Our responsibility and commitment toward the environment are one of the values that drive our growth. Oriental Weavers continuously develops manufacturing methodologies and technologies in order to reduce the negative impact of emissions on the environment.
OW holds environmental protection as one of the main pillars driving our sustainable practices to advance Egypt’s National development strategy, “Egypt’s 2030 Vision”, and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. For years, we have worked diligently to maintain the most efficient resource management systems and instil a sense of responsibility toward target energy usage. This has paved the way for several sustainable projects that have optimized our utilization of resources.
We adhere to several international quality standards, including ISO 9001 (Quality Management System) and ISO 14001 (Environmental Management System) certifications. This is in accordance with our corporate policy and places fair trade and supply chain management, such as raw material acquisition and use in the manufacturing processes, at the core of our business operations.
Our ethical business practices extend our internal policies and procedures; Oriental Weavers promotes SDG 12, “Sustainable consumption and production patterns”, by looking at our manufacturing processes. We have implemented an energy management system and effective waste management through 3Rs (Reduce-Reuse-Recycle). OW eliminates waste from production processes by monitoring and investing in equipment improvements. Our natural wool spinning and dyeing operation, for example, employs radio frequency dyeing technology, which eliminates the need for steam boilers and reduces noise and vibration during the drying process. Additionally, new filtration systems have allowed us to decrease our water consumption, recycling it with zero liquid discharge.
Latex waste is collected and reused in other manufacturing processes, while carpet pile brushing and trimming waste is captured via vacuum units, bagged, and sold to independent contractors to manufacture automobile mats.
As a global exporter, we are held to stringent HSE standards whether imposed by our partners in the EU, like IKEA or in the USA from partners like Home Depot. To meet such obligations, we follow EU environmental and occupational health and safety requirements and similar USEPA standards in the US. Each of our key clients carry yearly audits of Oriental Weavers to ensure compliance with their specific criteria.
Finally, our transformation to clean energy and reducing our carbon footprint contributes to SDGs 7 & 14. Oriental Weavers has set annual energy targets, with carbon emissions down by 10% YoY in 2020, and has embarked on initiatives to plant trees in order to offset CO2 emissions. On a larger scale, Oriental Weavers has installed and operates a 259-kilowatt solar power plant with a net metering system, expected to generate more than 500 megawatt-hours annually, reducing the company’s carbon footprint by 250 tons of Carbon Dioxide, to truly deliver a measurable and easily sustained impact.