Kimal PLC, a member of Herefordshire and Worcestershire Chamber of Commerce, is a Regional Winner in the Planet Saver category at the Chamber Business Awards 2023. 

As a responsible manufacturer and distributor of life-saving medical devices, Kimal is conscious of its environmental impact. Therefore, sustainability and energy efficiencies are driven throughout the business and through the Company’s suppliers. 

Kimal’s Environmental Management System is compliant with ISO 14001 and the Company has been awarded a Silver Sustainability Rating by Ecovadis SAS for its Supply Chain. 

Medical devices contain a lot of single-use plastic, which is often integral to the safe intended use of the product. However, Kimal has invested in the redesign of key product components to reduce the amount of plastic used within its Supply Chain. Successful results have included the removal of 7.5 tonnes of CO2 per year for the Company’s Needle Containment Device (NCD), and the removal of 45 tonnes of CO2 per year through redesigning Kimal’s Guidewire Bowl. 

In addition, Kimal is investigating the replacement of single-use plastics in its supply chain with alternative, more sustainable materials, such as utilising the waste material generated during the processing of sugar cane. 

Last year, Kimal launched a Company-wide sustainability competition, using employees to generate ideas for reducing its Carbon Footprint, and to increase sustainability awareness across the business. From this initiative, Kimal has begun a project to replace wooden pallets used during its product sterilisation process, with a recycled plastic alternative. This project is cross-functional and once complete, will remove 5,275kg of CO2 per year from Kimal’s Supply Chain. 

Kimal’s energy supply is purchased from 100% renewable sources and the Company is installing solar panels at its UK manufacturing facility. Electric vehicle charging points have also been installed at all UK sites. By increasing efficiencies, Kimal has also seen a decrease of 9% in electricity usage between 2021 and 2022, whilst increasing its production output by 300,000 units. 

To date, through driving manufacturing efficiency improvements, moving energy contracts to renewable sources, and redesigning core components, Kimal’s Carbon Footprint has reduced by 341 tonnes of CO2 equivalent (tCO2e) in total. It is forecast that upon completion of the Guidewire Bowl redesign project and upon completion of the move to recycled plastic pallets, a further 47 tCO2e annually will be removed. 

Looking to the future, Kimal has committed to reaching Net Zero by 2040 for emissions directly controlled, and for indirect emissions for goods and services procured by 2045. This is in line with the NHS, who are Kimal’s largest customer. 

Kimal’s five-year environmental strategy includes:  

• Increasing sustainability awareness further across the business. 
• Embedding sustainability investigation into all new product design . 
• Investigating alternative, more sustainable product materials. 
• Monitoring Kimal’s Carbon Footprint for continuous opportunities for reducing. 
• Partnering with more sustainable suppliers. 
• Reducing manufacturing waste.  

A strategic priority for Kimal is to develop an optimised and resilient Supply Chain, and sustainability will play a key role in achieving this. Initiatives already implemented include a change to Kimal’s Supplier Agreements. Moving forward, suppliers to Kimal will be asked that within two years, they ensure that all of their packaging in which products they supply to the Company are stored and delivered, is manufactured from readily recyclable materials. 

Furthermore, Kimal asks the supplier to submit an annual report evidencing a reduction in CO2 emissions from the preceding year, and request the supplier’s future plans for reduction via an Environmental, Social, and Governance Plan.  

The size and scale of CO2 reduction through Kimal and its whole supply chain make the Company a ‘Planet Saver’, whist at the same time providing life-saving products.