Kingspan Group Dedicated to Environmental Sustainability
The company's insulated panels are manufactured in DeLand, FL.
Sponsored by: Kingspan Insulated Panels
The Kingspan Group, which specializes in producing energy-efficient building envelopes and insulation products, has manufacturing sites in more than 70 countries, including the Kingspan Insulated Panels North America headquarters in DeLand, FL. That is a wide footprint covering a whole lot of ground. But the important thing to Kingspan is all of that ground is on the same planet.
This common connection is why Kingspan is committed to sustainability and the environment. That is evident in Kingspan’s Planet Passionate program, a 10-year initiative designed to eliminate the company’s landfill waste, significantly increase renewable energy use, and generally improve the place we call home.
“The Planet Passionate program is one of the pillars of our entire business,” says Brent Trenga, Director of Sustainability for Kingspan Insulated Panels North America. “It’s a transformational decade of change for our organization.”
The program focuses on four key areas: energy, carbon, circularity and water. To meet some of the company’s ambitious goals, the DeLand facility will soon convert to solar energy, and a rainwater harvesting system has been installed. In addition, over 50% of the North American sales force has transitioned to electric vehicles, with chargers provided for both office and home; the target being a 100% transition to EVs by 2025.
Kingspan also is striving to become a zero-waste company, where all materials either are used or recycled. To achieve this goal, a pilot project was initiated at the DeLand headquarters separating the waste streams from all materials into nine categories, then collecting, tracking and documenting the waste and breaking it up through the process.
“We really felt as though building a program from the ground up was the best way to deliver rapid change,” Trenga says. “Anything that comes onto our site, we want to prevent it from being sent off to a landfill. We’re up to 98% diversion, so only 2% of material goes to a landfill.”
A companion piece to the Planet Passionate program is a philanthropic arm called Planet Passionate Communities, which focuses on ways to make a positive environmental impact on the local level. Under this initiative, the DeLand facility sponsors a section of beach in Daytona and provides regular cleanups and educational programs.
“Everybody in Florida can appreciate the connection to the ocean and the environment,” Trenga says. “We’ve had employees and family members and the whole team go to Daytona for some great beach cleanups.”
“The trash didn’t just jump onto the beach and into the ocean,” he continues. “Somebody put it there. So we clean up the beach, and we also try to prevent the problem in the first place by making people aware of the behavior that causes this.”
Finally, on a global level, Kingspan is collaborating with the international humanitarian response agency GOAL to develop critical infrastructure in health care and education with sustainability at its core.
“We’re trying to help drive positive change to protect our natural world,” Trenga concludes, “so we can leave behind a better, healthier planet.”
