Environmental & Social Commitment
At TTS, we are committed to a sustainable future. Our research and product development teams are guided by the principles of the triple bottom line, which takes into account the social, environmental and economic factors that make a product truly sustainable. We focus on developing products that will have the lowest impact on the environment, the highest return on investment, and the greatest benefit to the communities where our plants are located.TTS was founded on a vision of making affordable and environmentally sustainable housing available around the world. To advance this goal, TTS has adopted an innovative approach of combining agricultural and wood fibre waste streams into high-quality green building products that are designed to address local and global affordable housing needs.
TTS considers its commitment triple bottom line approach to be a significant source of its sustainable competitive advantage. TTS’ plants are relatively small-scale, located in rural communities, and make use of natural fibre that is currently waste material. This approach offers economic development opportunities to rural communities, provides a solution to the problem of costly waste products for companies, and de-risks the cost and availability of natural fibre inputs for plants.
TTS’ ultimate goal is to become active in international economic development and disaster relief efforts by helping to create local manufacturing industries that produce, environmentally friendly and affordable housing and temporary shelters.
Specific examples of TTS’ environmental and social commitments include:
- Material inputs for all of TTS’ products are sourced from waste and residual natural fibre streams that are currently burned or consigned to landfills. This reduces greenhouse gases (GHGs), air pollution and the accumulation of landfill waste.
- TTS’ plants are built at a smaller scale than conventional plants, and are located in rural communities near sources of agricultural and forest fibre. This reduces the distance that material inputs must be transported to plants, and because of the smaller scale, plants ship products to end product manufacturers over a shorter distance, reducing GHG emissions and air pollution from transportation.
- TTS’ plants are near zero-waste: all material residuals are recycled and reincorporated into other products.
- TTS’ unique application of microwave technology to many of its manufacturing processes greatly reduces the energy requirements of production, making them extremely energy efficient and reducing GHGs emissions associated with energy production.
- All of TTS’ products have excellent end-of-life characteristics. All products are 100% biodegradable and can be recycled into other products, and TTS is actively involved in developing recycling programs for all of its biocomposite products.
- TTS uses resins that meet Europe’s EU’s E1 Emissions standard for off-gassing of formaldehyde, the most stringent rating system in the world for furniture products. In place of traditional polyurethane foam, TTS is moving to the use of natural oil polyol based foams, which are derived from grain or soybeans. TTS has also developed composite panel products that utilize no additional synthetic resin, greatly reducing GHG emissions.
Last Updated on Wednesday, 24 June 2009 23:59
