Many businesses can flourish alongside heavy machinery contracting. Infrastructure and environmental construction company Tieluiska Oy also manufactures and sells growing media. The company decided to investigate the climate impacts of the general soil and roof growing media it sells – how did it go?
PHOTOS: Minna Penkkimäki
Infrastructure contractor Tieluiska sells growing media products under the Torpanpiha brand. Last summer, the company decided to investigate the climate impacts of the general soil and rooftop growing media it sells, from the source of the raw materials all the way to the customer's yard.
The product's life cycle was divided into four parts, and the review was limited to the first of them, i.e. the beginning of the life cycle: raw materials, the share of in-house production, and transportation.
"We created a comprehensive picture of the product's emission sources and visualized the climate impact of different raw material sources. We also compared the impact of fossil and renewable fuels on greenhouse gas emissions from transportation, and based on the results, we noticed that a large part of the emissions are generated from transportation," says the business director responsible for growing platforms. Joonas Pennanen describes the course of the investigation.
The carbon footprint was assessed in accordance with ISO 14067, ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 standards using SimaPro software and its associated, up-to-date environmental database. The company's own initial data was supplemented based on various literature sources.
A small carbon footprint pleases both the creator and the client
Based on the results obtained, the climate impacts of general soil and roof growing media were small compared to other, almost equivalent products. The main reason turned out to be the use of recycled raw materials.
"We use 90% recycled mineral soil in our products. The experience shows: over 25 years of working on growing medium recipes already helps to make the product more environmentally friendly. The company has accumulated strong expertise and understanding of what kind of effects small changes can have without compromising quality."
Municipalities are a key customer group for companies in infrastructure construction. Many municipalities are aiming for carbon neutrality, for example the City of Helsinki as early as 2030.
“The possibilities for municipalities and cities to influence emissions are limited, which means that both individuals and companies need to take action to reduce environmental impacts,” Joonas Pennanen points out.
Joonas Pennanen
“Public procurement and investments represent a significant part of the national carbon footprint. When they focus on low-carbon options, climate impacts are reduced, but this requires reliable assessment of the climate impacts of products to prevent greenwashing.”
Moving forward based on facts
Determining the carbon footprint of products has increased Tieluiska's environmental expertise and inspired it to immediately accelerate its own climate actions. Follow-up actions regarding Torpanpiha's products were launched immediately.
"According to the results, the clearest climate impacts of our products come from transportation. We have already taken steps to reduce emissions," Pennanen says.
"We are switching to partially using gas trucks for transportation, and in combustion engine vehicles we are using HVO diesel. In addition, this season we are the first in Finland to introduce an electric screen for soil screening, which will help further reduce the carbon footprint of our products."
HVO stands for Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil and means hydrotreated vegetable oil that can be used in all diesel engines.