Environmental Statement

The United Kingdom as a whole generates approximately five hundred million tonnes of waste each year. This figure is too large for most of us to comprehend, however to give it some perspective, the gargantuan ocean liner "Titanic" weighed in at 46,000 tonnes, this is 30 times less than the weight of waste we generate each and every day! Quite a sobering thought.

Although some of this is recycled, the vast majority is still consigned to a rubbish dump of one kind or another. Either carted to one of the UK's 4,000 licensed landfill sites or sent for incineration. The problems associated with these, or any, methods of terminal waste disposal are three-fold.

Firstly, and from a holistic point-of-view most importantly, is the problem of pollution. New landfill sites are becoming more and more difficult to locate as we slowly eat away at our countryside. Problems with toxic chemicals leaching into the water table exist, as well as the ever-present worry of explosive methane gas build-ups. The alternative is incineration, which although very satisfactory in terms of destroying the waste quickly, causes significant air pollution and is very unpleasant for those living nearby.

The second problem we have to consider is the question of renewability. As an oil-fuelled economy we are all only too aware that, sooner rather than later, our sources of fossil fuels are going to dry up. So, until alternative sources or solutions are found, it is feasible that recycling may one day be the only source of petrochemical based products, including a large number of synthetic fibres.

Last but certainly not least, is the issue, which as businessmen large or small, touches us most directly and immediately: money. Manufacturing and related processes, by their nature, will produce some degree of unusable waste. Both landfill and incineration are disposal processes that have a cost attached to them. As pressure grows on Government to legislate for a more ecologically sound future, so the cost of these un-environmentally friendly processes is augmented by heavy taxing to discourage their practice.

In light of these facts, Anglo commit to…

• …continue to look for innovative ways to use reclaimed or waste fibre.
• …use waste and reclaimed fibre in place of virgin fibre whenever possible whilst continuing to meet our customers' exact needs.
• …work with our customers to identify and assess the feasibility of closed loop recycling - using our customers' textile/fibre waste as a raw material for their own products.

You can also print or download a copy of our environmental statement:

   Environmental Statement (PDF - 146KB)

(In order to view this file you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader, please click here to download the latest version.)

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