FEATURE


A framework for your sustainability strategy


Lorcan Mekitarian, Chairman of the Cleaning and Hygiene Supplier’s Association (CHSA), details their Roadmap to Sustainability.


Business is facing challenges on many different fronts. With tight margins, our manufacturer and distributor members have always worked to deliver quality products and services at competitive prices. Today, it’s tougher than ever. The global economy opening after the pandemic has driven up the cost of raw materials and the war in Ukraine has increased the price of energy. Delivering for


customers is challenging.


In this context, adopting environmentally and ethically sustainable practices, policies, and procedures can feel impossible. It's also incredibly complex. The best way forward is rarely the most obvious. It’s easy to understand inertia, but climate change is a reality and we need to act if we're to achieve the long-term change our planet needs.


An authentic sustainability story is also now important to long-term commercial success. Better informed than ever, stakeholders can spot greenwashing. Customers, end users, and suppliers are increasingly demanding genuine sustainability strategies. It’s also a magnet for the best talent, with employees wanting to feel proud of where they work.


CHSA members, the manufacturers and distributors of cleaning and hygiene products, recognise this and are engaging. They are integrating sustainability into their business, and they're using our Roadmap for Sustainability as the framework.


At its core, ethical and environmental sustainability is about creating products or services that aren’t wasteful at any point in their lifecycle, from their inception through to the end of life. Our Roadmap, therefore, is founded on the principle of treading lightly in all areas of the business, including the social dimension.


The Five Pillars


The Roadmap to Sustainability framework is built on Five Pillars – Product, Packaging, Transportation, Social Value, and Corporate Environmental Impact.


To help get people started, we have identified a general approach, accompanied with some practical guidance, for each pillar.


Pillar 1: Product, as it is received, used, and disposed of by the end user


Design and develop products with the following principles in mind:


• Produce more product with fewer resources. A good 18 | FEATURE


example is the use of concentrates instead of ready to use formulations.


• Reduce waste by designing the product to increase the recapture of resources at the end of the lifecycle. Where this is not possible, review the end-of-life disposal options, with the aim of moving up the waste hierarchy, away from landfill.


Pillar 2: All the packaging of a product throughout the supply chain


This includes manufacturer’s packaging, as well as that used by distributors as they re-pack the product for its last few miles to the end user.


The goal is a minimalistic approach. Less is definitely more, both in terms of the amount of packaging used and the resources required for its production. Talk to colleagues up and down the supply chain to eliminate over-packaging and think laterally to reduce it further.


Design the packaging to simplify the waste stream. Make it as easy as possible to get it into the right stream. This means, for example, thinking about the ease with which labels can be removed so pallet wrap can be more easily recycled in the UK, with increasing quality of recyclate.


Pillar 3: Transportation, encompassing the movement of raw materials and delivery of product to the end user


This pillar is complex so we advise companies to keep it simple if they are at the beginning of their sustainability journey, and focus on a few key principles:


• Design the product to optimise palletisation and vehicle usage so more can be transported in the same space. A typical example is to use concentrate in place of ready- to-use formulations.


• Opt for reduced emission transport options wherever possible. This includes transitioning to electric vehicles – remember, all vehicle fleets must be fully electric by 2030.


• Collaborate with customers to optimise loads and delivery routes. If they need a little persuading, become a thought leader. Understand their resistance and work with your suppliers to develop the well-evidenced arguments you need to overcome it.


Pillar 4: Social values, including mental wellbeing and personal development


Mental wellbeing, personal development, and corporate social responsibility sit in this pillar. Most businesses are already doing much more than they realise. Our advice is


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