Green Initiatives
Silex places great importance on proactive sustainability, and is actively working to exceed expectations for corporate responsibility both internally and in the MEMS industry.
Silex has identified five key areas of growth: emissions management, water management, energy management, chemical management, and waste management. Within these five, there are two areas of particular significance for its immediate sustainability agenda: first and foremost, the company is unwavering in its commitment to continue its considerable work in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Secondly, recognizing the crucial importance of responsible water consumption and waste-water management, Silex is using a wide array of processes to reduce its water consumption across its operations.
Emissions Management
At the core of Silex’s sustainability efforts lies a deep commitment to minimizing its impact on the external environment. The environmental aspects of MEMS manufacturing operations are dominated by emissions of general greenhouse gasses with high global warming potentials (GWP).
Accordingly, Silex has reduced all emissions of such gases at all DRIE (Deep Reactive Ion Etching) systems to almost 100% purification levels, through the installation of abatement systems for carbon fluorine compounds. The company is now exploring further purification techniques for as-yet unpurified greenhouse gasses from other processes.
Water Management
As in many industries, reducing water consumption is a key area of interest for MEMS manufacturers. Silex has been implementing multiple operational processes for reducing its water consumption.
Energy Management
Silex has significantly decreased its energy consumption relative to production output, through the implementation of facility-wide upgrades and process improvements. In particular, this has been through optimizing air flow and sealing the cleanroom.
Chemical Management
Correct management of chemicals is of utmost importance at Silex, for the safety of both staff and the wider environment, and Silex complies fully with REACH and RoHS.
All employees are educated in the latest recommended safety procedures relating to chemicals. All chemicals are stored according to regulation, and Silex complies with all standard safety procedure recommendations for handling of chemicals.
Waste Management
All waste of Silex operations are recycled where possible, reported, processed and transported according to national and international legislation.