What if we did things differently?

Building on the sustainable progress we’ve already made as a fast growing company, and learning from the engagement we have with the UK building sector and UK energy efficiency specialists has led us to look at sustainability differently.

We’ve realised that limiting the harm we do, as a business; as employees; and as people, is no longer enough. We must leave the places we touch better that when we found them; ensure the people we work with feel valued and trusted; and ensure that the network effect of our business activities have a net positive impact on the environment.

The climate crisis requires urgent action. If not now, when?

2021 has seen Recoup develop a deeper understanding of what to means to be a sustainable business. Looking not just internally, but to our staff, their families, our supply chain, and the wider community and environment that we live and work in.

We have reviewed and reduced our environmental impact across our business operations: Reducing miles travelled and actively moving meetings and resources online; we’ve successfully trialled a 4-day, flexible working week; we’ve reviewed our manufacturing and transport processes and measured the embodied carbon of our main products. We have committed to the Science Based Target Initiative (SBTi) science-based emissions reduction target of 1.5°C. Our partnership with Ecologi has allowed us to offset those measured CO2 emissions that we cannot yet fully reduce, and as such we have already achieved certified NET zero business operations since March 2021.

This has led us to look forward and develop our Horizon 2025 plan, designed to take Recoup beyond NetZero by 2025.

By 2025 we commit to:

By 2025 we commit to:

● Become Net Carbon Positive across our business operations as soon as is feasibly possible and have a carbon neutral impact on our supply chain.
● Sustain a climate positive workforce, and actively offset the Carbon footprint of our employees and their families.
● Only ever act with credibility, transparency & integrity, while actively promoting our Social Consciousness values.
● Seek to further reduce the environmental impact, waste and embodied carbon in all our products.
● Migrate to 100% recycled and/or recyclable packaging and transport materials.
● Operate a cradle-to-cradle recycling scheme for all our products, eliminating end-of-life waste.
● Promote energy efficiency and Carbon reduction through our products, technology, business activities and community.
● Be an exemplar company in the construction industry.

Let’s do different…

Sustainability, Done Differently

Social Consciousness… at the heart of who we are

We chose the phrase “Social Consciousness” to reflect our desire to raise awareness about these three values:

1. Practicing business responsibly and sustainably, with absolute regard for human rights.
2. Guiding our product and practice toward improving our environment, and actively reducing carbon emissions and energy use.
3. Operating a fair and transparent business environment that benefits and enriches the lives of our staff, their families and the planet and places we all share.

Over the years, our Directors vision of developing a business capable of generating profit, alongside our vision of corporate Social Consciousness has grown in size and scope, integrating its work into the very DNA of our company. Today Social Consciousness at Recoup extends across the company—from marketing to manufacturing, from design to finance, from individuals to supply chain. At all levels we act with transparency, integrity and good faith, while our employees are enabled to engage in redressing work-life balance; policy activism and community renewal on both local and global scales.

Environmental Policy… that goes further

Our environmental and sustainability vision is holistic. “We believe in paying attention to what happens across our supply chain, our operations and across the lifetime of our products. Our goal is to design out negative impacts; design in positive change; and have a positive environmental impact both locally and globally.”

● Operational Carbon: Since 2012 we have been tracking our travelled miles and modes of transportation, optimising our product shipments to throughout our supply chain. Day-to-day business operations and employee travel has been significantly reduced: Cycling, EVs and Train travel is actively encouraged. Our Hybrid vehicles which operated from 2017-2020 have been replaced almost exclusively with online meetings, supplemented with EV or Public Transport as required.

● SBTi: We’ve committed to rigorous Science Based Targets for reducing our CO2 emissions and offsetting emissions within our supply-chain, and operational elements outside of our control, through Tree planting and certified Carbon offsetting via our partner: Ecologi.

● Embodied Carbon: In 2021 we have worked with CIBSE, submitting product and manufacturing process data, to aid the development of the “TM65: Embodied carbon in building services” calculation methodology. While we await the final release of the TM65 data, unpublished results give us a high-level of confidence that the embodied carbon within our products is low, and will be mitigated by the short-term use of our products. This has the potential to ensure all our WWHRS products are Net-zero carbon after months and not years of use.

● Materials: By committing to use certified responsibly sourced copper, and recycled or recyclable materials and packaging, we support clean air, clean water and a healthy environment for workers and wildlife.

