World Environment Day 2021

Tomorrow is World Environment Day. The theme this year is “Ecosystem restoration” – and restoration is Polygon’s core business.

Every day at Polygon we proactively explore how we best contribute to reducing our carbon footprint. Restoration, which is our core business, reduces environmental impact and financial costs for our customers by limiting the use of new materials, and reducing waste, compared with demolition and rebuilding. A Polygon study, conducted by two students from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, estimated that Polygon’s water damage restoration services reduce CO₂ emissions by around 25 percent when compared with rebuilding damaged buildings.

 Reducing environmental impact

In addition to working with damage restoration, we are constantly working on:

1. Damage prevention
   We continue to develop our solutions, services, and partnerships with the aim of further reducing environmental impact. During 2020, we further developed our damage prevention capabilities for customers following the acquisition of Hiotlabs, which uses a new set of sensor-based services and solutions to prevent water damage.
2. Climate neutral ambitions

Polygon Netherlands became our first climate-neutral company in 2018. Polygon Norway also announced their target to become climate-neutral by 2025 with a dedicated project group committed to delivering their climate-neutral strategy.  

3. Constantly improve

We perform external energy efficiency audits in accordance with the EU energy efficiency directive that covers approximately 80 percent of the Group. The audits are part of our structured way of working and we strive to deliver constant improvements. In addition, many of our businesses have colleague-run Environmental Volunteer Groups or similar initiatives, ensuring our environmental commitment benefits the wider community.

4. Promoting resource efficient operations

When our activities have environmental impact, we strive to minimise their magnitude and to be as resource - efficient as possible. Our activities are centered around reducing vehicle fuel consumption, the use of energy efficient equipment, and managing materials, chemicals, and waste.

1. Reducing vehicle fuel consumption

Our countries work to reduce fuel consumption and CO₂ emissions from their vehicles, for example through the use of driving record systems, route optimisation, speed limiting devices and eco-driving training. Exactly what activities are carried out are decided at country level.

1. Energy efficient equipment

We use new and innovative technologies that enable the efficient drying of damaged properties. Polygon UK for example, uses award-winning efficient dehumidifiers and speed drying units capable of drying multiple properties, and high-pressure vacuum drying techniques, as well as increasingly using remote monitoring to further promote efficiency. Another example is how the traditional dehumidification technique – based on dry air – can be supplemented with so called heat mats or heat sticks. In many situations, this can result in faster and more energy-efficient drying.

1. Managing materials, chemicals, and waste

To ensure optimal waste management, many of our countries contract certified and centralised waste management contractors to promote nationwide standards and the optimal management of waste. Limited amounts of potentially hazardous substances are used on our sites. Chemical management is managed locally, and processes and procedures are established to ensure we meet all regulations regarding the use and storage of chemicals, and that our employees are properly trained.

5. Customer collaboration on sustainability

Polygon is a customer-focused company, and we promote sustainability in the industry in close collaboration with our customers. Polygon increasingly works in partnership with customers to help them achieve their sustainability objectives. We know that our indirect emissions represent our greatest proportion of our climate footprint, and therefore by working together with our customers we are able to make the greatest contribution to mitigating climate change.

Want to learn more about our initiatives to decrease our environmental impact? Read our Sustainability Report - https://www.polygongroup.com/annualreview19/