We always aim to reduce and record the ongoing energy use across the business and regularly review the efficiencies of lighting, heating, ventilation and cooling systems, insulation opportunities, water use, and other general energy and natural resources, as well as identifying new ways for waste reduction and pollution control.

• Using the latest technology we have developed an Energy Dashboard which monitors our energy use and the savings we have made.
• We have installed solar panels to the enormous surface areas of the roofs of our factory and depots. This helps generate new power to heat and light our buildings and supplement the energy we use within them.
• We harvest rainwater and use it to wash and clean our vehicles and other equipment throughout the year. The impact is significant and we save on average 38,400 litres per year.
• We have had PIR lighting installed everywhere to ensure no lights are on unless they need to be.
• We have reduced the amount of gas used in our manufacturing process by over 90% thanks to new technology and a unique new method of manufacturing and blending our products using ultrasound.

We are extremely proud to have developed and now employ a unique blending system based on the use of Ultrasound. “Blendtek”, as the process is called, removes the need for base oils and additives being heated at all, therefore eliminating the use of traditional gas and or oil fired boilers for heat energy.

As manufacturers of a huge range of different lubricants, this new technique enables us to blend thousands of tonnes of products using energy from solar panels and a simple 25 amp plug, saving time, energy and drastically reducing our carbon footprint. To blend a simple 10 tonne batch of lubricant product now takes less than 20 minutes, whereas previously the same batch would have taken 3 to 4 hours to complete in total. In addition, it offers extremely low energy consumption per tonne produced e.g. 10 tonnes requires approx. 8 kWh now whereas previously, using traditional blending methods, it would have used 1962 kWh.

This new ground-breaking process has been tried and tested by the largest technology providers in the world, independently audited and reviewed, and is fully approved for use.

To evaluate the savings to the environment, we have saved over 26k tonnes of carbon emissions since using the process and heated the equivalent of over 144 homes in the UK for a year. Our gas consumption has been reduced by just over 93% and we are now sharing these results and our story, of the new ultrasound way of blending, with the lubricant industry. We continue to expand the use of the Blendtek technology within our business.

“This exciting breakthrough is all about changing the environmental impact of lubricant manufacturing in the first place. So many environmental schemes and businesses look to offset their impact by using “carbon dumps or sinks”, and other environmental and climate protection projects. We have instead, come up with a way that prevents the creation of high energy use in the first place.”

Nigel R Bottom - Group Managing Director.

We are immensely proud of this manufacturing innovation, and we believe we are the first company in the world to blend in a carbon neutral process. We are determined to help other blenders improve their own sustainability profiles and improve the lubricant industry’s reputation with substantial impact. For more information about Blendtek please visit: blendtek.solutions

We are now measuring the amount of packaging we use in the business with the creation of a Packaging Waste Dashboard.

• The plastic lubricant containers are now made from over 35% recycled materials.
• We offer a recycling scheme for our 200 litre metal barrels.
• We encourage customers to buy in bulk using our special and uniquely colour coded bulk storage tanks for workshops and businesses, reducing the need for plastic lubricant containers. This works in conjunction with environmental requirements for lubricant storage by reducing the container packaging sent in smaller orders and also the need for frequent deliveries.
• Our cardboard delivery boxes are now made from 100% recycled material.
• The bulk storage tanks also help our customers store and keep lubricants in a clean and tidy manner, helping avoid spills from containers and chemical contamination.
• We use reconditioned pallets in the factory for storage and delivery of products.
• We’re switching to durable, reusable pallet wraps to break the 'wrap and scrap' cycle. These Palbands can be used thousands of times, offering a cleaner way to move products between depots. We are currently trialling this at our Soham depot. If successful, this change will save 468kg of single-use plastic per year. To put that into perspective, 468kg is equivalent to:
  • Nearly 19,000 plastic drinks bottles.
  • Enough plastic to fill 35 household wheelie bins.
  • Over 90,000 plastic carrier bags.
  • Avoiding over 1.1 tonnes of CO₂ emissions annually.

