Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is at the forefront of PN’s business practices.

Continuously researching materials and processes, PN has implemented numerous steps to reduce our environmental footprint. We are fully committed to progressive efforts in pursuit of sustainable outcomes and the improvement of our future for humankind and the environment.

We believe the future depends on the sustainable work we do today.

CERTIFICATIONS

ENERGY EFFICIENCY/ WASTE MANAGEMENT

PN’s world-class manufacturing facility is equipped with multiple purification and conservation systems:

Air scrubbers and waste pre-treatment equipment
On-site multi-stage water treatment system
Wood-shop dust collection and recycling system
Variable Frequency energy conservation system

REDUCTION OF OUR CARBON FOOTPRINT

PN has eliminated more than 90% of solvent based paints, and is working towards 100% elimination.
We use wood products that are FSC certified to support the sustainability of forests around the world.
Our Packing systems include sustainable and/or bio-degradable materials to reduce or eliminate the use of plastics.

FUTURE STEPS FOR FOOTPRINT REDUCTION

PN is underway with the installation of an active carbon filtration system to capture and retain VOC’s before they can escape into the environment.
PN will continue researching and testing the best adhesives to further reduce VOC emissions.
We will continue to work with a third-party consultant to investigate areas of improvements in our contribution to sustainability.

5 PILLARS OF SUSTAINABILITY

CIRCULAR ECONOMY

Always favor the reuse of stock materials. E.g. reusable graphic trays and display components, like watch pillows

CERTIFICATIONS

Favor certified/labeled materials. Compare prices, request certification numbers. E.g. FSC – certified wood.

SOURCING

Source as close as possible and within a regulated and controlled framework. E.g. do not source from exotic forests.

RECYCLING

Anticipate recycling by creating structures that can be disassembled, sorted, and reassembled.

PARTNERSHIPS

Share responsibility with partners in order to consistently improve and operate more efficiently.

WHAT IS A SUSTAINABLE RESOURCE?

It’s the production of food, fiber, or other plant or animal products using techniques that protect the environment, public health, human communities, and animal welfare. It’s a way of production that generates abundance while ensuring future generations can do the same.

SUSTAINABILITY MISCONCEPTIONS

Not all sustainable materials have low environmental impact. Production of some sustainable naturally grown materials may require high water usage, high energy expenditure, or expansion of agricultural lands, thus causing further deforestation of the planet. On the other hand, sustainable materials may result in the depletion of resources that can be affecting other spheres of human existence.

MATERIAL CATEGORIES

DID YOU KNOW?

  • Over 80K tons of VOCs are released into the atmosphere each year.
  • EPA reports in California shows that surface coatings are responsible for 9% of all VOC emissions.
  • The paint and coatings industry increased the percentage of the total waste it recycles by over 81%, from 1995 to 2013.

COATINGS

Paints, lacquers and varnishes are among the chemical everyday products that have a particularly distinct effect on our environment and health. Solvents, monomers, softening agents, and biocides are only some of the components of these products that present the potential for serious ecological and toxicological risks during their production, manufacture, application, use, and ultimate disposal.

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METAL

Metals are the second most used raw material in the world. 7% of all global greenhouse gas emissions come from the production of these 7 metals – aluminum, copper, iron, lead, magnesium, nickel, and zinc. The extraction and production of the metals have major environmental impacts: acidification of the land, deregulation of land and water habitats, heavy metal pollution of soil and water sources, and depletion of the ozone layer. Soon the cost of recycling metal will rival the cost of extraction.

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       DID YOU KNOW?

  • Steel was 79.5% recycled in Europe in 2016, reducing its carbon footprint by 70%. –  ArcelorMittal
  • At the current rate of extraction, tin is expected to be depleted in 8 years, and copper in 19. – ConsoGlobe

DID YOU KNOW?

  • 40% of global deforestation is attributed to 4 raw materials; palm oil, wood and paper products, soy, and cattle farming
  • Forests are the second largest carbon sink in the world. 1 tree can store around 5 tons of CO2, the equivalent of 1 round trip flight from Paris to New York City.
  • 50 to 70% of the world’s biodiversity is located in the Amazon rainforest.
  • In 50 to 70 years the Amazon rainforest will be destroyed.
  • 23% of the wood used in Europe is of illegal origin.

