10,000 ton reduction of CO2 through Polygon’s WDR services last year

During spring, Polygon Group collaborated closely with two MSc students at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, in order to quantify how much CO2 we save through our WDR services. The purpose of this collaboration has been to push our focus on sustainability even further, something that is becoming increasingly important to both our customers and employees. The first estimates indicate that Polygon annually saves around 10 000 tons of CO2. The main reason is our ability to dry damaged material instead of destruction and replacement. The amount of CO2 that we save is equivalent to more than 14 000 round trips between London and New York.

The estimation of CO₂ savings was conducted by firstly developing a robust method and secondly collecting input from the Polygon organization (351 employees, across 6 countries - Norway, Sweden, UK, Netherlands, Germany and Canada) to enable calculation of the aggregated savings. The methodology is based on what is called a Life Cycle Assessment. This is a technique used to consider all aspects of CO₂ footprint, during the WDR process, from raw material acquisition to end of life management. Looking at the WDR process, the main drivers of CO₂ emissions were identified as production of new materials, transportation and electricity use. Using this and a number of typical cases, the first estimation of group CO₂ savings was done.

The fact that we now have made this first estimate of how much CO₂ we are able to save, shows that we take our sustainability focus seriously and has strengthen our position as a cutting edge sustainability company, among customers, as well as employees. This study strengthens our position even further, by increasing the granularity of the calculations, by adopting the methodology to other services, and by identifying clear actions for improvement.

Even though the current CO₂ savings are a significant contribution to support a reduced environmental impact, we believe we can do even more. For example, our technicians have identified that we could increase the number of times Polygon is first on site to inspect the damages in order to start drying as quickly as possible. In addition, they see that there are ways to further improve our own working procedures and focus even more on saving material to reduce cost and CO₂ impact for our customers. 

For more information about our sustainability work, please contact: camilla.annerling.barck@polygongroup.com

For more information about this study, please contact: caroline.finslo@polygongroup.com

Polygon is a Global Expert and the European market leader in Property Damage Control. On 3 continents and in 14 countries, our 4.300 specialists prevent, control and mitigate the effects of water, fire and climate. Our innovative and tailor-made solutions combine people, knowledge and technology for a wide range of customer segments.