The Sika Experience

The YES (Youth Encounter on Sustainability) program is an intensive two week school that brings together motivated young people from around the world to discuss, and learn together in unique local settings together with local and international experts.

Sika is proud to be a sponsoring partner of this initiative. The students of the actual course held in Tokyo were invited to visit the Sika plant and R&D labs in Hiratsuka, and to learn about Sika’s approach towards sustainability. Some impressions:

Sika Experience students – learning about our famous Sarnafil Roofing Membranes.

Hi, Everyone, This is Maryanne from Sika China!

6 days to go…

Till the night of Feb. 26th, We’re counting down… to expect the first joint-hands Sika Experience in China and Australia, to welcome 3 students from Australia and 3 students from China… to meet the fresh faces, to start up a new trip which bridges 2 sister companies in Sika Asia Pacific, to learn more best practices in business…

Believe this trip wins 2 First in Sika global world:

1) First Experience in 2013;

2) First Joint-hands Experience of 2 sister companies;

Correct me if I’m wrong, but you can understand how we’re proud of it… then, Are you thrillingly eager to know more detail? … Yes, we’re the same like you…

Don’t walk away, keep your eyeballs stay with us, we will tune you in… and our fresh faces will zoom more in… :-)

You wouldn’t know from looking at the building’s façade, but 100 Dan Road in Canton, MA holds more than just Sika Sarnafil’s corporate offices. This address is also home to the company’s 85,000 square foot manufacturing facility! The factory runs 24 hours a day, 5 days a week (7 during the busy months) in order to supply the membrane used in projects all over North America.  This week I was lucky enough to get a tour “out back” for a closer look at how Sika Sarnafil’s world renowned roofing and waterproofing membrane is made.

Assistant Manufacturing Process Engineer, Jason Murray, guided me through each stage of the process, from powdery vinyl resin (it looks like sugar!), to rolled sheets of recognizable membrane. Walking onto the manufacturing floor, I was greeted by the towering M-48; the “Green Mile”. This machine was first brought to the U.S. from Switzerland in 1978 and is still in use today. No point messing with a process that works right? Around the right hand corner of the facility, stretches the M-61. The M-61 is an automated machine that runs all Sika Sarnafil EnergySmart and Sikaplan products in widths of up to 10 feet. With the ability to produce 1 roll of membrane (50-150ft) within 3 minutes, this thing is a membrane making monster.

Although I was surrounded by huge machinery, it was a relatively small thing that caught my eye. Beside the M-61 was a box of scraps from the membrane edge cutting. Peering into the deep box, I saw what looked like Christmas bows! I was intrigued by how something so industrial could, at the same time, look so delicate. As I stopped to look at the long ribbon-like strips, Jason informed me that all of these scraps would be recycled in their on-sight recycling plant. I thought, “This is SO COOL!” but didn’t want to let on that I’m a huge recycling nerd. So instead I listened as Jason continued to explain the recycling process.

Using a high powered roller, the material is fed into the first of three grinders where it is chopped into progressively smaller pieces. The grating is so fine that it separates the PVC from the polyester backing. Using wind and gravity, the PVC falls down through the chute and into a large bin. The lighter polyester fluff is carried upward through a chute to a separate storage space, where it is then sent to waste energy facilities for fuel use. The PVC regrind is once again melted down to be used in the membrane backing.

Each year, the recycling plant at 100 Dan Road consumes an average of 5 million lbs. (over 2.2 million kg) of recyclable material. “We are the only roofing manufacturer certified by UL Environmental for 10% recycle content contained in our membrane,” Jason informed. “I’m hoping that 2012 finishes with 4.5 million square feet of post-consumer roofing recycled.  That would bring the total number to 15 million square feet recycled since the start of the program in 2006.” That’s the equivalent to 76 and a half football fields of material being saved from landfills each year! And the work here has not gone unnoticed. The recycling program has been recognized by the State of Massachusetts, Office of Technical Assistance (OTA) for their efforts. As well as the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) who awarded them the Plastics Recycling Technologies and Applications Award in 2011.

I guess being a recycling nerd is cool after all…

Through the Romuald Burkard Foundation Sika supports social and ecological projects to promote self-help locally. Sika for example has supported the Red Cross in New Zealand with on-the-spot assistance during the earthquakes in 2010 and 2011. Furthermore Sika supports the Operation Smile in Vietnam. Thanks to the donations children with facial deformities underwent successful operations.

With the aid of Sika a children’s home in Chile was renovated and houses now more than 60 children. There are examples for activities of the the Romuald Burkard Foundation throughout the world: To improve the efficiency of diary farming, Pro Leche Ayacucho offers professional support and jointly finances the projects with the local farmers. To further improve and enlarge the projects of Pro Leche Ayacucho, Perú, Sika participates with a major contribution.

Besides the activities of the Romuald Burkard Foundation, the Global Nature Fund (GNF) plays a big role in Sika’s engagement and long-term sponsorships. Within the GNF Sika focuses on projects managed by “Living Lakes“, an international network and partnership whose mission is to enhance the protection, restoration and rehabilitation of lakes, wetlands and other freshwater bodies of the world and their catchment areas.

Sika actively engages in many other sustainable and humanitarian development projects.   

Sika supports "Living Lakes", the network of the Global Nature Fund.

G’day to all!

