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Together towards a sustainable future

Niels Beerens – CEO AVZ-Group and Jan Maas – Financial director AVZ-Group

Sustainability in DNA of AVZ-Group

Every day, consumers all over the world enjoy our products for the garden, at home and at work. AVZ-Group offers a wide range of sustainable outdoor sun protection, such as screens, drop-arm and terrace awnings, outdoor living and other related products with the aim of increasing living and working comfort, but mainly to guarantee a sustainable and healthy indoor climate.
As a supplier and developer of innovative sustainable solar shading products, we are closely involved in the construction industry, where sustainability has become an important aspect of business operations.
We do not approach sustainability as ‘a project’, it is about changing the mindset that leads to sustainable behavior. In addition to contributing to making our products more sustainable, we also continuously work on making our business operations more sustainable and future-oriented. To achieve the plans at a national and international level, we will work hard together to reduce CO2 emissions together towards the main objective of being completely climate neutral by 2050.

We, as AVZ-Group, are aware that we face a gigantic challenge to keep our planet livable for us and the generations after us. We therefore, want to invest in a sustainable future with our products and our partners.

Corporate Social Responsibility

A better environment starts with yourself! A frequently used statement that AVZ-Group puts into action. As an important player in the sun protection industry, we want to take our responsibility based on the place we occupy as an organization in society. Responsible Business – CSR” is a strategic spearhead of AVZ-Group. CSR means that we take responsibility for the effects of our business activities on People & Society, Planet and Profit

The first step for CSR is to map out how we are doing as an organization at the moment and then we make an annual plan to improve our activities and reduce our consumption. CSR is embedded in all business processes, which means that in every decision we weigh up the various interests of the people, companies and organizations involved. The figures for the year 2021 show that AVZ-Group’s total CO2 emissions amounted to 940.1 tonnes. This number gives us a clear signal that we have to work to reduce these emissions. We have therefore set ourselves the target of emitting 50% less CO2 in 2025 compared to the year 2021.

News items

New waste bins in canteen and office

Separating waste at the office!

Separating waste is already a good example of reducing our impact on the environment. At home we are often already busy separating different waste streams, such as the plastic, cardboard & paper and the organic waste. Taking the environment into account, it is important to encourage the reuse of suitable materials. We therefor implemented new waste bins in the office and in the canteen, with separate bins for separate kinds of waste. If we immediately give employees a conscious choice when throwing away waste, we will handle this process efficiently.

New waste separation containers

New waste disposal strategy

As of this year, AVZ, Smits and Hylas have started with the new waste policy of the AVZ-Group. When rolling out the waste policy, together with the team leaders, we looked at how many containers were needed for each type of waste, and this is currently being set out in the warehouse and production halls. By working with different colors for different types of waste, a better separation of waste disposal can be guaranteed. * Basic flows: Black = residual waste, Red = transparent plastic and Blue = cardboard & paper. With the implementation of new press containers, we half the transport of waste and therefor reduce our CO2 emissions.

EPD (Environmental Product Declaration) SolidScreen Smits
EPD (Environmental Product Declaration) SolidScreen Smits

Environmental Databases

First in the Dutch market, the SolidScreen is now available in the National Environmental Database (NMD). All SolidScreens from our range are now registered in category 1 of the database. This is the highest of the 3 available categories, which accurately describes the environmental performance of products. This provides architects and other construction professionals with the most specific and relevant data that does not receive a negative surcharge in the required calculation.