TMC Compressors cares about life in the ocean

Delivering machines and spare parts to around 23 000 compressors on sailing ships in the world, TMC is committed to the UN sustainability goal no. 14 Life below water. 

Since 2017, TMC Compressors has reduced our total use of plastic by 93 %. 

In 2017, a stranded whale at the Norwegian coast made headlines worldwide, as its stomach was filled with plastic. This increased the attention to the global problem of marine litter. 

TMC was, as most others, disturbed by how plastic interfere with life at sea. Since we are delivering machines and spare parts to around 23 000 sailing ships in the world, the story inspired us to address our own use of plastic, and we started a project with the goal of removing all unnecessary plastic in our production and distribution. 

From plastic to paper

After mapping our use of plastic, TMC took steps like reducing the number of small plastic bags used as packaging for small parts, by co-packing more units together. Simultaneously, we tested solutions of other materials that could replace the plastic bags all together. 

This resulted in a transfer to paper bags for all possible spare part packing – resulting in a 98 % reduction of plastic bags.  

Along with other larger activities, such as dialogue with sub-suppliers, challenging their use of plastic as packaging material, we did small changes like centralizing trash cans in the office, replacing shrink plastic with a new thinner type, replacing fill for packing, etc. 

The result is clear – even small activities can give large results – especially over time. TMC ended up reducing our total use of plastic by 93 %. 

Although most plastic is now removed from our production and distribution, we continue to find other sustainable solutions for our operation. This work will never end.