Responsible production at Beaulieu Technical Textiles

As a company with a family heritage and culture, we believe that it is our responsibility to take a proactive role in seeking solutions to continuously improve the ecological footprint of our products. From design to production and distribution: every phase of our supply chain offers opportunities to protect the planet. We proudly invest in the long term, to develop products that serve our customers’ needs in the most sustainable way.

Read about some of our sustainability initiatives in the cases below.

At Beaulieu Technical Textiles, we commit to integrating the UN Sustainable Development Goals into our business activities. We take responsibility by bringing sustainable solutions into our core operations, creating value for our customers, and engaging employees and value chain partners to do the same.

VOKA, Flanders' Chambers of Commerce and Industry, has started to map our impact on the SDGs. Together we have defined action plans to further progress in implementing goals into our organisation. They support our organization along the path of corporate sustainability and in defining impactful goals and seeking responsible business opportunities.

The appropriate application of geosynthetics can make significant contributions to reduce emissions, preserve resources, keeping water sources clean, and other environmental issues. We installed the Terralys polypropylene woven geotextile for a 160.000m² runway at the Ostend airport to analyze the impact on CO₂ emissions on several levels:

• Product: geotextile vs. gravel
• Raw material: polypropylene (PP) vs. polyester (PET)
• Geotextile type: woven vs. non-woven

CO₂ emissions are substantially lower in all tested conditions. Additional benefits include:

• Minimized transport
• Reduced use of materials
• Increased life span, through superior durability and resistance to degradation

How to reduce 252 tons of CO2 on a single jobsite ?

593 trucks of gravel = 3 trucks of geotextiles

The full analysis and benefits for polypropylene woven geotextile can be consulted in this Durability Reference report.

The Ökolys woven ground cover for weed control consists of two polymers, one biodegradable and one compostable.

This exclusive composition is the result of scientific research into effective weed control followed by biodegradation over time. The ground cover will create an optimal microclimate and efficiently protects young plants from competing weeds.

Additionally, the need for herbicides or pesticides is eliminated. After three years the fabric will biodegrade and convert into humus, water and CO₂.

Read more on Sustainable woven groundcovers

• Woven agrotextiles contribute towards a more sustainable world
• Beaulieu Agrotextiles’ carbon footprint

Our in-house recycling unit melts production residue to create new polypropylene pellets (or granulates) that can be reused as raw materials in a number of products across the B.I.G. group. This emphasizes our commitment to reduce industrial waste and to minimize the use of raw materials. The unit and our recycling activities are QA-CER certified, guaranteeing product quality for companies producing and/or processing recycled materials in their products.

The Belgian plant of Beaulieu Technical Textiles has signed the pledge of Operation Clean Sweep (OCS), aimed at preventing plastic granulate pollution into our marine environments.

We consider all safety, health, quality, environmental and energy related matters as an integral part of our daily management and of our strategic business plan. 5,000 colleagues contribute to this mission. It’s our daily priority to assure they return home safely.

Policy Statement Quality Safety Environment Energy