Sustainable development
A word from the president
Marcel RINGEARD, CEO of PILOT Corporation Of Europe:
« The impact that industries have on the environment can be significant.
As a manufacturer we are aware of the natural resources that we consume to create our products and it is essential that we take the development of our planet into consideration in our manufacturing processes.
PILOT has always strived to take this approach. For example, by strictly respecting legislation, reprocessing water used in manufacturing and offering a range of refillable pens.
We are constantly improving in this respect and our desire is to create a complete range of writing instruments manufactured from recycled materials, thus enabling better protection of our resources.
We are totally committed to the ISO 14001 standard, and are continually trying to significantly reduce the impact that we have on our environment.
Today, our commitment is to offer consumers a range of recycled PILOT products, but with the same quality, same level of technology and same price as our current line.
Recycled or not, a PILOT pen will always be a PILOT pen. »
Pilot: a certified company
The environmental impact of writing instruments manufacturers is mainly related to the production of ink (chemical materials) and the consumption of plastic.
For a long time we have been aware of the pollution risks that can arise from our business.
This is why, PILOT has set up a long term strategy for ISO 14001 certification. All those involved in the company are committed to applyiing the management systems while strengthening the excellence of all our processes.
The ISO 14001 standard is a corner stone for the environment.
Our approach is based on identifying 3 key criteria:
- The reduction in pollution and effects on the environment (air, water, earth)
- Training / learning to improve "green" production (reduce waste)
- The different safety points: in the event of an accident, they minimise the pollution created by the factory.
So, all our Japanese factories are ISO 14001 certified:
- PILOT Hiratsuka
- PILOT Isesaki
- PILOT Ink
In Europe, the Annecy factory and the European head office are ISO 14001 certified. Our European subsidiaries and distribution agents are also increasingly taking into account their environmental responsibility. In summer 2006, PILOT Pen UK also obtained ISO 14001 certification.
Our PILOT BEGREEN range respects the ISO 14021 standard (Self-declared European standard). This standard supervises the environmental self-declarations made for consumer products.
It specifies the best practices to be observed when communicating about the environmental benefits of a product in order to protect consumers from false or abusive claims.
Begreen - the Pilot recycled products range
With BEGREEN, PILOT's idea is to open up a new, more positive avenue for our planet.
Imagine: if all the pens produced in the major European countries in one year were made of recycled plastic, that would allow us to save at least 78000 tonnes of plastic which is the equivalent of:
a plastic cube the size of a 30 floor building a month of petrol for all the cars in Paris
In practical terms, the sales of BEGREEN pens in Europe in 2006 were equivalent to a saving of 30 tonnes of plastic which is approximately 36,000 litres of petrol, in other words, the equivalent of travelling 15 times around the Earth in a car.Moreover, the use of refills also minimises plastic production. Do not throw away the body and the cap, these are the largest plastic parts of the pen:
80% of our pens (ballpoints, gel ink pens, rollerballs) are refillable 100% of our ballpoint pens are refillable!At PILOT, we think that it's through this type of behaviour
that we can all contribute to protecting our environment.
Of course, this approach does not sacrifice our requirements in terms of quality, technology and design. The pens selected for the BEGREEN range have been some of the leading models in the standard PILOT range.This type of manufacturing is even more ambitious and costly than standard production, but we have decided to sell pens in the BEGREEN range at the same price as normal PILOT pens. Furthermore, the BEGREEN range is large and varied enough for each customer to find the pen or pens which perfectly suits their requirements.
