Shaping sustainable living, together

As a company with a family heritage and culture, we believe that it is our responsibility to take a proactive role in seeking solutions to continuously improve the ecological footprint of our products. From design to production and distribution: every phase of our supply chain offers opportunities to protect the planet. We proudly invest in the long term, to develop products that serve our customers’ needs in the most sustainable way.

We are committed to integrating the UN Sustainable Development Goals into our business activities. We take responsibility by bringing sustainable solutions into our core operations, creating value for our customers, and engaging employees and value chain partners to do the same.

Voka Charter Sustainable Entrepreneurship 2024

While developing our long-term Sustainability Roadmaps to contribute to the ROUTE 2030, we have been awarded the Voka Sustainable Enterpreneurship for 2023.

This achievement reflects our dedication to aligning all our 2023 actions with the United Nations' sustainable development goals. This annual award inspires us to make significant strides on our ROUTE 2030 and continu to raise sustainability awareness, improve customer satisfaction, innovate with new products and services, and attract new talents.

Manufacturing woven technical textiles is an energy-intensive process. We recognize the importance of our ambitious energy reduction programs and implementing clean energy sources at our sites.

Our facility is equipped with 7,888 photovoltaic panels that cover approximately 35,000m² roof space. On a yearly basis, they generate 3,289 MWh and conserve 691 tons in CO2 emissions.

We’ve signed a voluntary “Accord de Branche” agreement with Wallonia, formalizing our objectives to take measures that reduce CO2 emissions from industrial processes. Our efforts to date translate to a 13.27% reduction in energy use as well as CO2 reduction.

BV Vanacker Rumbeke has signed the pledge of Operation Clean Sweep (OCS), aimed at preventing plastic granulate pollution into our marine environments.

Our goal is ZERO pellet loss in our production sites and therefore, we have implemented measures to avoid lost pellets to flow into rivers, finding their way to the ocean.

The appropriate application of geosynthetics can make significant contributions to reduce emissions, preserve resources, keeping water sources clean, and other environmental issues.

The Ökolys woven ground cover for weed control consists of two polymers, one biodegradable and one compostable.

This exclusive composition is the result of scientific research into effective weed control followed by biodegradation over time. The ground cover will create an optimal microclimate and efficiently protects young plants from competing weeds.

Additionally, the need for herbicides or pesticides is eliminated. After three years the fabric will biodegrade and convert into humus, water and CO₂.

• Woven agrotextiles contribute towards a more sustainable world
• BV Vanacker Rumbeke Agrotextiles’ carbon footprint

Small things, big impact

We maintain a bee-friendly campus year-round: no pesticides are used on the grounds and the surrounding linden trees provide a valuable source of food for pollinators.

With the guidance and expertise of our professional beekeepers, we’ve been making impactful accommodations for our ‘workforce’:

We let our lawns grow wild to ensure an abundance of flowering plants. Along with bee-friendly linden trees, we maintain the biodiversity on our sites and are able to grant bees easy access to pollen and nectar.
Under Beeing - Honeybeez’ supervision, two of our beehives participate in a KU Leuven study aimed at increasing resistance against the Varroa mite in honey bees.

Supporting the bees pays off. The example they set with their sustainable production line serves as a daily inspiration to everyone at the company.

Our in-house recycling unit melts production residue to create new polypropylene pellets (or granulates) that can be reused as raw materials in a number of products across the B.I.G. group. This emphasizes our commitment to reduce industrial waste and to minimize the use of raw materials. The unit and our recycling activities are QA-CER certified, guaranteeing product quality for companies producing and/or processing recycled materials in their products.