Environment

Redland has been at the forefront of raising environmental awareness in the construction sector for many years. Redland won a Queen's Award for it's pioneering Cambrian Slate during the 1980s for its high recycled waste content while in 1997 Redland became the first UK roof tile manufacturer to launch a roof-integrated photovoltaic solar panel for generating zero-carbon renewable electricity. In addition to working with the Environment Agency to help protect and improve our environment, Redland operates an environmental policy and management system across all its manufacturing sites covering energy efficiency, waste minimisation, water efficiency and pollution reduction.

Improvement projects in all these areas continuously reduce the embodied environmental impacts of Redland products so that they meet the needs of our customers and requirements of new building codes such as the Code for Sustainable Homes. (see button below for the government communities website)

ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (ISO14001)

As well as working with the Environment Agency to help protect and improve the environment, Redland operates a policy and management system covering energy efficiency, waste minimisation, water efficiency and pollution reduction.

Improving and developing an Environmental Management System is both good business practice and a matter of corporate social responsibility. Hence our manufacturing operations incorporate a documented Environmental Management System 'EMS' which is designed to be audited against ISO14001 and include compliance with all the relevant environmental regulations. Monier Limited sets and reviews achievable environmental performance improvement objectives that contribute to a continual reduction in the environmental impacts of the company's products and services.

We take our environmental responsibilities very seriously. We do not see them as a legal burden but as an opportunity to differentiate ourselves in a competitive market and to help shape and improve the quality of life of local communities near our plants and the country as a whole.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

ROOFING MATERIALS

Fossil fuel energy use, and the carbon dioxide emissions produced as a result, is thought to be the single largest threat to our planet. In the UK, about 50% of all energy use results from the construction and operation of buildings. Although the embodied energy of building products is less significant than the energy used to operate buildings, the focus on reducing the impact of building products is increasing.

The manufacture of building products generates various environmental impacts in terms of energy, waste, water use and pollution. Although the sustainability of building products is difficult to quantify, the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) has become the standard tool in the UK for quantifying the overall embodied environmental  impact of building materials, the building elements (roofs, walls, floors, windows etc) they make up and buildings as a whole.

In this area we give you structured information on how our products are assessed for BREEAM (Green Guide to Specification 2008) and how you can use these ratings for calculation for the Code for Sustainable Homes.

ENERGY EFFICIENCY & CO2 EMISSIONS

PRODUCTION

Our products are manufactured with state-of-the-art equipment, which keeps consumption of raw materials, water and energy low due to the latest technologies applied, thus minimising the amount of Embodied Carbon.

Preserving and protecting the environment is a prime objective for Braas Monier. We aim at continuously benchmarking the environmental performance of our operations and supply chain processes to reduce the environmental footprint of our activities. Every year we benchmark our UK factories against over 150 roofing factories from around the world to help improve energy efficiencies and learn from sharing best practice. Our UK factories currently rank among the best in the world and continue to minimize their environmental impact against a defined annual programme of production improvements.

• Concrete production: Our well insulated curing chambers capture the heat which is set off by the concrete, reducing the amount of heat needed to cure the concrete tiles. In some situations even no heat input is needed at all
• Clay production: We use state-of-the-art casing kilns, which efficiently capture heat input and use it for both drying and firing tiles. And we constantly optimise our clay blends to reduce CO2 emissions during the production process
• Our Cambrian slates are manufactured using waste slate from Welsh quarries as the main component
• We use biologically degradable substances as parting agents for tile moulds, replacing those containing mineral oils
• We re-use old pallets by melting and recycling them as raw material
• Our plants are equipped with dust collectors and flue gas treatment to preserve air quality
• We strive to integrate our plants into their local environments and landscapes harmoniously

Consistently producing high quality products requires great attention to detail and continuous effort, especially in the production process. From raw material selection to project site delivery, Braas Monier takes pride in its production processes, as they are the excellent result of collaboration within our worldwide industrial network. Braas Monier plants across the globe continually work to fine-tune and improve even the smallest steps in our production processes, which translates into higher quality products and better value for the consumer.

MATERIALS EFFICIENCY & WASTE MINIMISATION

RAW MATERIALS

• Our roofing tiles are made from raw materials predominantly found in nature: sand, water, clay and iron oxide pigments
• We constantly improve our recipes and production practices to reduce the general consumption of these raw materials
• We use natural colours for our roofing tiles. The pigments to colour our tiles are found in natural stone such as Hematite, Magnetite and Goethite
• We use natural materials for our glazes and engobes, such as special clay, pre-melted glass or pigments. All our glazes are of course lead free
• We use gas instead of fossil oils to fire our kilns
• The waste water from our production processes is recycled and re-used in manufacturing. We have also installed water treatment plants and/or settlement lagoons at plants to ensure that any water runoff is correctly treated before it enters any water courses
• Our Cambrian Slates are manufactured using waste slate from Welsh quarries as the main component (minimum 60%). Furthermore, our Cambrian plant has reduced its reject rate, with less than 1% of total raw materials going to landfill

WASTE MINIMISATION

• We recycle wet material in all of our tile production processes and aim to reduce the amount of dry waste
• We use biologically degradable substances as parting agents for tile moulds, replacing those containing mineral oils
• We are working towards recycling Polymer coatings at all our concrete plants where used
• We re-use old aluminium pallets, on which we make our tiles, by melting and recycling them as raw material

PACKAGING

Environmentally friendly packaging materials have been developed in co-operation with our customers and suppliers. We aim to use recyclable materials and consume less by recycling packaging materials.

• We annually review our packaging and the energy used to wrap our products to reduce the tonnage used
• Supplier packaging is recycled wherever possible
• We have also introduced a wooden pallet returns system where our customers are encouraged to return the pallets on which our products are packaged. These are then reused for future product packaging. We currently reuse over 100,000 pallets per year

END OF LIFE RECYCLING

The use of natural raw materials, environmentally friendly production processes and supply chain optimisation is only one part of the story. The quality, durability and functionality of our products are also a tribute to the environment. Here is how we ensure our products contribute to a sustainable future.

• All our concrete tiles can be recycled for use as aggregate in building applications such as roads and paths, and all our plastic components are also fully recyclable
• Clay tiles can be reused

RENEWABLES

Information on our Monier InDaX photovoltaic integrated modules. 

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