Mila is calling its new GRIP (Green Reliable Intelligent Polymer) espag handle the most ‘exciting and innovative’ product it has launched in the last five years.
The handle, which was on display for the first time at the 2015 Build Show, looks quite similar to Mila’s existing ProLinea espag handle but in reality, it represents a ‘radical’ redesign.
Instead of being manufactured in conventional zinc, the GRIP handle is manufactured from high strength, fully recyclable ABS, which, Mila says, opens up a vast range of new opportunities in the trade and commercial sectors.
GRIP is specifically designed to be ‘green’ and Mila has worked with the Carbon Trust to certify that the carbon footprint of this handle is 60% lower than a standard Mila espag. With specifiers, in the commercial sector in particular, increasingly looking for ways to reduce the embodied carbon in their projects to comply with government guidelines, this represents a huge benefit.
In fact, Mila has calculated that the carbon footprint of the GRIP is just 0.8kgCO2e per handle, compared with 2.2kgCO2e for the ProLinea espag – a saving of 1.4kgCO2e for every handle manufactured. Even more impressively perhaps, it has also worked out that, if all of the 12 million or so zinc die cast handles sold in the UK every year were swapped for the new GRIP version, it would constitute a saving of 16,800 tons of carbon per annum – equivalent to the annual domestic energy use of almost 3000 UK homes, or 50 million miles driven in an average UK car.
Mila’s managing director, Richard Gyde, said: “The new GRIP handle is a clever and, above all, cost effective solution for fabricators who are working on projects where carbon saving targets have already been set or where the specifier is benchmarking suppliers on their environmental performance. It is a future proof product which gives our customers a very significant competitive advantage in PVC-U, aluminium and timber applications.”
As well as its outstanding ‘green’ credentials, the GRIP handle of course has lots of other benefits for fabricators and installers as well. It has been performance tested to more than 60kg so easily outperforms a zinc handle in terms of strength and, having been cycle tested to 50,000 cycles, it is guaranteed for 10 years.
The corrosion and chemical resistant ABS material is suitable for use in even the most aggressive environments because it will never corrode, and the attractive high gloss finish has been independently tested to international automotive standards for UV stability and abrasion.
The GRIP handle was developed by Mila’s own in-house product design team and has a worldwide patent. It is supplied in packaging emblazoned with the Carbon Trust’s footprint logo to guarantee that it is the only window handle in the UK where the carbon generated by every aspect of the production process – from the raw materials used to the manufacturing, distribution, use and even eventual disposal – have been measured, assessed and independently certified.
