CECO releases inaugural ESG report

CECO Environmental Corp., based in Cincinnati, has published its environmental, social and governance (ESG) report. The report looks at the company’s sustainability impact and how it has helped its customers meet or exceed environmental regulations. Sustainability efforts from 2018 to 2020 and key milestones in 2021 are featured.

The report covers topics such as energy consumption and management, waste management and reductions and greenhouse gas emissions.

CECO’s Indianapolis manufacturing facility saw a drastic decrease in energy usage compared with three other U.S. facilities. The Indianapolis facility had an energy reduction of 132,000 kilowatt-hours, which CECO attributes to the conversion to LED lights, investing in efficient machine centers and improving manufacturing throughput.

The company’s Columbia, Tennessee, facility experienced a smaller decrease of at least 6 percent between 2018 and 2020. However, CECO’s Telford, Pennsylvania, and Greensboro, North Carolina, facilities both had increased energy usage from 2018.

Regarding office waste, the report says CECO has invested in recycling programs for papers, toners and other office supplies. In 2020, the company recycled 28,077 pounds of paper from their four U.S. manufacturing facilities. Their plan, according to the report, is to go 15 percent paperless in 2023. Water filtration systems have also been installed, diverting approximately 12,230 plastic bottles annually from landfills and the environment, according to the report.

The report also says CECO repurposes and reuses scrap metal and recycles resin, fiberglass, nylon, cardboard, wood, plastics and acetone. From 2018 to 2020, the company says it recovered and reused 11,800 pounds of acetone, recycling it at a rate of about 80 percent.

Overall, the amount of recycled material at their U.S. facilities has decreased from 521.9 tons in 2019 to 472.2 tons in 2020. The 2020 rate, though, turned out higher than the 2018 rate of 346.3 tons.

At the company’s Mefiag facility in the Netherlands, scrap propylene waste resulting from manufacturing operations is sold to a third party.

To address greenhouse gas emissions, CECO has started converting diesel trucks with compressed natural gas alternatives and replaced two company fleet vehicles at their Netherlands office with full-electric and hybrid alternatives.

For more information about CECO's efforts around ESG, click here.