Environment

Companies can sometimes be a burden on the environment and/or their surroundings. To limit this effect as much as possible, our company is constantly looking for ways to uphold corporate social responsibility (CSR). Respect for the environment is one of our values and is embedded in documents that set out our aspirations.

First and foremost, we follow legal regulations; we also take a range of other steps to keep our impact on the environment and our surroundings to a minimum.

Here are a few examples:

In 2008, we installed additional sound isolation on our dust extractors in the wood department; Blankedale invested EUR 30,000 so that our neighbours would no longer be inconvenienced by the noise coming from this facility.
The dust extractor motors and all our compressors have been fitted with frequency controllers, allowing us to make significant energy savings.
In 2011, we started to use a solar farm containing 2200 solar panels (512 kW).
Over 90% of the electricity generated there (440,000 kWh/year) is used by Blankedale itself.
In 2012 a new building was fitted exclusively with LED lighting – from the warehouse to the offices.
The insulation in the older buildings is being systematically improved.
Our wood department has a paint-spraying booth. A few years ago, we switched to water-based paints to reduce solvent emissions by over 5000 litres per year. Furthermore, we chose a closed cabin with a 3-trap filter; this means that our surroundings are not subject to any unpleasant odours.
In 2016 the gardening service acquired two CNG vehicles, resulting in fewer CO2 emissions and, in particular, far less micro-dust.
The wood department’s diesel forklift was replaced with an electric one in 2016 (+/- 2000 fewer litres of diesel used along with less micro-dust, NOX and ambient noise).
We organise bus transport for our employees. This gives them the option to travel to and from work from several strategically chosen locations in Tienen.
Each year, we measure air quality, noise, light and temperature inside and outside our buildings. We implement a range of measures linked to the outcomes of these measurements so that we may keep improving these parameters.

You can see from these examples that we are making efforts as a company. That said, we are still aiming for our past actions to have no impact on the future, which is why we continue to innovate and reduce our ‘impact’ even further.