Sustainable Systainer

[Josh Winter]

Hey guys,

Every single plastic bottle or food packaging is made of recycled plastic.

My workshop contains about 10 systainers (of course filled with lovely Festool products) which are about 20kg of plastics. (just good to know: google says a joghurt cup has a weight of 0,035kg plastic).

i would appreciate if Festool would work on sustainability just as recycled materials for Systainers.

Little things improve the world.

What do you think?

cheers,
Josh

 

[Vondawg]

One could take yourself down quite the rabbit hole on this thinking and looking for ways to be disappointed…the Festools themselves are plastic as well…when I started out my  Craftsman and Milwaukee tools were metal and heavy, cases were as well..(still have a couple) there is a recent thread on making your own sys out of wood.

 

[woodferret]

EU Packaging Directive 94/62/EC

Part of which specifies that it be made of recyclable materials that can be broken down into uniform (ie no mix of rubber/metal/plastics) form that can go into the stream.  It's why the newer systainers are at the engineering minimum of plastic weight and is easy to disassemble into individual parts.

The 'made with recycled' materials tends to be a cheap cop op since I find the size and prominence of that marketing material is inversely proportional to the amount actually incorporated, with the bulk being mostly virgin plastic.

 

[six-point socket II]

I get the idea. And I would buy a limited edition sustainable Systainer in a heart beat. Or a "charity Systainer" to fund some "green" project(s).

Fischer (wall plugs) is manufacturing green line products that are independent certified: "BIOBASED 50-85%" since 2014 for example.

Making the whole line-up from recycled plastics? I'm not an expert on plastics, I don't know how the beverage/food industry does it, but my guess is, your incoming "product", probably granule or shredded material, needs to be highly controlled and very homogenous to ensure first and foremost quality of the final product (Systainer) and that your process(es) don't need to be altered for every lot.

Given what I have heard about shredded PET being exported for cleaning & sorting by "less fortunate" and then being re-imported, that doesn't exactly sound very "sustainable" (or ethical for that matter). But let's not go there.

However, all in all this is a great opportunity to talk about what Festool already does in terms of sustainability.

• Festool products are known for being long-lasting. This preserves resources and the environment.
• In order to avoid packaging material, our products are delivered in a long-lasting Festool Systainer.
• Our objective is to obtain at least 80% of the cellulose content in our products and packaging as raw materials from FSC-certified sources by 2023.
• By 2022 (In the German version they say by (end of) 2023), a high proportion of blister packaging is intended to be replaced by cardboard boxes. Around 80 t of plastic can consequently be substituted by a more sustainable material.
• Festool is FSC certified.
• Festool has a photovoltaic system on the roof of their new assembly hall with a peak performance of 600kWp.
• Festool ditched the print catalog.

English:https://www.festool.com/company/typically-festool/environment#Ourcommitment
German (PDF):https://www.festool.de/-/media/tts/fcp/festool/company/umwelt/broschre_umwelt_de_at.pdf

Festool's FSC certificate:https://www.festool.com/-/media/tts/fcp/festool/company/umwelt/fsc/fsc-certificate-festool.pdf

TTS Group's first sustainability report for 2021, completed on August 23rd, 2022. The next one will be available in Autumn of 2023.

English:https://www.festool-group.com/-/med...ts-nhb-21-en---2022-10-27_03_doppelseitig.pdf

German:https://www.festool.de/-/media/tts/fcp/festool/company/umwelt/transparenzbericht_tts-gruppe.pdf

I'd say TTS and Festool are on a good path and doing quite a bit on their part to make this world a little better.

Kind regards,
Oliver

 

[Coen]

Re-using plastics isn't always easy. Food packaging is single use, but Systainers have to last. If the re-used plastic % went up in them, but they lasted only half as long... it might still not be a nett benefit.

Good thing Festool doesn't do bloated packaging.

Compare to Bosch; I bought their GR 500 measuring rod. The seller shipped it in a box that was about 30 times as big (ok, not Bosch' fault). The GR 500 box itself is full color smooth outer layer, in that a corrugated box. Inside that box is a fabric bag -packed in plastic- that contains the actual rod.. also packed in plastic.  [blink]