Kate Haws, director of communications at Fiberon, talks with Green Builder Media CEO Sara Gutterman about the composite decking maker's decarbonization strategy under parent Fortune Brands Innovations, including 30% emissions reduction and renewable energy goals for 2030. She details the EPDs and recycled-content certifications behind seven product lines built largely from reclaimed wood fiber and recycled plastic.
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Sara Gutterman: Hi, I'm Sarah Gutterman, I'm CEO of Green Builder Media and I'm here today with Kate Hawes, director of communications from Fiber Iron. So nice to be here with you today. And congratulations on your recent accolade as an eco leader. Very exciting. Yeah. The industry is decarbonizing across the entire value chain of low carbon products to reduce emissions and manufacturing processes.
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Sara Gutterman: So how is fiber on participating in that transformation?
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Kate Haws: Yeah, so we started our journey or talking about our journey back in 2021. And that as corporate level, with our fortune brands innovations started with launching, new, more robust web based environmental health and safety data management platforms, so that we could improve global emissions data collection and monitoring. That led us to setting goals.
00:00:55:09 - 00:01:15:25
Kate Haws: So Fortune Brands Innovations, which fiber on is a part of set goals to reduce our carbon emissions by 30% by 2030 and to offset 50% of our electrical usage with renewable resources by 2030. And we've continued to do and add different things since we set those goals to help us get there.
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Sara Gutterman: You tell us a little bit more about, what you are doing to reach those goals.
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Kate Haws: Yeah. So some of our carbon mitigation strategies include using renewable energy. So we look for smart opportunities, to use solar panels and are also initiating, a virtual power purchase agreement. We are also reducing our own energy usage. So the majority of our locations, have switched to, like, energy efficient lighting. We routinely check and repair our equipment to ensure it's running efficiently and, at our manufacturing facilities.
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Kate Haws: We'll invest in new equipment that is more energy efficient. We've already taken a lot of those actions, but it's constantly looking at what are the small changes you can make that will have a big impact.
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Sara Gutterman: Now, the meticulous specification of low carbon products is essential if we're going to reach a net zero carbon bill somewhere and environmental product applications or APIs are playing a little role in that transition. So tell me about your products with EPA. What makes them special and why should building professionals and consumers pay attention to them?
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Kate Haws: So five year on completed our first set of updates and recycled content certifications back in 2021. We currently have seven product lines, that we have apd's, and or recycled content certifications for while boycotting one and some of our key decking like sanctuary, GoodLife and Concordia Decking all have apd's in our seas. We really focus on advanced material technology.
00:02:51:10 - 00:03:20:29
Kate Haws: So most of our product contains at least a minimum of 94% mixed recycled wood, fiber and plastic content. So our recycled wood, comes from sawdust and leftover materials that typically would be discarded. And then our recycled plastic is majority post-consumer, such as grocery bags or post-industrial plastic like packaging materials, like the wrap that goes around the pallet when it's received.
00:03:21:02 - 00:03:52:22
Kate Haws: So we will take those and bring them into our in-house recycling facility, where they're, we recycle about 100 million pounds of plastic annually. And then we use that, as a primary component to our composite decking, including materials. EPD really helps to also identify the value of those composites and plastic materials. So while traditional wood cladding or decking, which is typically pressure treated lumber, there's chemicals and different finishing that's required for those products.
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Kate Haws: Our products don't ever need that. And so, you know, from from manufacturing into the installation, we're supporting, I'd like to say, healthier air quality throughout the lifetime of that product.
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Sara Gutterman: Indeed. And, you know, I really like, the other part of the composite decking and cladding story, which is the resiliency story as well. And then, you know, given what's happening with climate and the intensified, frequency, of climate events, we're starting to see that, more durable, climate responsive and resilient materials become paramount, to withstand floods and superstorms and, well, and I think that, you know, your decking and cladding material really stands up to the forces of nature.
00:04:41:15 - 00:04:57:06
Kate Haws: Yeah. We don't need to worry about, what? Rotting or cracking or, like, insect infestation. And you mentioned wildfire. Wildfires. There's certain, certifications we can we can get on our deck boards to help, you know, with insurance. And there's a lot of benefits to it.