SUSTAINABILITY
electric dropside vehicle, supplied by Guest Truck & Van, added to the fleet operating from its Birmingham Delivery Hub for a trial period. The vehicle has a payload in excess of 1,300kgs and a range of up to 145 miles.
Richard Evans, Head of Transport Operations at Selco, says: “Dropside vans make up a large percentage of our fleet so this trial will be crucial to seeking vital information on the suitability of commercial electric vehicles and help determine our route to zero emissions.”
Low carbon Laker
Independent Sussex builders merchant Laker Builders Merchant has been selected as Crawley’s Low Carbon Business Champion. West Sussex County, District and Borough Councils wanted to highlight the importance of the business transition to ‘net zero and beyond’ and to help ensure that ‘no business is left behind’ as our economy shifts to low carbon. Laker Builders Merchant was selected to represent Crawley for its commitment to reducing their CO2 emissions, which form part of Laker’s Green Ambitions. As a small independent builders’ merchant, Laker are leading the way to rapidly reducing their carbon footprint. Laker believe that building a successful and profitable builders merchant does not need to come at the expense of the environment and they have taken several steps to drastically reduce their carbon quickly as well as focus on sustainability, recycling and upcycling. The biggest impact has been to embrace technology. In a historically ‘old school’ industry that uses mountains of paper, Laker turned to technology to help streamline their business operations. This reduced their digital CO2 impact by replacing many systems, such as Accounting, CRM, ERP systems with one single integrated platform that does it all and also offers scalability and flexibility to tailor the platform to their requirements.
In turn, this has allowed Laker to move to paperless inventory management and hugely reduce paper in their customer deliveries, where their drivers now use integrated tablets for signatures and photographic verification of completed deliveries that are updated to their platform in real time. In addition, Laker have reduced the use of paper overall, by moving to digital for all our administration and HR requirements. Overall, paper usage across the entire business was cut by 80%, reduced by approximately 100 reams of paper. And with one
sheet of paper equating to almost 5g of CO2eq, according to Science Direct then Laker have reduced our carbon emissions by approximately 125 tonnes CO2eq just by reducing their paper usage.
Partnership focus
Laker has also been working through its Preferred Suppliers List to ensure that it works with businesses who hold the same ethos so that the supplier partnerships are driving down carbon emissions together. From a business operations perspective, Laker incorporated finance, facilities, waste and consumables, changing out products and selecting suppliers for their green credentials as well as commercial.
Working with its waste supplier to introduce recycling across the business for dry recycling, including cardboard, paper, glass and plastic has saved an annual 65 tonnes of cardboard and plastic from landfill and reduced Laker’s carbon emissions by a further 128 tonnes CO2eq annually.
A quick win was to replace the fleet of diesel and LPG gas forklifts with electric forklifts across all branches, instantly reducing carbon emissions by over 36.4 tonnes with the added benefit of reducing the air and noise pollution in their warehouse, improving the working environment for their warehouse team.
Discussions with manufacturers are focused on working together to provide competitively priced low carbon alternatives for building material and challenging them to reduce their transport packaging, develop recyclable product packaging and provide support with educating their sales team.
Laker say that because of the work they’re doing to reduce carbon and be more sustainable, they have won new customers who have a shared ethos and also value the planet over profit. The team has also been collaborating with Manor Royal Business Improvement District, to restore nature and biodiversity in their immediate area, whilst also giving back to the community.
November 2022 A supplement to builders merchants journal
A longer-term project that focuses on restoring parts of their demise back to nature, by creating ‘pocket parks’ extending the many mini parks that the Manor Royal BID have been creating throughout the area. Laker’s aim is to share these spaces with colleagues and peers who work in the area, providing a range of places to sit, socialise and interact.
With the help of Manor Royal BID these spaces will incorporate more nature with new mass planting, including planter boxes, healthy native trees and implement sustainable drainage system to solve existing drainage problems and add to the biodiversity of the area.
The company aims to be Net Zero by 2030. Managing director Steve Robinson says: “Having made the decision not to put profit before the environment is very satisfying and exciting. Collectively, we have the power to make change faster and leave a better world.”
Construction plays a critical role in the road to net zero, with the industry having long been a big user of natural resources. On top of that, urban areas worldwide are seeing increases of 200,000 people per day, meaning more housing and infrastructure is needed all the time. Burdens National Key Account Director, Tony Finch says that it is, therefore, no surprise that the industry is seeking out innovative methods and materials to reduce its environmental impact. “With a constantly evolving landscape and increasingly urgent need for climate action, it’s essential that merchants are clued up on what customers want and work closely with suppliers to provide the right solutions,” he says.
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