Sustainable business methods

Sustainability is an important element of our mission.

ARTEX

Sustainable business methods.

Sustainability is an important element of our mission. Sustainability is a key aspect of our product development – ‘we design for sustainability’ – and ‘Keen on Green’ is vitally important in all our processes and in every layer of our organisation.

Products:
When designing new products, a great deal of attention is devoted to reducing our environmental impact. This is achieved not only by carefully selecting raw materials and production methods, but also in the reuse of fabrics. In this way, we contribute to a sustainable and healthy living environment.
A few fabric examples:

Greenscreen Eco®
A PVC-free sunshade fabric that can be recycled and has consequently been awarded a Cradle-to-Cradle certificate.

Greensceen Revive®
The yarn used in this sunshade fabric is made from plastic bottles.

GS Eartchcare®
This decorative sunshade fabric is made from 100% biodegradable raw materials.

Return
This is the first De Ploeg® fabric with a Cradle-to-Cradle certificate. It is made from 100% Trevira CS. To make this fabric, old curtains are converted into new raw materials using an environmentally friendly process. This makes Return ideal in a sustainable purchasing policy. Click here for details of De Ploeg fabric Return.

CRADLE-TO-CRADLE
The cradle-to-cradle principle is that waste is food. This means that products have to be designed and made in such are way that they are completely degradable or recyclable so that used materials do not end up on a rubbish tip.

See also:

De Ploeg: read more about Green Code: open about sustainability (Dutch only)
De Ploeg: read more about Return: great for now, sensible for tomorrow (Dutch only

Certification:
Most Artex products are certified, which serves to emphasise their sustainability aspects.

ÖKO-TEX
All our fabrics are ÖKO-TEX 100 certified.
This means that no harmful substances are used during the production process.

GREENGUARD
Several of our fabric qualities have a GREENGUARD certificate – a label that aims to reduce the emission of odours and gasses that can be harmful to the indoor climate.

Processes:

A few examples:

– Artex invests in new energy-efficient lighting
The electricity needed for lighting amounts to a considerable proportion of the building’s total energy requirement. In the beginning of 2012, the decision was made to replace all strip lights with high frequency fittings and fluorescent lamps. Whilst producing the same amount of light, this has led to a reduction in energy used for lighting by approximately 60%.

– Sustainable
Two Artex employees initiated the project SASN, “Sustainable Artex Starts Now” in mid 2012. The goal: To create awareness among all personnel of their carbon footprint at home and at work. By organising a Sustainability Day and ‘get on your bike to go to work’, they certainly did their (environmental) share.