea to product – is based on sustainable principles.

Primo has chosen to take up the sustainability challenge by launching a string of internal initiatives and by implementing a green transition in cooperation with customers and organisations - our program FUTURE FIT.

The initiatives will reduce the amount of plastic waste generated from production and underpin a more sustainable use of plastics. The measures cover three main focus areas:

Internal measures to optimise the re-use of scrap from production by investing in technology that can handle all types of cut-off and sawdust from Primo’s output. Consequently, more than 20 pct. of the PVC used in Primo’s global products is made of recycled granulate from Primo’s own factories.
Handling of residual products from the customers’ processing of profiles from Primo. This is more complex since it involves cooperation with external actors. But several cases show that the initiative functions well, both by being able to save tonnes of waste and by being economically sound.
Binding cooperation with international organisations, in which the actors in the plastics industry formulate common guidelines for how to generate the least possible amount of waste from plastic production.

The initiatives share the common goal to promote an environmentally sound approach throughout the entire life-cycle of a plastic product, from production through processing in the construction sector until the scrap is recycled.

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