TNEMNORIVNE & ETAMILC
SAVING THE ENVIRONMENT - AND MAKING LIVES SAFER At this year’s British Security Awards, Shred Station was crowned the winner of the inaugural Environmental Project of the Year award. This was for their involvement in the Frontline Face Shields Project, which, at the height of the PPE shortage in the pandemic’s first wave, produced over 50,000 face shields for frontline workers across East Anglia and beyond. BY KRISTIAN CARTER, SHRED STATION
there was also a national shortage of 3D printer filament at this time, and the price per kilo of extruded plastic was around 300% higher than usual cost prices. Shred Station was able to use one of their powerful granulators to turn this filament into tiny 2-3mm fragments, making it suitable to reuse. Their involvement diverted a large amount of plastic waste from landfill, reduced project costs, and meant even more masks could be produced. As Shred Station are also CarbonNeutral®
The Frontline Face Shields Project was started by Colin
certified, the carbon footprint of their involvement was also
Breckons at the first peak of the coronavirus pandemic.
off-set to net-zero.
Colin, a man local to Shred Station’s head office, started the project with the aim of producing a few face shields for frontline workers in the area using the 3D printer he had in his shed. At the time there was a national PPE shortage, so news of Colin’s efforts soon spread, accruing the help of many local volunteers. As the momentum of the project increased, volunteers became concerned that the 3D printing process was generating a large volume of plastic waste. If this waste was properly handled, there was an opportunity for it to provide
Kristian Carter, Commercial Director at Shred Station, says: “A huge thank you to the BSIA for organising the awards, which we all thoroughly enjoyed even though we couldn’t be together in person for this year’s ceremony! We are, of course, delighted to win the Environmental Project of the Year award. We try to do good in our local communities and raise the bar for environmental standards within our industry. We would like to say congratulations to all of the other finalists. We believe all environmental efforts are worth celebrating, and safeguarding our environment is the
more raw materials to continue the project’s production
only way to make sure we’re all winners in the face of
run rather than going to landfill. It’s also worth noting,
climate change”.
24
Spectrum
| Summer 2021
