Glove Company Reducing Customers Environmental Impact

Disposable glove supplier Eagle Protect is making a profound impact on the waste reduction and the environmental impact of their customers. In the last six months alone the business, based in New Zealand and the U.S., has diverted a staggering 114,872 kgs of glove and packaging waste from landfill (this is the equivalent of about 265,000,000 straws!), with a reduction of 286 metric tons of CO2 and over 26,497,882 litres of water. So how can a disposable glove supplier make such an impact? Simply by switching their customers to quality gloves that are stronger, thinner and made from the best ingredients; resulting in an instant reduction in usage and waste disposal.

The FDA Food Code represents current guidelines for food safety and stipulates food handlers should not handle ready-to-eat food with bare hands, rather by using utensils such as single-use gloves.

Due to cost, vinyl disposable gloves remain the popular glove of choice for fast food handlers and the aged care sector. These gloves are generally thick, rip frequently and can contain harmful toxins and chemicals known to affect the glove wearer and the food they handle. Switching to a lightweight high-quality nitrile glove instantly reduces consumption and waste, with subsequent reduction in emissions and water during production.

Environment impact also includes the identification and reduction of chemicals, by responsible sourcing and product selection. Dioxins and toxic emissions are released during vinyl glove manufacturing and disposal, one of the many reasons Eagle stopped selling vinyl gloves in early 2018. Eagle Protects glove manufacturers are audited on a regular basis and must pass the Eagle Supplier Code of Conduct, assessing their environmental impact, quality and staff conditions. With Labour issues exposed in glove manufacturing, and with many of these factories leading contributors to environmental pollution, Eagle’s Child Labor Free certification and Certified B Corporation status, further negate any issues in their own supply chain.

Consumer and customer demand is pre-empting companies throughout New Zealand to focus on reducing waste and carbon emissions across their supply chain. Air New Zealand plans to reduce the number of plastic items it uses by an astonishing 24 million this year, such as removing single-use plastic straws, stir sticks, eye mask wrappers, plastic toothbrushes.

The Warehouse Group has also announced plans to reduce its carbon emissions, by looking at plastic alternatives, minimising packaging, and reuse and recycling of consumers electronics, among other initiatives.

The proposed new bipartisan legal framework for climate policy, with the Zero Carbon Act and an independent Climate Change Commission, would give businesses the certainty to plan long-term emissions reduction targets. With Eagle Protects focus on reducing their customers waste and environmental impact, reviewing the gloves your business purchases is a simple yet tangible start to reducing your carbon emissions.

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