Monitoring the amount of carbon our lorries produce out on the road delivering our products is an integral part of our business. We now study the mileage and output of each lorry and we aim to continually improve our carbon impact.

Using our Transportation Dashboard, we can measure the carbon produced, the mileage and fuel use of all our delivery fleet of lorries, based on the vehicle’s age, type, etc. We also review how many deliveries are achieved on what route and this way we can use the best vehicles for the right journeys, with the aim of achieving the maximum fuel economy and reduction in wear and tear of the vehicles themselves.

So, as an ongoing part of our Group’s strategy to reduce as much as possible our environmental impact, together with a desire to be able to share any genuine savings using fuel-efficient lubricants based on our own fleet with customers, our HGV fleet has moved over to fuel-efficient lubricants.

We have switched the lorries from Qualube Supremol 10W-40 to Qualube Supremol 5W-30. The technicalities are the same, but the viscometrics are making the difference, i.e. less drag, less energy needed and therefore the vehicle uses less fuel. Still fully approved by Mercedes-Benz but sold by us and now used by us as a fuel-efficient alternative.

We also use HVO fuel, a Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil, which is a renewable biofuel that can be used as a drop-in replacement for conventional diesel. It is made by converting waste materials like animal fats and used cooking oil into a high-quality paraffinic diesel through a hydrotreatment process. HVO burns cleaner, produces significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants like NOx and particulate matter, and has a longer shelf life than traditional diesel.

Several of our company cars are also now electric or hybrid. We have installed charging points at each depot for our own employees and customers to encourage the switch and convenient use of electric-based transport.

Responsible collection of our waste materials is of great importance to us. With landfill now becoming a finite and expensive resource, we are continually seeking out new and innovative solutions to recycle more of our waste.

• We only use certified and approved waste disposal companies to ensure they work closely with the Environmental Agency and are up to date with all regulatory aspects.
• We have also invested in a baling machine to compact our cardboard waste into smaller, denser, easy to recycle bundles which enables less frequent collection.
• We recycle printer cartridges, electronic equipment and paper waste.
• We are cutting down on the use of paper communications, using email to send customer invoices, statements and other internal and external correspondence wherever possible.
• We use telecommunication facilities for group inter-company meetings to reduce the travelling and vehicle emissions where possible.
• The blending flush we use to clean out our lubricant tanks in the manufacturing process is recycled into chain oil.

Lubricants production is part of a much longer process and value chain starting with the procurement of raw materials. The quality raw materials used by us consist of complex chemical raw materials, renewable raw materials and a wide range of base fluids.

We ensure that the raw materials used comply with all EHS regulations (Environmental, Health and Safety) and that our resulting products meet the latest and highest Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) approval. They are sourced from compliant and reputable suppliers and the engine lubricants we manufacture are designed to advance both the performance of the machinery as well as reduce emissions, maintenance costs and wear and tear.

The demand for safer, cleaner products has led to a huge increase in our development of environmentally sensitive and biodegradable lubricants that still give comparable performances to their mineral counterparts.

As part of our commitment to put the environment at the heart of what we do, Witham Group has developed a growing range of BIOLUBE, PROLAN & ENVIROYL environmentally sensitive products, all designed to help reduce lubricant impact and pollution in the countryside, in food production, in waterways and for the end user themselves.

Our award winning Prolan lanolin based lubricants are environmentally safe, biodegradable and certified NSF for the food industry. Around the workshops and for the end user they are safe, easy to apply and clean to use. The key ingredient is lanolin made from sheep’s wool which is nontoxic and so helps with the protection of our environment, especially in rivers, oceans, marinas, forest and land areas.

We are very proud of this unique and yet remarkable range of products and have been delighted to win awards for its innovation and we continually work hard to find new alternative solutions to traditional products where possible.

Witham Group are proud to have been awarded the ISO 14001:2015 standard, which sets out the requirements for an approved environmental management system that we operate within our business and we continue to work hard every year improving things further with our environmental objectives.

To find out more about all that we are doing to help the environment please click here or download our Environmental & Sustainability Policy