WOOD

More than 1.6 billion people depend on forests for their livelihood. Preserving forests is critical as they are invaluable sources of food, water, medicine and biodiversity. They also play a fundamental role in carbon absorption and are estimated to reduce global CO2 emissions by 20%.

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TEXTILES

More than 15 million tons of used textile waste is generated each year in the United States, and the amount has doubled over the last 20 years. In 2014, over 16 million tons of textile waste was generated, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The United States textile recycling industry removes approximately 2.5 billion pounds of post-consumer textiles each year from the waste stream, and the industry creates more than 17,000 jobs.

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       DID YOU KNOW?

  • 20% of global waste water is produced by the Textile Industry
  • 95% of all textiles have the potential to be reused or recycled, but currently they are recycled at a rate of only 15%.
  • Cotton is a “very water intensive to cultivate and process”, taking between 10,000 and 20,000 gal of water to make a single pair of jeans and up to 3,000 gal to make a T-shirt.
  • Dying process can be removed completely, saving water and chemicals and eliminating the resulting wastewater.
  • Recycling 1 ton cotton can save 765 m3 of water.

DID YOU KNOW?

  • 10 times higher VOC concentration indoors than outside
  • 47% decrease in VOC emissions from 1990 to 2014
  • 267.8 million tons of waste in the US in 2017. Adhesives and sealants inhibit recycling, and they are one of the biggest reasons why so many products end up in landfills.

ADHESIVES

Virtually every product you own is held together with one adhesive or another, and every adhesive leaves a mark on the environment. Air quality is negatively impacted by the VOC emissions of solvent-based adhesives. 3% of all solvent based emissions is from the bonding of adhesives. Furthermore, breathing emissions from solvent based adhesive can lead to serious health complications such as asthma, lung disease, and respiratory infections.

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MINERALS & GLASS

Non-metallic minerals include a large number of materials that are essential to all industries. Sand, gravel, limestone, and clay are essential to manufacture glass and various building materials (cement, concrete, etc.). Minerals also include many other rocks, such as marble, granite, and graphite, and all are non-renewable resources. Non-metallic mineral usage is only second to water.  Extracting minerals has a significant negative environmental and social impact, permanently altering ecosystems through erosion and acidification, destroying natural habitats of endangered species, such as dolphins and crocodiles.

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       DID YOU KNOW?

  • 49% of all extracted raw materials are non-metallic minerals.
  • 65% of extracted non-metallic minerals are gravel, limestone, and sand.
  • 95% of raw material can be substituted for recycled glass during manufacturing.
  • 1,000,000 years for glass to fully degrade.
  • 3,000,000 tons of glass is recycled annually in the worldwide.

DID YOU KNOW?

  • 150 million metric tons of plastic fill our planet’s oceans.
  • 1000 years for plastic to degrade in a landfill.
  • Americans throw away 35 billion plastic bottles every year.
  • Only 25% of the plastic produced in the US is recycled.
  • 88% less energy required to produced recycled plastic than from raw materials.

PLASTIC

The overwhelming majority of people on earth are completely dependent on plastic. Since it was widely adopted back in the 1930’s Plastic has become a dominant force on our planet. Because of our high dependence on plastics we have generated an astounding amount of waste – over 9 BILLION TONS of plastic waste. Unfortunately only a small fraction of our annual plastic waste is recycled, with approximately 79% of plastic waste winding up in landfills or out in the environment, like the ocean.

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PACKING

The life cycle of paper has an environmental impact from start to finish: it starts with the cutting of the tree and ends with it being burned, resulting in CO2 emissions. Paper production accounts for 40% of the world’s commercial wood production. As a result, it is one of the main causes of deforestation and of the extinction of endangered species. Paper production requires an extensive amount of water and energy. The paper industry is the 5th largest consumer of energy in the world, with one sheet of A4 paper costing as much as 10 liters of water.

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       DID YOU KNOW?

  • Over 65% of the raw material used by the French paper industry today comes from recovered paper and cardboard (71.7% in Europe). – Ous Planet
  • Each time a ton of paper is recycled, 1.41 tons of wood is saved as well as 48.2 m3 of water and 10.25 MWh of energy, E.g. 0.04 tons of CO2 equivalent avoided. – Futura Sciences
  • In practice, paper can be recycled 7 times. In the recycling process (separation of fibers, elimination of residual products, such as ink or glue, etc.), the cellulosic fibers get damaged and lose their properties. – Futura Sciences