Environmental

Many of Singer Instruments’ customers are working on renewable technologies to replace crude oil dependency, so the biggest impact we can make is to continue to produce robotics to help accelerate scientific breakthroughs.

Singer Instruments have partnered with Dr Alessia Buscaino at the University of Kent to develop Scheffersomyces stipitis strains to convert agriculture and forestry waste into bioethanol.

As a byproduct of engineering our products for reliability and longevity, Singer Instruments have a very small (but unquantified) landfill footprint. There are MSM 100s, made 30-something years ago, still in the field, and still working!

The distances that we ship our demo fleet of instrumentation has reduced now that we have multiple demo fleets stationed in our overseas offices.

Since 1st October 2019 Singer have chosen to use a 100% renewable electricity supplier, Octopus Energy.

All facilities are fitted with modern air-to-air heat exchange units to reduce the energy consumption of heating buildings during the winter.

Where possible, SI products are supported remotely by internet connection, reducing the carbon footprint of support.

Online demonstrations have reduced the carbon footprint of live product demonstrations to customers, with little detriment to our customers experiences.

In July 2019, all facility lighting was upgraded to high-efficiency LED; 58% more efficient and longer lifetime than fluorescent counterparts. PIR / lux timer switches are commonplace to reduce unnecessary on-time.

Singer's various STEM activities mean we are regularly engaging with students and local schools to inspire young minds in a scientific direction, fuelling tomorrow's scientific discovery.

SI chose to use aluminium as our most common metal of choice as it is widely recyclable. 

When we do need to fly, our preferred airport is Bristol; they are actively reducing their CO2 emissions and are committed to being carbon neutral by 2025. Our airline of choice is KLM, ranked the Most Sustainable Airline by the Dow Jones Sustainability Index.

The high cost of removing used isopropyl via a registered waste company prompted an investigation into recycling the substance for reuse. A distiller was purchased for £100 less than one waste collection of IPA, and within 50 minutes had turned 3 litres of dirty IPA into 2.75 litres of re-usable product. We no longer have to store volumes of dirty IPA awaiting collection; vehicle use for the delivery of new and collection of dirty IPA has been drastically reduced; and we have reduced the need to purchase regular new quantities of IPA or pay for waste collections. 

During the Spring no fewer than FIVE swarms of bees were safely and carefully collected by a local bee keeper from our HQ in Roadwater and given new homes. For some reason the bees all wanted to be with our staff on our outdoor break area and rather than call in an exterminator we opted for a relocation programme enabling the bees to thrive and continue to save our planet.

Brackets for our Pixl, Pixl Dark and MSM products were previously big, pricey to machine, and needed special tools to remove - a real headache for customers. Switching to PLA gave us a plant-based, compostable alternative that’s much easier (and cheaper) to print on demand. We’re keeping a ton of single-use plastic out of landfills each year, seeing lower material costs, zero tooling downtime, and faster turnaround on replacements.

In July 2023 1.9 litres of chloroform left the building forever, eliminating the requirement to use and store it on the premises, and removing a significant risk to staff.