- We want to take environmental responsibility to new heights

Avery Dennison NTP has become an Environmental Lighthouse.

2016 starts with new goals. Avery Dennison NTP has become an Environmental Lighthouse, an important milestone for the industrial company. Such a certificate shows that all employees are aware of the environment, that processes are designed to take care of the environment and that requirements are set for continuous improvement.

- We take responsibility and do our part to take The Green Shift seriously. We want to do positive things for both the local community and the rest of the world. I am convinced that it builds a competitive advantage for companies that actively work to improve their environmental aspect, says Tom Dyrdal, general manager.

LOWER EMISSIONS

"The company has worked well with environmental lighthouses and satisfies the requirements," it is stated in the approval letter issued on behalf of Luster municipality.

NTP has a strong focus on utilizing the materials used in the production process and reducing emissions as much as possible. In addition, we work continuously with quality assurance. In other words, the focus is on what comes in, is produced and what is released.

- NTP is part of the beautiful nature in Sogn og Fjordane and has for years worked actively to take care of it in the best possible way. For us, the Environmental Lighthouse certification means putting all our environmental work into a system and incorporating our entire production process into this work, explains factory manager Adis Cengic.

RECYCLING HEAT, COOLING FROM ICE CREAM

The factory manager can tell that NTP is very conscious of reusing the energy from the production process, and has several systems in place to prevent the surplus heat from being released to nothing.

- For heating, much of the residual heat from production is used. The factory has several dryers that give off a lot of heat. Today, NTP manages to reuse 70 to 80 percent of the residual heat, and we have actions underway to increase this further. With the help of a cross-connection in the ventilation system, this heat can be used to maintain a good temperature in the office premises, Cengic explains.

- For cooling, we use glacier water from the Jostedalsbreen glacier, which we have right outside our factory. This is how we use one per mille of the energy that is usually used by large refrigeration systems, in addition to avoiding handling of environmentally hostile coolants.

LESS FLIGHTS

Being a company in Gaupne means that electricity is cheap and that it is easy to take energy efficiency a little lightly. But staying along the Sognefjord also means that all the employees are close to the beautiful nature and see the value in taking care of it.

- Yes, it costs to be sustainable, but you get so much more in return. Customers return and employees are more satisfied. I wonder why not all companies do that?

Today, employees are encouraged to cycle, receive discounted training cards, attend joint spinning and join a separate tour group. In addition, they are trying to reduce the number of flights.

- Since we have an office where we have, we get up to around 500 flights a year. It is a lot and is something we are working to reduce. We set up more meetings on Skype and take more support on the web, says Dyrdal.

Both he and Cengic emphasize that it is important not only to talk about being environmentally friendly, but to actually do something about it.

- Being sustainable means not only taking care of the beautiful nature around us, but also taking care of our employees, processes and not least our customers. The key to a sustainable future is continuous improvement - and we are good at that in NTP, says Cengic.