Pionieering collaboration between Idealcombi and Sherwin-Williams.
Two of the major companies in the Danish timber industry have taken the step towards more sustainable production, which saves the environment in CO²e equivalent to slightly more than 1 million km driven. That corresponds to travelling almost 27 times around the world by car.
Idealcombi A/S is in the process of restructuring production to use a topcoat made from 40% bio-based material instead of a topcoat made from fossil-based raw materials. It is thus the first time that a bio-based topcoat has been introduced to the window industry in Denmark.
“By replacing the fossil-based topcoat with a bio-based product, we can potentially reduce CO²e emissions by 0.84 kg CO² per kilo of topcoat we use as part of our production processes,” says purchasing manager Jørgen Bonderup from Idealcombi A/S and explains further: “Based on last year’s consumption of topcoat, we estimate that by using Sherwin-Williams’ bio-based topcoat we will reduce our potential CO²e emissions by 128,300 kg of CO². That, we think, is definitely worth the effort.”
At Sherwin-Williams Denmark A/S, pride is also visible. Sales Account Manager Gitte Kohls and the rest of the Sherwin-Williams team have worked closely with Idealcombi throughout the process. “We are very proud to be the first to be able to offer a bio-based topcoat to the Danish window market, and we are happy that Idealcombi has decided to change their topcoat to our new, bio-based version”.
“We see Idealcombi as a strategically good partner for Sherwin-Williams, and we see a good match between Idealcombi’s strategy and ours, where we have a special focus on being able to constantly offer sustainable systems to our customers – not just for the window industry, but for the entire wood industry in general,” adds Henrik Holm, managing director at Sherwin-Williams Denmark A/S.
In these years, Sherwin-Williams has a great focus and spends a lot of R&D resources on developing especially bio-based products that minimize the potential CO2e emissions. The goal is to be able to offer as many products as possible in a bio-based version.
“It is not currently possible to offer all products in a bio-based variant, but the possibilities are expanding all the time. We currently have more than 1,000 prescriptions worldwide that are bio-based, and the range is continuously expanded,” Henrik Holm elaborates and continues: “During the development of the bio-based products, we have a great focus on customers being able to switch to bio-based products without having to make investments or change in the normal work processes but simply replace the products one by one.”
The idea of doing something active to reduce the climate footprint fits well with Idealcombi’s vision for the future.
“Idealcombi has a strong focus on the part of the window segment that renovates and optimizes energy, so it fits very well with the idea of minimizing CO2 emissions in general from our production. That is why we are also happy and proud to have entered into this collaboration with Sherwin-Williams,” concludes Jørgen Bonderup.
Note: The calculations are based on a Cradle-to-gate model.