Environmental Policy

SUSTAINABILITY, ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT & FLEET POLICY

 

 

WAREUK.COM Ltd recognise its responsibility towards the environment and issues this policy as a statement of commitment to minimising the environmental impact of its’ business activities. 

WAREUK.COM Ltd is committed to ensuring effective management of all activities that have the potential to affect the environment by:

- Assessing our activities and operations to identify the significant aspects that have potential to impact on the environment.

- Controlling all significant environmental aspects.

- Commitment to complying with relevant environmental legislation and regulations and to other requirements to which the organisation subscribes.

- Continual improvement of environmental performance by building environmental considerations into the decision making process and methods of operation, to minimise environmental impact and prevent pollution.

- Setting and publishing clear objectives and targets and to monitor environmental performance results to ensure that targets are met.

- Ensuring that all of our operations and activities are covered by this policy and that the policy is implemented, maintained and communicated to all employees.

- Communicating this environmental policy to all other interested parties and the general public.

 

As a company we are very conscious of our impact on the environment in our day to day operations and have made a commitment to improve our performance and efficiency. Many of our customers also share this desire to minimise their impact on the environment, of which a part is concerned with cleaning processes and hygiene. With our extensive experience of cleaning methods and knowledge of products we are well placed to offer advice in this area and work with you to improve your environmental performance which in many cases brings improved hygiene and happier staff.

 

What is “Green?”

 

For ourselves as a starting point, it is important that we fully understand what you are striving to achieve in terms of these improvements as there are many aspects to the “Green” issue. In its simplest form you may wish to use, as far as possible, products which are recycled, biodegradable or from sustainable sources or simply reduce your consumption without impacting negatively upon your cleaning results or preferably by even improving them. However even the word biodegradable has to be treated with caution as sometimes the biodegradation products are more harmful than the existing products. Thus, not only biodegradability but also the harm that can be caused by biodegradation products must be considered and so formulations have to be created to ensure the minimum impact on the environment.

Examples:      Paper manufactured from certified sustained forestry

                           Plastic binsacs manufactured from recycled plastics

                           Use of concentrates to reduce storage requirement and waste

                           Use of dispensers to control product usage

                           Effective product formulation

                          

 

Going further can involve analysis of areas such as transportation and overall full life impacts, waste and energy costs. ie. the energy consumed in its manufacture, packaging, transportation and eventual use. This ‘energy footprint’ can be reduced, for example, by developing concentrated products that produce optimum results when used economically. This means that less packaging must be produced and disposed of, and energy is saved on transportation.

Examples:      Use of refillable dispensers, reduces plastic waste

                           Reduction/more effective outer packaging

           Order control i.e. orders consolidated to reduce frequency of delivery

           resulting in lower emissions

                               

Within our range of products we have many products which are manufactured from recycled or sustainable sources. It is also important to consider where the product is being manufactured it is obviously beneficial if it is UK produced thereby reducing transportation impacts, this is also true when selecting a supplier, local supply is better.

 

Systems Approach

 

Many of the above benefits can be gained through the System Approach to hygiene. This improves control of usage, minimising wastage and number of deliveries. Our sales team are able to discuss the full range of options available and carry out surveys to assist in reaching your Green goals.

 

 

Fleet

 

We have been working hard behind the scenes to develop a sustainable fleet management strategy to help us achieve our key company goal of reducing our environmental impact.

3 years ago, we assembled a cross departmental task force consisting of business leaders from procurement, warehousing and logistics, sales and administration functions tasked with devising a clear strategy that will be tangible, measurable and clearly sets out achievable tactics enabling us to reduce our carbon footprint. These were:

•    Improve C02 reductions of all company vehicles,
•    Increase the payload and cubic carrying capacity of our delivery vehicles to increase efficiency and reduce the number of unnecessary journeys,
•    Implement structured maintenance programmes for all vehicles to ensure they are running at their optimum levels,
•    Upgrade our telematics to increase efficiency, and to highlight where driving training may be needed,
•    Minimise the number of samples sent by courier companies,
•    Install rapid charge points in readiness for electric vehicles

 

We achieved these key points by implementing the following:

•    All of our vehicles were supplied brand new from the manufacturer to replace our older, higher polluting vehicles,
•    We have full maintenance programmes in place to ensure maximum running efficiency and increased safety for our drivers and the wider community,
•    We have introduced upgraded telematics to detail journeys to simplify vehicle routing, helping avoid excessive mileage and driver overlap,
•    Our drivers have access to an app allowing them to detail journeys, calculate fuel efficiency (mpg), and enable them to book in for any scheduled and unscheduled servicing/same day tyre replacement
•    We have also introduced fuel cards and have start to track mpg versus fuel usage to identify where further driver training may be required,
•    We encourage best practice and practical steps that can be taken. For example, all vehicles are unloaded when equipment and supplies are not required so we’re not carrying unnecessary weight thereby reducing our fuel consumption
•    We encourage cross departmental data analysis on a monthly basis to see where ongoing improvements can be made
•    All non-delivery vehicles in the fleet are fully electric

 

We actively strive for continuous improvement in reducing our carbon emissions and to support both our and our customers corporate sustainability goals. Our supporting information is available on request. 

 

 

This policy is maintained and reviewed at least annually to ensure continual suitability and that any changes in our organisation, arrangements, scope of operations and our working practices are considered.