Time flies and so does the memory of my camera! I managed to find time out of my busy schedule to download all the breathtaking pictures of Bogotá and it’s surroundings. I perceive this city to be one full of culture and history. This is a city of approximately 10 million residents. Given this massive population, congestion and pollution are two downsides to this city. The lack of subways and trains is a contributing factor with respect to the daily jams.

Nevertheless, there is an awesome take to this city – Monserrate. This is a hill overlooking the city of Bogotá. If luck is on your side and the weather permits, a picturesque scene awaits. You would be able to view the whole of Bogotá, from north to south and east to west. West is where Monserrate is. Above this hill top is where a monastery will be found as well as restaurants besides the beautiful view of this South American city. A black virgin – ‘Madonna Negra’ greets visitors as you stroll up this must-see attraction in Bogotá,

La Candelaria, the old town of Bogotá is where all the culture is. Churches, museums, street vendors, buskers etc all congregated in one location. It is the most lively area with a hint of colonialism as depicted from the buildings. These include both French and Spaniard architecture denoting the colonial past of Colombia.

I could go on narrating about the city of Bogotá but I believe as many would agree, a picture is worth a thousand words and these photos accompanying this post will allow the chance for all to further immerse yourselves in this Colombian capital.

On behalf of this trip by Sika Colombia. I wish to extend my greatest gratitude and thanks to Catalina Guerrero of Sika Bogotá, Tocancipá for her help in organising this excursion.

I hope these pictures will allow all to better gauge this Latin American capital.

Till my next post,

keep well!

Anderson

Buenos dias!

I had a self-cooked meal with jalapeño chillies last week as I love food with a little spice in them. Never did I realise the strength of the jalapeño!! It was indeed extremely spicy!! The pleasure of jalapeño left me with a little more than an uncomfortable weekend….

Now, its Monday again and its back to work. To all those celebrating the Lunar New Year, I wish you all a happy and propitious Dragon year ahead!

Till then, all my best!

G’day all!

“And te tide and te time þat tu iboren were, schal beon iblescet.” – St. Marher, 1225 -

In modern English, this translates to ‘the tide abides for, tarrieth for no man, stays no man, tide nor time tarrieth no man’ or more commonly known as the widely used phrase ‘Time and tide wait for no man’.

Now, marks the half-time of my Sika Experience in Colombia. Time flies when you’re doing what you really love and its great! With regard to this, I had submitted my first official preliminary report to the Global Nature Fund (GNF) in Radolfzell, Germany on Monday in relation to my ‘Constructed Wetland Proposal for Wastewater Treatment’. This is an excellent progress in the stride of my team and myself as we had met our deadline making us a step closer to our goal. Also, this is akin a milestone as to where we are and where we shall be headed in the weeks to come.

As a follow up, my proposed trip to Fúquene this week had to be rescheduled due to unforeseen circumstances. Hence, this week has been filled with research and report writing.

Till then,

cuidado todos!

Anderson

Hi all!

A Happy 2012 ahead! I hope the first 10 days of the New Year has been good for all and will remain the same if not better for the next 356 days.

My progress at Fundación Humedales has been fruitful this far. Right now, I have been delegated with the task of elaborating a constructed wetlands database. This indeed is getting technical. In short, I am to evaluate study cases and illustrate them in matrices. This is to establish a relationship if any between the organic loading rates, climatic characteristics and removal performances of current and past constructed wetlands. This study will be done on a global scale.

Each case study will be documented with site descriptions which includes the origin of the wastewater to be treated, climate of the area, plant design, structures of wastewater treatment, constants imperative to the design such as bio-kinetic constants and fudge factors necessary for the feasibility of the treatment of biologically contaminated wastewater, waste removal performance and post-operational and maintenance issues.

These are to be correlated to the population of the area of interest, average temperature, average precipitation and the superficial area of the constructed wetland. Other measures to be taken into account in this study include the hydraulic loading rate (HLR), organic loading rate (OLR), hydraulic retention time (HRT) and the biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) percentage of removal.

I believe, this blog has been technically inclined and apologies if it sounds alien to some. Nevertheless, I trust that following updates would ease the ambiguity if there may be.

Till then, keep well!

Cheers,

Anderson

A bit more than a year ago I was looking up the Matterhorn, Switzerland with great bliss. All of a sudden I’d been selected as a participant of the Sika Solar Experience, which consisted in visiting PV solar energy-related facilities throughout Germany, Italy and Switzerland, along with amazing leisure activities organized by the folks at Sika. As you can imagine, together with the other three participants from around the world we had a blast and learnt a lot from Sika and their contribution to the development of renewable energies, such as solar. Definitely an unforgettable experience!

But time flies by, and a lot has changed in a year. I finished my masters, started teaching at the Computer Science department of one of the top universities in Chile (my home country) and founded my own company. Although solar energy is not my core knowledge, I’ve always found the way to converge around such a powerful technology. For example, in our company we are using solar panels to power several hardware, such as remote measurement stations and irrigation systems. We are designing innovative power meters for grid integration of residential solar energy generation. Sika adhesives are also playing a role: most of the bonding products we are using are from Sika. So ever since, that trip has always been a part of me.

I'm always carrying a part of the Sika Experience with me!

Looking back, I realize that the Sika Experience trip influenced me in a personal and professional level. But my biggest takeaway is the fact that we are all called upon making an impact in this world, specially towards our planet needs.

Jose L. Honorato, Chile

Sika Solar Experience participant, September 2010