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AP ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
UPDATE: In June 2018 AP Diving became one of the primary sponsors of the excellent dive industry initiative MISSION2020 and pledged the following:
We pledge that by World Ocean’s Day 2020 we will continue to improve in all areas of our current “Ocean Friendly” policy to:
- Recycle, Re-use and Reduce wherever possible
- Only ever use biodegradable, compostable and/or recyclable packaging materials
- Reduce our ecological footprint wherever possible
- Fundamentally reject the concept of "in-built obsolecence". We pledge to continue to manufacture well built products that last for years & years... even decades
- Routinely highlight environmental issues through our social media channels
You can find out more about "MISSION2020: A dive community project to help the ocean" here: https://www.mission2020.org
AP Environmental Policy
SUMMARY
Here at AP, we have been developing an "Ocean Friendly" environmental policy since 2012. This was when we first took steps to move away from plastic packaging and it predates by some years the current high profile of the "plastic oceans" issue highlighted in the media and social media, especially since the excellent Blue Planet II series was screened in 2017.
But also, we have been practicing key elements of the policy since the company began back in 1969. For example, things like: having a company ethos of making only quality products that last for years and years and the recycling of raw materials (brass, swarf, oil, cardboard and plastic) - we have been doing this for 40 years or more.
However, as a company we are never complacent about anything and even back then, before green issues became the zeitgeist, we knew we had to do better in many areas and so we set about a thorough examination of our processes, practices and sourcing options and looked for ways to improve. In fact, the core of the AP policy is the fostering of a culture of continual improvement in all areas in which we impact upon the natural world. The key elements of this policy are outlined below:
- Recycle, Reuse, Reduce
- Move as rapidly as possible towards eliminating poly bags & plastic packaging
- Make only quality products that last. We completely reject the concept of "in-built obsolecence".
- Use local, eco-friendly packaging & materials suppliers
- Make the package fit the product
- Recycle and reuse as much waste material as possible
- Reduce energy consumption wherever possible
- Partner with environmental campaign organisations such as MISSION2020 and the Save Our Seas Foundation
- Routinely highlight environmental issues via Social Media
- Foster a culture of continual improvement in achieving all of the above
#RECYCLE #REUSE #REDUCE
RECYCLING WASTE
PLASTIC & RUBBER
AP has a long record of recycling scrap plastic & rubber by sending it off to a local firm for processing. However, in August 2022 we went one better and invested in an in-house Plastics Granulator machine - an EnginPlant TRIX I33.26 - so that we can recycle waste plastic and rubber components, rejected parts and the moulding sprues that get trimmed off moulded parts. The TRIX is a powerful grinding machine that chops up waste into tiny plastic granules in seconds. Without any further processing, these granules are then ready to be reused directly in our moulding machines and reconstituted into working parts.
ELIMINATING PLASTIC PACKAGING
Poly Bags to Paper Bags
Poly Bags to Biodegradable Bags
In June 2018 we introduced biodegradable bags into our spares range replacing the previous (recyclable) plastic bags. The bio-bags were developed in conjunction with the London Met University and manufactured by EPI, global leaders in biodegradable materials. They will completely replace the plastic swing bags and (recyclable) blister packs we used previously. We are also urgently sourcing better alternatives to our larger bags.
PARTNERS
In addition to the above moves towards biodegradable packaging we use many recyclable materials elsewhere in our processes, and our team are constantly looking for ways to do things in a better, more sustainable, and overall less damaging way. To this end we support local suppliers if they can offer us sustainable, degradable, locally sourced materials. If you know of any better packaging materials to use, we would appreciate the heads-up. Please get in touch.
We also support and promote appropriate environmental campaigns and organisations such as the Save Our Seas Foundation https://saveourseas.com
and MISSION2020 https://www.mission2020.org. Part of that pledge is to continually raise and publicise environmental issues in a constructive positive way through our social media and other channels of communication - hopefully helping in our small way towards an Ocean Friendly future.