● Energy: Manufacturing product requires materials and energy. Our manufacturing centre is currently supplied by 100% ‘green’ energy, with plans to migrate towards 100% on-site renewable energy generation from 2022

● Carbon offset & Tree Planting, en masse: From 2022, we have committed to offset the embodied Carbon of every product we sell, as well as plant a tree for future generations. Within just 5 years, we envisage a forest of over 150,000 trees. This is in addition to our ‘CPDs for Trees’ program which rewards attendees for learning about our technology.

Business Success… that means more than just profit

Recoup has to be more than simply being a profit generating machine. We strongly believe that through profitable operations, our vision of providing people with rewarding work and cleaner environments that will enhance their livelihood and empower them socially and economically, can be achieved.

● Above all, we believe in Human Rights, Fairness and Equality and pledge to operate our business in accord with the highest standards of ethical conduct.

● For our employees we provide exceptional rates of pay and working conditions; fairness and transparency at all levels of operation.

● We offer a 4-day working week, with 100% pay for all full time employees.

● We will offer flexible working practices allowing home working or part-time employment to encourage the underrepresented

● Assess our internal processes to understand how our purchasing practices impact the well-being of the workers within our up and down-stream supply chain

● Sustain a climate positive workforce, and actively offset the Carbon footprint of our employees and their families.

● Meet the needs of our customers in a knowledgeable and professional manner

● Represent our products clearly and factually, standing fully behind our warranties, direct and implied, and in all other ways justifying the customer’s respect and confidence.

● Work with Government and Regulatory bodies to promote the use of WWHRS and the wider Net Zero and climate change agenda.

Executive Statement

Formed in 2011, Recoup Energy Solutions Ltd have specialised in Waste Water Heat Recovery Systems (WWHRS) for over 10 years.

During this time we have been instrumental in the expansion of Waste Water Heat Recovery as a recognised and accepted energy saving technology. We have established long-standing supply relationships with leading UK housebuilders and UK-wide merchant distribution partners, firmly establishing us as the UK market leader for WWHRS.

Our sole-supply partnership with the UK’s largest housebuilder, Barratt Developments Plc, which began in 2013, has seen WWHRS designed into thousands of homes across the UK, with many tens of thousands more expected to be installed in the coming years; a move designed to help Barratt meet their ever more stringent energy efficiency targets.

In fact, Barratt’s Z-House, a unique zero-carbon concept home that looks beyond the 2025 Future Homes Standard to showcase the future of sustainable living, is designed with the Recoup Pipe HEX as a key passive energy reduction measure, also complimenting other low carbon technologies such as air-source heat pumps.

Looking back to ten years ago, just mentioning Waste Water Heat Recovery would typically receive confused or questioning replies, even amongst some energy specialists! WWHRS was often confused with energy generation technologies, rather than being passive energy reduction measure. However, over the past ten years, we have worked to provide the highest quality education, CPD-learning and instruction resources which are now used by architects, specifiers, energy specialists and developers across the UK. And of course, all our products are SAP & SBEM listed; WRAS accredited; Legionella risk assessed; and provide the highest performance efficiencies currently possible.

Now in 2021, our market-leading Pipe HEX vertical heat exchanger which provides the next generation of improvements on two previous vertical models, has been redesigned specifically to tie in with upcoming Part-L 2021 regulation changes. With the Pipe HEX, greater efficiency, means more SAP points, therefore better value for new-build developers and the homeowner: reducing the hot water required for showering by up to 55%Looking to the future, Recoup is poised for significant expansion. Driven by demanding new building regulations and a global shift towards more sustainable and low embodied carbon solutions, we are increasing the team and operations to accommodate exponential growth in the UK. This growth is expected to come not only from the new-build housing sector; but apartments; hotels; student accommodation, and the need to retrofit green technologies to homes across the UK.

Altogether, it has been a busy ten years for us at Recoup, a company that started as two people with an ambition to reduce energy demand and carbon in the built environment. This ambition and dedication from our team has turned Recoup WWHRS into the specialist it is today. Where will we be in another ten years time? We can’t be sure, but whatever happens you can be assured the growth and development of Recoup will leave the places we touch better than when we found them; ensure the people we work with feel valued and trusted; and ensure that the network effect of our business activities have a net positive impact on our environment.