Window, door and curtain walling systems designer and manufacturer, Senior Architectural Systems is going the extra mile to reduce the carbon footprint generated through the transportation of its products by supporting the use of UK-sourced closed-loop recycled aluminium.
Branded as ReAL 2.0, Senior is launching a new bespoke scheme for customers who are looking to further reduce the embodied carbon generated through the manufacture, transportation, and disposal of aluminium fenestration products.
Senior can now manufacture its full range of products from aluminium extrusions comprising a minimum of 75% recycled content from post-consumer scrap materials which are sourced and processed in the UK using low-carbon methods. As the largest privately owned aluminium systems house in the UK, all of Senior’s products are manufactured in South Yorkshire.
The new offering is currently only available to customers on request but Senior hopes that as more aluminium from the UK can be recycled and reused, supply will increase to reduce the reliance on importing recycled aluminium from overseas. To support this, where possible Senior will also work with select clients to manage the removal of older aluminium fenestration products from retrofit schemes for recycling.
Owing to the UK’s current limited capacity for reprocessing aluminium, most recycled aluminium is imported but Senior has recently made changes to its main supply to ensure that it can still offer all its customers a lower carbon option. As one of the early adopters of recycled aluminium, Senior extrudes all its products from aluminium containing more recycled materials than before and which generates lower carbon emissions throughout its production. These emissions are measured in kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalents and one kg of CO2 equivalents is comparable to the effect of one kg of CO2 emission.
The recycled aluminium Senior currently uses as part of its standard offering is below 4.0kgCO2/kgA, which is significantly lower than the global average and approximately a 35 per cent reduction in carbon compared to the 6.1kgCO2/kgA aluminium the manufacturer could offer before. As it is sourced from the UK, which reduces the need for extensive transportation, Senior’s new ReAL 2.0 aluminium offering has an even lower carbon footprint at 2.0kgCO2/kgA.
Commenting, Senior Architectural Systems’ managing director Mark Wadsworth said: “It’s important to us as a manufacturer and for our customers working in the construction industry that we are continuously looking for new ways to reduce the environmental impact of the work we do and the buildings we can help create.
“Senior has long championed the use of recycled aluminium and as a UK-based supplier, the transportation of our products is already less carbon intensive than others. However, there is always more that we can do and by supporting the greater use of aluminium that has been recycled right here in the UK, we can hopefully help create a stronger supply and a more sustainable solution.”
