James Walker plant tops BPF energy-efficiency rankings

London – James Walker Group’s Cockermouth manufacturing facility in Cumbria, UK has topped the rankings of 522 sites in the 2023 BPF Energy Award.

The British Plastics Federation award recognised a series of energy-efficiency initiatives undertaken by the UK sealing and fastener products maker.

For the awards, the BPF assesses improvements made over the year, with rankings calculated by comparing 'incremental energy consumed' with 'incremental production achieved'.

James Walker's success reflects progress achieved through a “raft of initiatives” across the Cockermouth operation, site director Ed Surman commented in a 16 Oct release.

“Increasing our gas pipeline capacity has enabled us to use gas boilers for heating and steam generation,” Surman said.

Also, "the replacement of older equipment with new efficient electric options has made a significant impact on our CO2 footprint," he continued.

Surman further pointed to process improvements including waste- and reject-reduction, which have helped to reduce energy consumption per kilo of product produced.

Efficiencies, he noted, have also been achieved via “smaller, although no less important, initiatives such as switching to led lighting, the replacement of double glazing to prevent heat-loss.”

“Also, an education programme that encourages and enables our employees to make energy savings whenever they are onsite by even the simplest of actions such as switching off lights and equipment when not in use.”

The BPF award “will spur us on to achieve further reductions in our CO2 footprint,” according to James Walker Group finance director David Jackson.

This, he said, will include “further initiatives such as our recently completed installation of a new transformer and 432 kWp solar power system.”