SICO was incorporated in 1951, and has continued our commitment since then as a premier manufacturer of mobile/folding products for a variety of markets. SICO’s mission has always included the pursuit of environmentally friendly, sustainable solutions.

In itself, offering the highest quality, longest lasting products makes SICO more environmentally friendly. Because SICO’s product components are significantly higher quality, the useful life cycles of our products are significantly longer than our competitors. That can mean less material usage, salvage, waste, landfill consumption, disposal costs, freight costs, downtime, and repair costs.

As a company, SICO is working hard to bridge the gap between supplying sustainable, earth friendly product solutions and constructing products that are built to stand the test of time. We are committed to providing customers around the globe with quality products that have a proven track record as a sound investment. We are always researching new sustainable materials for use in our product.

Environmentally Friendly Materials:

• Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF) top core material is manufactured from materials under SFI (Sustainable Forestry Initiative) or Canadian Standards Association Standards. The MDF/poly top blanks supplied to SICO feature a substantial amount of recycled/recovered material in their construction. Over 99% of the materials used to produce the top blanks are recycled/recovered. The Composite Panel Association certifies it’s North American particleboard and MDF panels as Environmentally Preferable Products (EPP). They are certified to have met the following criteria: Contains 100% Recycled/Recovered Wood Content. They also conform to ANSI A208.1 (PB) or A208.2 (MDF) Formaldehyde Emission Requirements
• Corrugated packaging and inner-packaging constructed of recycled paper products. That percentage of recycled fiber content used in the paper making process contains 70% total recycled fiber content and the remaining 30% being post-consumer (or comparable) fiber. Post consumer is defined as fiber derived from recovered paper which has been printed and/or contains inks or colored dyes.
• Recyclable and re-usable containers and pallets.
• A major program of inter-company material shipments has been converted from single-use paper/wood packaging to permanent, reusable, collapsible containers to reduce scrap, waste, transportation, fuel consumption, etc.
• Wood waste sawdust generated in manufacturing is recycled and used for animal bedding.
• Materials used may include recycled paper, recycled plastic, recycled content aluminum, recycled steel, and recycled wood, other recycled metals, and recycled powder paint.
• Manufactured laminated products utilize water-based adhesives. Adhesives are formaldehyde free.
• Resins and coatings will not outgas any harmful VOCs.
• Powder coating is an environmentally friendly method of applying a finish that virtually eliminates over spray and provides a non-toxic surface that emits no formaldehyde or VOCs.

Environmentally Friendly Manufacturing Processes:

• Metal scrap generated in manufacturing operations is recycled.
• Material handling equipment has been converted from liquid propane gas internal combustion engines to zero emission electric units.
• Plant machinery requiring liquid coolant utilizes water-based materials with closed loop systems.
• Solvents are re-filtered and re-cycled
• SICO is converting plant lighting to high efficiency, energy conserving lamps.
• Virtually 100% of SICO painted components are finished with powder coatings utilizing closed system recycling systems, with recaptured powders reused rather than becoming waste. Pre-cleaning liquids are recycled to the maximum extent possible, and treated prior to disposal.
• All plating is done in state of the art systems. Rinse waters are reused extensively, with water discharge reduced by 50% within the last five years.
• The system is a national Beta site for solution purification used on RoHS compliant Non-hex passivates used on zinc parts. This dramatically reduces frequency of replacement of rinse bath materials, extending tank life.
• Zinc and clear plated parts are 100% finished using a trivalent conversion coating, giving superior corrosion protection
• SICO’s chrome plated finish is completely lacking any hexavalent chromium, thereby complying with the European Directive restricting the use of hex chromium (the RoHS Directive---even though this particular directive does not apply to our type of manufactured goods, yet
• SICO’s chrome plater has been able to reduce the amount of chromium released to the environment by approximately 660 pounds per year.
• SICO’s chrome plater has given a presentation at the National Environmental Partnership Summit 2007 highlighting this Pollution Prevention (P2) accomplishment.
• All metals are recycled and reclaimed from plating filter and returned to economic use in manufacturing. Iron, Nickel, and chromium are removed to make stainless steel. Copper is refined to make copper and brass products. Zinc is removed to make zinc die-castings.
• The final discharge water from the process is virtually returned to its original state of purity.
• Incoming packaging from production materials are recycled to the greatest extent possible.

In addition:

• SICO is undergoing a significant conversion from printed materials and record retention to an electronic retention system. This allows access to information and files without printed material, file cartons, transportation, and minimization of paper and metal file storage requirements.
• We are working towards printing all document on recycled-content paper.
• Brochures are printed using soy-based inks
• SICO’s internal office support staff is committed to recycling waste papers, aluminum, plastic and steel.
• Significant percentages of previously printed literature have been eliminated and replaced with a comprehensive web site that allows customers access to all product instructions, literature, parts lists, etc. without the need for printed, packaged material.

Summary:

SICO will continue to invest in research and development of durable new materials that are made of renewable and recyclable resources. Our manufacturing processes also reflect attention to minimizing waste, and re-cycling by-products of production.